Show Me Your Pallet Projects!

[gtaus]

***Just a quick copy and paste cross post from another thread***

Making pallet wood raised beds became a sort of hobby for me. I just enjoy tearing apart pallets and rebuilding them into something useful. I do take pride in my work. The best thing, for me, is that if something fails, I can fix it myself because I know how I built it.

Some of my oldest garden raised beds (~8 years old), before I started using pallet wood, had started to fail with sidewall and end corner blowouts. That's when I added the 2X4's to the corners of my current v2.0 design. I don't have any end corner blowouts anymore. Having the sidewall planks inside the 2X4 outer frame, instead of on the outside of the frame, has prevented sidewall blowouts that I got on some of my earlier raised beds. It was just something that I learned over a number of years.

Picture of my pallet wood raised bed v2.0 design...

I do make smaller pallet wood flower planters for Dear Wife, and they have the sidewall planks on the outside. But they are much smaller and don't have the outward pressure on the boards like in the larger raised garden beds...

I built those type of pallet wood planters to replace some ~25-year-old half whiskey barrel planters that were falling apart.

Dear Wife is very happy with my pallet wood planter builds. Plus, she can tell me how big or how small she wants each planter depending on where she plans on putting it out in the yard.

She likes deciding what size planter she wants for each spot. I started off with one pallet wood planter build and now have about 6 of them built, every one a different size, but all the same basic design as in the photo above.

A new half whiskey barrel was selling for almost $50.00. I can make a pallet wood planter for about $1.00 using free pallet wood. If/when the pallet wood rots out and needs to be replaced, I can easily repair it or just make another one.

 

[gtaus]

Update on Using Leaves in the Chicken Run for Winter

One of my better ideas this past fall was to use my pallet wood stackable compost bin to store leaves that I could use to toss into the chicken run during the winter months.

Here is that compost bin with the stackable tiers...

The idea was to toss some dry leaves on top of the snow outside of the pop door so my chickens would go outside in the winter. I don't know about your chickens, but my chickens will not go outside and walk on the snow. They will just stay inside the coop.

I think I started with about 7 tiers stacked on that bin, full of leaves. I only need to spread out about a 6X6 foot bed of leaves on top of the snow in front of the pop door and that is enough for the chickens to go outside for some sunlight. Here we are, now in the last half of February, and I have only had to take off one tier in January and maybe one more tier at the end of this month. With more than half of our expected winter gone, I have only used about 2 tiers of leaves out of the 7 tiers I started with last fall. It looks like I had way more leaves than I needed. But that's a good thing.

Come spring, I'll just take whatever leaves are left in that stackable compost bin and dump them all into the chicken run. I don't want to keep that compost bin there in front of my chicken run during the summer. The great thing about that stackable compost bin design is that it takes no effort to move it, one tier at a time, to a different location. You can't really do that as easily with a compost bin made up with full pallets screwed or nailed together.

To keep the leaves from getting snowed on, I used a cut up feed bag to cover the top of the leaves then I put on my wire frame top to hold it down...

When it snows, I just slide the feed bag off the top and all the snow comes with it, leaving the leaves dry underneath.

I had to post this because this was the first winter that I have been able to let my chickens out into my uncovered chicken run during the winter. The stackable compost bin I built holds a lot more than filling bags with leaves. Well, the big thing for me was that I can easily dump my lawn mower collection bins full of leaves directly into that bin. It would take both more time and effort to bag and store that many leaves. Also, I was not using that stackable compost bin for anything else at the time. So, using it next to the chicken run for the winter has really worked out well for me.

Picture of my chickens on the leaves after a light snowfall, you can see that as long as they are not walking on snow, they will come out...

I added more fresh leaves after taking that picture. But you get the idea that it does not take a lot of leaves to cover the snow to make the chickens brave enough to go outside.

 

[chickengr]

Update on Using Leaves in the Chicken Run for Winter

One of my better ideas this past fall was to use my pallet wood stackable compost bin to store leaves that I could use to toss into the chicken run during the winter months.

