Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

Pallet Wood Ramp Project?

Many of you may know that I converted my entire chicken run into a chicken run composting system. At the end of fall, after I dump all the leaves into the chicken run, the run litter might be as deep as 18 inches. It compresses and composts over the winter. Right now, my chicken run compost litter is about 12 inches high.

I have been doing some springtime yard cleanup. One of my chores is to fork up all the leaf run litter that manages to fall through the run fencing wire. I was putting that into one of my Gorilla carts and hauling it back into the chicken run.

Picture of leaf litter spilling through the chicken run fencing and my cleaning it up...

Picture of cart half full of mostly composted leaf litter...

First of all, I am happy to say that most of the spilled over leaf litter has already broken down into beautiful black gold compost. In fact, some lower layers of that stuff were broken down so much that I had to use a flat bottom shovel to scoop it up and into the cart.

If you get excited about homemade high-quality compost, you would have enjoyed turning that pile over and scooping it into the cart!

Anyways, the composted leaf litter is almost as heavy as soil, so when I had the Gorilla cart full, it was a bit of a challenge for me to get the cart up those initial 12 inches to get the cart into the run to dump the compost.

Picture of my chicken run gate and how high off the ground the compost litter inside the run is (actual measurement was 13 inches deep at the gate)...

So, now I am thinking that a pallet wood ramp is one of my next projects on my long list of things to do. Something needs to be built before I bust a gut trying to lift and pull a heavy cart through the chicken run door.

In the meantime, I guess I'll fill the cart half full so it's not so heavy to lift up that initial 12 inches at the gate.

Picture of half cart full of composted leaf litter from cleanup...

FYI, I dumped the first full cart of composted leaf litter into the run in one big pile. Then I tossed the morning chicken scratch and kitchen scraps on top of the pile to encourage the girls to work that pile. I was very surprised to see that the chickens tore into the leaf compost, scratching and pecking it, finding all kinds of good things in it to eat. So much so, that they were not even eating their chicken scratch and kitchen scraps first like I expected. That leaf compost must have been full of tasty bugs and juicy worms!

 

[gtaus]

Just a quick note, I found a stack of 32-inch-long 2x6's that I think will be perfect for building a small cart ramp. After lunch, I will have to see if I can find some thick deck board type pallet planks.

I know I have them, somewhere. One of my problems with all this pallet wood is that I am lacking a good organization system for storing the pallet wood. Pretty much have been putting everything into bins and just rummaging through the stuff till I find the boards I need. It works, but it's not very efficient.

If anyone has worked out a good system for wood storage organization, let me know. Just has to be mostly free and not take up lots of room. Thanks.

 

[gtaus]

Pallet Wood Ramp Completed!

Taking a short break from working outside. Thought I would upload some pictures of the final pallet wood ramp completed project. We have some rain clouds coming in, so I moved this project up to the top of my list so I could dump the cart full of leaf compost I had in it before it got all wet - and heavier.

I started off with 3 pieces of 32-inch-long 2X6's I had out in my pallet stash...

I laid them out flat, as you can see, then I cut a bunch of thicker pallet wood slats I dug out of one of my piles of wood. I cut them to 33-inches-long to fit inside the gate opening on my chicken run. Then I screwed the planks down to the 2X6's using a bunch of old rusty screws I had saved from previous projects. I spaced out the boards using the thin edge of 5-gallon paint sticks I get for free from Home Depot. They make great spacers.

Here is a picture of the backside of the ramp...

With all the 2X6's and the 3/4-inch planks, that ramp is plenty strong for my needs.

Here is a picture of the ramp in place, ready for me to pull the cart up into the run...

Makes that job so much easier with the ramp. The Gorilla cart rolled up the ramp almost as good as rolling on level ground. It is not a very complicated pallet project, but I really did not want to pull a heavy cart up and over that initial 13 inches of chicken run litter at the gate. I'm at an age where I really try to protect my back as much as possible. One bad slip when pulling a heavy load might make for a bad day, or longer. This pallet wood ramp should make everything easier and safer.

Total cost of this project was ZERO dollars. I used all wood salvaged from my pallet pickups and a handful of rusty old screws salvaged from previous projects. The potential value of saving my back from getting twisted or turned - invaluable!

As you can clearly see in the picture above, this pallet wood ramp project was thoroughly inspected and approved by the girls out in the run! ... Well, actually anything that makes it easier for me to get more good tasting food to them passes their inspection. I don't think they give a second thought to my safety...

 

[gtaus]

Update on 2X4 Foot Pole Bean Raised Beds

A few days ago, I was considering my options for making raised beds along the chicken run fence to grow things like pole beans. I want to take advantage of the existing "trellis" in terms of that 6-foot-tall fencing around the chicken run.

I started out thinking of making the raised beds for the pole beans just 6 inches wide. That's plenty big for the beans to grow up on the fencing. But as I stated, it takes just about as long for me to build a 4 foot long X 6-inch wide raised bed as it would to build a standard 4X4 foot raised bed.

