Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

all my coops are on bare dirt. the best choice ever.

Ducks are messy in that sense. I would certainly prefer to have them on dirt and move the coop later if needed.

I had 1 concrete floor coop and it was a nightmare. the same thing with raised pallet coops.

Yep, for ducks any type of floor might not be my first choice. For chickens, however, I have found my elevated chicken coop with a wood floor, covered with linoleum, then about 6 inches of deep bedding works just fine. But ducks are not chickens, and I don't know if deep bedding would work as well for ducks. I suspect not because my duck house was always wet and smelly.

 

[ChicksnMore]

Wow, thank you for sharing your experience with ducks and the pictures! I was considering building a multi-use, multi-level coop to house both chickens and ducks. The bottom coop would be on a dirt floor and used for the ducks, while a ramp led up to the top tier for the chickens. What do you think about that idea? I also planned on digging up a miniature pond inside the run area for the ducks to use. I do have a 2 acre pond that is being planned on being excavated and developed, but I am hesitant on letting the ducks free roam since we have coyotes, hawks and eagles that roam around.

I keep pet call ducks. I have a pallet run for them and a small water set up in the run just big enough for them to swim and play a little in. I have a pond outside of their run that they get to come out and play in, but they only get to visit my pond for brief spells because they foul the water and eat all the plants and fish. With limited time in it I can keep the pond healthy so they can keep enjoying it long term. I've only had them for two years, but so far I'm very happy with my set up. Anyways, in the run I have a heavy metal, plastic coated shelf placed on top of bricks that the water bowl sits on. I was using an 80 gallon tub but decided a smaller rubber tub is healthier because its easier care. My floor is all dirt. I raked the rocks out, added sand pulled from my wash and de-rocked. Then dried out horse manure on top of that that I periodically add to because they like to eat it. The whole run stays very dry because I built the ground with a slight slant where the water is. Even when I dump the whole bowl, the water runs out under the wall to the pomegranate tree on the other side rather then pooling around the bowl or in the run. The ducks would probably prefer it if it pooled at least a little...they sure love mud, lol.
Good luck with your duck venture!

 

[gtaus]

All mine are bare dirt also. So easy to clean and care for. I've wondered if colder areas need flooring for warmth reasons though. Here it's always cooling that we worry over and build for.

I live in northern Minnesota, and it gets cold here in the winter. When I had geese, I over wintered them outside one year. I had a simple shelter, not much more than a doghouse with a dirt floor, and I filled it with straw. I guess it worked OK, but not great.

I was not happy with keeping the geese outside in the cold like that. It's too hard for me to keep fresh water in a pan for them. I was hauling out fresh water at least twice a day in the dead of winter. I was much younger than, but no way would I do it that way now.

I have a metal base heater and a 3-gallon metal water fount inside my chicken coop for my 10 hens. The base heater keeps the water ice free even down to -40F inside the coop. The base heater only advertises to keep the water ice free down to about +10F, but inside the coop it is not exposed to any wind and I think that helps keep the water from freezing. I only have to refill my 3-gallon water fount about every 10 days. Much better system for me.

Having said that, I don't know if a chicken water fount on a heater would be enough water for ducks.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I live in northern Minnesota, and it gets cold here in the winter. When I had geese, I over wintered them outside one year. I had a simple shelter, not much more than a doghouse with a dirt floor, and I filled it with straw. I guess it worked OK, but not great.

I was not happy with keeping the geese outside in the cold like that. It's too hard for me to keep fresh water in a pan for them. I was hauling out fresh water at least twice a day in the dead of winter. I was much younger than, but no way would I do it that way now.

I have a metal base heater and a 3-gallon metal water fount inside my chicken coop for my 10 hens. The base heater keeps the water ice free even down to -40F inside the coop. The base heater only advertises to keep the water ice free down to about +10F, but inside the coop it is not exposed to any wind and I think that helps keep the water from freezing. I only have to refill my 3-gallon water fount about every 10 days. Much better system for me.

Having said that, I don't know if a chicken water fount on a heater would be enough water for ducks.