Here is that compost bin with the stackable tiers...

View attachment 4053374

The idea was to toss some dry leaves on top of the snow outside of the pop door so my chickens would go outside in the winter. I don't know about your chickens, but my chickens will not go outside and walk on the snow. They will just stay inside the coop.

I think I started with about 7 tiers stacked on that bin, full of leaves. I only need to spread out about a 6X6 foot bed of leaves on top of the snow in front of the pop door and that is enough for the chickens to go outside for some sunlight. Here we are, now in the last half of February, and I have only had to take off one tier in January and maybe one more tier at the end of this month. With more than half of our expected winter gone, I have only used about 2 tiers of leaves out of the 7 tiers I started with last fall. It looks like I had way more leaves than I needed. But that's a good thing.

Come spring, I'll just take whatever leaves are left in that stackable compost bin and dump them all into the chicken run. I don't want to keep that compost bin there in front of my chicken run during the summer. The great thing about that stackable compost bin design is that it takes no effort to move it, one tier at a time, to a different location. You can't really do that as easily with a compost bin made up with full pallets screwed or nailed together.

To keep the leaves from getting snowed on, I used a cut up feed bag to cover the top of the leaves then I put on my wire frame top to hold it down...

View attachment 4053376

When it snows, I just slide the feed bag off the top and all the snow comes with it, leaving the leaves dry underneath.

I had to post this because this was the first winter that I have been able to let my chickens out into my uncovered chicken run during the winter. The stackable compost bin I built holds a lot more than filling bags with leaves. Well, the big thing for me was that I can easily dump my lawn mower collection bins full of leaves directly into that bin. It would take both more time and effort to bag and store that many leaves. Also, I was not using that stackable compost bin for anything else at the time. So, using it next to the chicken run for the winter has really worked out well for me.

Picture of my chickens on the leaves after a light snowfall, you can see that as long as they are not walking on snow, they will come out...

View attachment 4053377

I added more fresh leaves after taking that picture. But you get the idea that it does not take a lot of leaves to cover the snow to make the chickens brave enough to go outside.

your chickens are lucky!

 

[gtaus]

your chickens are lucky!

Well, they will come out to the chicken run with some leaves on top of the snow. In the mornings, I usually toss some chicken scratch and kitchen scraps on the leaves in the chicken run. They come out for the treats. But we have had a week of really cold weather, -26F at night with highs in the day around -4F. At those temps, the chickens don't stay outside very long before they head back into the coop.

This weekend, we are forecast to get up to +36F on Saturday. I expect the chickens will be outside more and more as the days get warmer. We still have about 6 weeks of snow on the ground, but it's nice to have those leaves for the chickens to walk on.

It's been nice for me, too, seeing the chickens outside even in the winter. The past 4 winters, my chickens never went outside of the coop. They just won't walk on white snow. But they will walk on the leaves tossed on top of snow even though it is still bitter cold outside.

I'm thinking their feet might get too cold with direct contact on the snow. Or maybe it also has something to do with all that white stuff on the ground? Better not touch!

I originally built that pallet wood stackable compost bin just for the challenge. I have never built a stackable system before, and I had to figure out how to use pallet wood of different thicknesses. So, it was a challenge to make it all work. I was glad to finally find a real use for the stackable bin holding leaves for the chicken run in the winter. I love it when a plan comes together!

 

[chickengr]

Well, they will come out to the chicken run with some leaves on top of the snow. In the mornings, I usually toss some chicken scratch and kitchen scraps on the leaves in the chicken run. They come out for the treats. But we have had a week of really cold weather, -26F at night with highs in the day around -4F. At those temps, the chickens don't stay outside very long before they head back into the coop.

This weekend, we are forecast to get up to +36F on Saturday. I expect the chickens will be outside more and more as the days get warmer. We still have about 6 weeks of snow on the ground, but it's nice to have those leaves for the chickens to walk on.

It's been nice for me, too, seeing the chickens outside even in the winter. The past 4 winters, my chickens never went outside of the coop. They just won't walk on white snow. But they will walk on the leaves tossed on top of snow even though it is still bitter cold outside.