I went from thinking about a 6-inch wide bed, to a 1 foot wide bed, and ended up deciding on building more of my 2X4 foot (half-standard) sized beds. I will plant the pole beans and/or other climbing plants along the fence line, but that will still leave me lots of room for other plants. I'm thinking shade loving plants that need some protection from the sun. Maybe things like kale, lettuce, swiss chard, etc...

Here is a quick picture of my two 2X4 foot raised beds placed alongside the chicken run fence...

That's on the backside fencing of my chicken run. I could put another 8 feet of raised beds along that back fence if I want. I would have to build more raised beds, but that is fine with me.

Imagine, if you will, having pole beans growing up that 6-foot-tall fencing and up and over on to the bird netting on top of the run. Then, lots of other plants to fill in the rest of the beds. That's my vision.

Tomorrow, I plan on filling the bottom half of these beds with hügelkultur logs and organics and getting everything ready for the final topsoil and chicken run compost mixed 1:1 for the final 6-8 inches for growing the plants.

In a few weeks, I will be setting up my cement mixer compost sifter and start processing my topsoil and compost for my raised garden beds.

And I cannot leave without reminding people that I build these 2X4 foot pallet wood raised beds for less than $2.00 in new screws - the pallet wood being free. That's a much better deal, IMHO, than this raised bed I saw at Menards today...

Well, that is probably the most expensive raised bed at Menards and there are other less expensive options. But none down to the price of my $2.00 per bed price. Since this is a pallet project thread, I guess I have to offer the benefits of making stuff with free pallet wood.

 

[Sally PB]

First of all, I am happy to say that most of the spilled over leaf litter has already broken down into beautiful black gold compost. In fact, some lower layers of that stuff were broken down so much that I had to use a flat bottom shovel to scoop it up and into the cart.

If you get excited about homemade high-quality compost, you would have enjoyed turning that pile over and scooping it into the cart!

I had to go get a bib. I was drooling over your compost.

 

[gtaus]

I had to go get a bib. I was drooling over your compost.

I drool over my compost! But the credit really goes to nature and to my composting chickens which speed up the process.

For those who are considering converting their chicken runs into a composting system, most of my compost, by volume, are leaves that I rake/mow up in the fall. If left by itself, leaf mold would break down into compost in 1-3 years depending on your climate. Leaves are considered a carbon source - sometimes called brown material.

But I add grass clippings to the chicken run compost litter all spring and summer long. Grass is considered a nitrogen "green" material and will speed up the composting process. The chickens, when they scratch and peck the litter looking for bugs and worms to eat, break down, turn over, and mix up the grass clippings with the leaves. That mix of everything turns into compost, for me, in less than 6 months.

Of course, I also toss in all my garden weeds, kitchen scraps, etc... into the chicken run as well. What the chickens don't eat gets composted with everything else. All my old coop deep bedding filled with chicken poo gets tossed into the chicken run and composted as well. Because chicken poo is considered a "hot" manure, it needs about 6 months in the run to "cool down" chemically before I use it my raised beds.

Well, some of that chicken run compost will be added to my pallet wood raised beds as the organic layer on top of the hügelkultur logs in the bottom. When I sift out the finished compost from the unfinished litter, I mix the finished compost with topsoil 1:1 for the top 6-8 inches of the raised bed. But the rejected, unfinished compost makes good material for that organic layer on top of the wood logs.

Of course, I think my first pallet project was making a compost bin. I now have 5 pallet wood compost bins but have not used them so much after I got my composting chickens. Mainly, I only put stuff in the pallet wood compost bins that the chickens should not eat. Every once in a while, I'll top off the bin with some grass clippings and/or leaves. But most of my composting action is taking place in the chicken run for the past 4 years.

Not high on my list, but something that I would like to do this summer, is to rebuild those 5 compost bins. I had a tree fall down on them last year and knocked them around a bit. I got the tree removed last year but stopped there. So, I need to empty all the bins and put them back into shape. That's still pretty low on my to-do list because almost all my composting is done in the chicken run now.

 

[Sally PB]

Not high on my list, but something that I would like to do this summer, is to rebuild those 5 compost bins. I had a tree fall down on them last year and knocked them around a bit. I got the tree removed last year but stopped there. So, I need to empty all the bins and put them back into shape. That's still pretty low on my to-do list because almost all my composting is done in the chicken run now.

Maybe you can get by with one or two bins now? The extra space could be used for, oh I don't know, more pallets?

 

[gtaus]

Maybe you can get by with one or two bins now? The extra space could be used for, oh I don't know, more pallets?

That's helpful thinking. Thanks. But these compost bins are all under a grove of tree, out of sight. I have 5 of them because I just fill one about every year, then move on to the next one. I never bother to turn to the compost piles in those bins. By the end of the fifth year, I just empty the first bin and start the cycle over again.

After sitting in the compost bin for about 5 years, most everything is naturally composted down. It's not a fast, hot composting system, but I have more compost than I can use with my chicken run compost to begin with. So, anything from the pallet wood 5-bin composting system is pure extra.

 

[Sally PB]

What will you do with all that black gold?

 

[Smokerbill]

What will you do with all that black gold?

I can see it now on Craig's List:

Will trade black gold chicken compost for lumber...