So glad I don't have to worry about keeping the ducks water from freezing! I know they need deep enough water to completely dunk the heads to clean their eyes and nares. Mine have water deep enough to dunk their whole body's. They're pets and get so much joy from it that water that deep feels necessary even though it's not...lol.

 

[Sally PB]

Is that an in-ground garden, or a raised bed garden? I have seen a number of YouTube videos of people digging a trench and filling it with logs, branches, organic material, etc... to make a hügelkultur mound.

I made raised beds several years ago, before I learned about hugelkulter. The beds are just long piles of soil, the sides somewhat supported by rocks.

I made Hugelkulter trenches in the flat part of that garden, when I plant stuff like potatoes (don't want to wreck the raised beds by digging up hills of potatoes) and squash vines that like to sprawl all over.

Actually, since Hugel means "hill" in German, a hugel trench is an oxymoron.

 

[gtaus]

Actually, since Hugel means "hill" in German, a hugel trench is an oxymoron.

The first videos I ever watched on making hügelkultur mounds were a person digging a trench (putting the soil asided), filling the trench with logs, branches, sticks, etc... building it up all the time, and then finally putting the soil on top of all that stuff - which made a nice round top mound.

Like many people, I'm into square foot gardening and raised beds, so I use the hügelkultur method to fill the base of my raised beds and have been very happy with the results.

Speaking of raised beds, I have been tossing around some ideas in my mind to use more of those 2X4's pallet stretchers with the cut outs to make the outside frame and then using the shorter 16-inch plank pieces for the sidewalls. It works in my head. So, I hope it will work if I actually build it that way.

Currently, I have been making my raised beds with 4X4 corner posts and 2X4 frames for the sidewalls. I know that design works for me. But it involves using lots of pocket hole screws to hold everything together, including pocket holes screws to make the sidewall frames and more pocket hole screws to attach the sidewalls to the 4X4 frames.

Picture of my current design 16-inch tall pallet wood raised bed (unfinished here) with 4X4 corner posts....

But now I'm thinking of trying a new design that would not use any pocket hole screws, which would reduce the cost of the hardware, but also save time and effort in the build. It would look something like the planters I made last year, but the framing for the raised bed would be on the outside of the bed instead of inside like in this picture....

If you look at the middle planter, you can see that I used the 2X4 stretchers on the inside of the planter for the framing. That works for small planters, but like I mentioned before, a larger raised bed will last much longer if the framing is on the outside. I don't how it will look with the 2X4 stretchers with the cut outs on the outside, but I don't suppose the plants would care. If using the 2X4 stretchers on the outside works, without having to cut them at all, then I would save lots of time and effort in the build. Plus, no longer need to use pocket hole screws which are getting more expensive every year.

I'm always thinking about other ways to build things using the pallet wood with the least amount of time, labor, or expense. If/when I build a raised bed with my new design, I'll post some pictures and let you guys know what I think of the build.

 

[gtaus]

Not done with winter here. We are in the middle of a 2-day end-of-winter snowstorm. Got about 4 inches of new snow yesterday and maybe another 2 inches of snow today.

Pretty much confined to inside the house as we wait out this storm. I had planned on hitching up the utility trailer and heading into town to scavenge some pallet wood from that mountain of pallets I just discovered. But that will have to wait until later this weekend or next week. Roads are too wet and slippery, cars in the ditches, public schools canceling classes or running late... Seems like these late winter storms cause the most damage, but fortunately the snow won't last long and should melt off in a few days of decent weather.

On a more positive note, the pallet wood seed starter shelf I built and put into our second bathroom is really working out great. I have tomato, eggplant and peppers all started and growing strong. I put 2 or 3 seeds in some of the 3-inch net cups, and it looks like I might be able to repot some of those seedlings into other individual cups or soil blocks later this weekend.

Until we got this last-minute winter storm, I was looking forward to starting to sift some fresh chicken run compost with my cement mixer compost sifter....

Last year I had the cement mixer raised up on some concrete building blocks. I had to raise the sifting barrel up about 6-8 inches so I can get the wagons under the barrel to catch the sifted compost. The concrete blocks worked, but I needed to come up with a more solid base. I picked out and put aside a really nice pallet with full boards on the topside. That will allow me to screw in the cement mixer legs into the pallet wood using lag bolts. The sifter should be really steady in operation this year.

I'm thinking of building the pallet wood base 2 pallets high, but if I have to go 3 pallets for the base, then I will probably have to build a temporary ramp to get the sifter up on the platform. It's too heavy for me to lift the cement mixer by myself - without possibly getting hurt in the process.

Building that pallet wood base for the sifter was going to be my main project for this weekend, but... Now looks like that is pushed out to sometime next week. Have to wait for the snow to melt and everything dry up a bit before I can put together that cement mixer compost sifter pallet wood base.

I was hoping to post some pictures of the new pallet wood base in action, but that will have to wait. Right now, I'm all talk and planning and very little action.

Holy cow! That sounds like something Dear Wife would say about me! Later...

 

[gtaus]

Last week I was talking about some of the pallet projects I have on my to do list. Almost got a chance to start on them last week, but then we had a 3-day snowstorm over the weekend, dropping as much as 6 inches of new snow on the ground.

The snow has been melting off the last few days, and today was dry enough for me to hitch up the trailer to a riding mower and move some pallets around. One of the easiest pallet projects I had in mind was building a platform base for my cement mixer compost sifter. In the spirit of no pallet project is too small to share, here is my compost sifter on top of the pallets I set aside for platform....

I will screw a couple lag bolts through the base of that front leg into the pallet wood. That should make everything rock solid this year while I sift the compost.

In this picture, you can see the wagon that catches the compost rejects. I have a Gorilla cart that I put under the barrel screen to catch the sifted compost. I was going to get the Gorilla cart under the sifter for a picture, but it started to rain so I threw a tarp over everything and called it a day. At any rate, my compost sifter is almost all set up and ready to go.

In the background, you can see my chicken run composting system. I just use a pitchfork to scoop out the compost to be sifted. I have a number of muck buckets (in front of the fence) which I use to carry the compost to the sifter. Last fall, when the chicken run was filled with leaves from the yard, it was about 18 inches deep. Over winter, with all the snow sitting on it, it is back down to about 12 inches deep. Even better, I pushed aside maybe only an inch of the top litter, and it was already a rich, dark, lovely compost underneath. It will have to dry out a bit before I can properly sift it, but it is ready to be harvested.

Next on my pallet project list is building a few more pallet wood hügelkultur 16-inch-high raised garden beds.

 

[gtaus]

I took the old Explorer with the old utility trailer in tow into town on Tuesday. Was going to stop at a place that has long pallets for pickup. Talked to one of the employees and got permission to grab some of their pallets out back. From the road, I thought the pallets were 8 feet long, and I was all excited about that. Turns out, those pallets were 12 feet long and I could not move them because they were so heavy.

Well, not willing to give up on everything, I looked through the pile of pallets and found some treasure in there that I could load up. I found a couple 12-foot long 4X4 posts and loaded them up. Found 3 more 3X3 posts that were also 12 foot long, but they were made up of some kind of composite material. I took them too. I found about 5 1X6 boards that were 12 foot long and tossed them in the trailer. I loaded up about a dozen 2X2 foot plywood cutoff sheets that I think might be good for a utility shelf build.

The best find was a 12-foot-long beam made up of 2X6 boards. The wood was practically new and there were not too many nails in the beam. It was pretty heavy, but I managed to drag it over to the trailer and lift it in one end at a time. Pretty much a full load at that point despite not being able to get the long pallets like I had planned.

Here is a picture of the trailer full of the wood I managed to salvage on the trip...

My little utility trailer is 8 feet long and you can see the 12-foot boards extending beyond the end.

I was all excited about that 12-foot-long beam made up of 2X6 wood. I took it apart this afternoon and discovered that it was not true 12 foot long. They took some 8-foot long 2X6 boards with 4-foot long 2X6 boards to make it 12 foot long. The middle section of the beam was a 7-foot long 2X6 matched up with 5-foot 2X6. You could not see the splice in the wood because there were some boards tacked over the seams for the pallet. Oh well, I still got lots of great 2X6 boards out of that beam - 36 feet worth of 2X6's.

Update on my Harbor Freight Bauer "Jawhorse" clamping workstation.

I find myself using this workstation almost all the time. It's really fast in clamping down the wood so I can hammer out the nails or use the crowbar to pull nails out. It really is a great third hand with that clamp. Today, I took it outside next to the trailer and set it up in about one minute and started working. I love the portability of the workstation to take it outside. When I don't need it, the legs fold up and I can store it upright, on end, in the garage in about 1X1 foot floor space. That's really good for me because my garage is mainly for our cars. Floor space is at a premium.

Normal price for the HF Bauer workstation runs $150.00, but I got mine on sale for $99.00 a number of weeks ago. For anybody thinking about getting new sawhorses, or such, check these out instead. The HF Bauer model is a copy of the original Rockwell JawHorse, but the Rockwell model costs $230.00 on Amazon.

Believe it or not, the HF Bauer workstation took the design of the Rockwell JawHorse and improved it in a few ways, and, of course, sell it for less.

Anyways, I am using my Bauer workstation all the time for pallet work and disassembly as a third hand. It's a real time and labor savor for me. I'm all into labor savings at my age. I figure that the labor I save on some of these tools allows me to enjoy my hobbies just a few years longer. I'm good with that.

 

[ChicksnMore]

I took the old Explorer with the old utility trailer in tow into town on Tuesday. Was going to stop at a place that has long pallets for pickup. Talked to one of the employees and got permission to grab some of their pallets out back. From the road, I thought the pallets were 8 feet long, and I was all excited about that. Turns out, those pallets were 12 feet long and I could not move them because they were so heavy.

Well, not willing to give up on everything, I looked through the pile of pallets and found some treasure in there that I could load up. I found a couple 12-foot long 4X4 posts and loaded them up. Found 3 more 3X3 posts that were also 12 foot long, but they were made up of some kind of composite material. I took them too. I found about 5 1X6 boards that were 12 foot long and tossed them in the trailer. I loaded up about a dozen 2X2 foot plywood cutoff sheets that I think might be good for a utility shelf build.

The best find was a 12-foot-long beam made up of 2X6 boards. The wood was practically new and there were not too many nails in the beam. It was pretty heavy, but I managed to drag it over to the trailer and lift it in one end at a time. Pretty much a full load at that point despite not being able to get the long pallets like I had planned.

Here is a picture of the trailer full of the wood I managed to salvage on the trip...

View attachment 3483777

My little utility trailer is 8 feet long and you can see the 12-foot boards extending beyond the end.

I was all excited about that 12-foot-long beam made up of 2X6 wood. I took it apart this afternoon and discovered that it was not true 12 foot long. They took some 8-foot long 2X6 boards with 4-foot long 2X6 boards to make it 12 foot long. The middle section of the beam was a 7-foot long 2X6 matched up with 5-foot 2X6. You could not see the splice in the wood because there were some boards tacked over the seams for the pallet. Oh well, I still got lots of great 2X6 boards out of that beam - 36 feet worth of 2X6's.

Update on my Harbor Freight Bauer "Jawhorse" clamping workstation.

I find myself using this workstation almost all the time. It's really fast in clamping down the wood so I can hammer out the nails or use the crowbar to pull nails out. It really is a great third hand with that clamp. Today, I took it outside next to the trailer and set it up in about one minute and started working. I love the portability of the workstation to take it outside. When I don't need it, the legs fold up and I can store it upright, on end, in the garage in about 1X1 foot floor space. That's really good for me because my garage is mainly for our cars. Floor space is at a premium.

Normal price for the HF Bauer workstation runs $150.00, but I got mine on sale for $99.00 a number of weeks ago. For anybody thinking about getting new sawhorses, or such, check these out instead. The HF Bauer model is a copy of the original Rockwell JawHorse, but the Rockwell model costs $230.00 on Amazon.

Believe it or not, the HF Bauer workstation took the design of the Rockwell JawHorse and improved it in a few ways, and, of course, sell it for less.

Anyways, I am using my Bauer workstation all the time for pallet work and disassembly as a third hand. It's a real time and labor savor for me. I'm all into labor savings at my age. I figure that the labor I save on some of these tools allows me to enjoy my hobbies just a few years longer. I'm good with that.

O too bad on those 12' pallets...what fun you could have with those. Amazing find on all the boards though!