I'm thinking their feet might get too cold with direct contact on the snow. Or maybe it also has something to do with all that white stuff on the ground? Better not touch!

I originally built that pallet wood stackable compost bin just for the challenge. I have never built a stackable system before, and I had to figure out how to use pallet wood of different thicknesses. So, it was a challenge to make it all work. I was glad to finally find a real use for the stackable bin holding leaves for the chicken run in the winter. I love it when a plan comes together!

we rarely have snow here. even if it snows it is not so cold. chickens here walk on snow and peck it.

you could make a low (maybe 2 frame) stackable compost bin in the chicken run. if you throw kitchen scrap in it chickens will love it. just never put anything cooked as that would attract rats.

 

[gtaus]

you could make a low (maybe 2 frame) stackable compost bin in the chicken run. if you throw kitchen scrap in it chickens will love it.

I went from a small wagon with compost in it, to making a pallet wood compost bin inside the chicken run, to just converting the entire chicken run into a composting system. There are many options.

Picture of my pallet wood compost bin in the chicken run, now used as roosting space for the chickens more than anything else because the entire chicken run is now a composting system...

I have considered using a frame, or two, of the stackable compost bin to make grazing frames with grass, barley, or wheat growing underneath. I do have a very large ~3X12 foot grazing frame in the chicken run, but it has not been very successful. I think it needs more sun and consistent watering. I'll try it again this year, but if it fails again, maybe I'll just take it out.

Here is a picture of my chicken run reclaimed wood grazing frame from a few years ago when I expanded my chicken run...

It's a good build, but I think it needs a different location with more sunshine. I don't know. I'll put some fresh seed in it this year again and see if anything green grows, or not. It has just never lived up to its promise.

just never put anything cooked as that would attract rats.

I don't have a rat problem where I live. So, that's not an issue for me. Also, I never have enough food scraps or leftovers that the chickens cannot finish in about 10 minutes. Nothing left over for any rats - if there were any.

I do have small cottontail rabbits in the yard. Every once in a while, I'll see a rabbit in the chicken run munching on something. The chickens don't seem to mind the rabbit being around. I don't really care either. All my chicken feed is inside the coop and the rabbit never goes in the coop.

Google picture of a cottontail rabbit. They are small enough to fit through my 2X4 inch welded wire fencing.

 

[chickengr]

I went from a small wagon with compost in it, to making a pallet wood compost bin inside the chicken run, to just converting the entire chicken run into a composting system. There are many options.

Picture of my pallet wood compost bin in the chicken run, now used as roosting space for the chickens more than anything else because the entire chicken run is now a composting system...

View attachment 4054965

I meant you could make a compost bin for winter when you have a lot of snow. kitchen scrap would be in one place that you can (un)cover it according to your needs.

 

[gtaus]

I meant you could make a compost bin for winter when you have a lot of snow. kitchen scrap would be in one place that you can (un)cover it according to your needs.

On really cold days, I just toss the kitchen scraps into the coop in the winter. The chickens eat everything anyways. So, no need to build a separate covered compost bin outside. If I have bones in the kitchen scraps, I'll toss that outside on top of the leaves.

I grow barley fodder for my chickens in the winter months. It's the only greens they get in the snow months. I just toss that into the chicken coop as well. Most of gets eaten, but if anything remains, it just gets covered by the dry deep bedding. In the spring, I'll clean everything out and any remaining root mass from the barley fodder will compost nicely.

On nice, sunny, winter days I will toss the barley fodder out into the chicken run on top of the leaves. Again, the chickens eat almost all of the barley grass and root mat. What they don't eat outside, those cottontail rabbits will come by later and munch on any remaining bits.

Well, everything I give to the chickens in the wintertime is usually eaten within a few minutes. I really don't have any need for a covered compost bin. But thanks for the suggestion just the same.

 

[gtaus]

Outdoor Pallet Wood Chairs and Table

I was watching the ABC Evening News tonight and noticed this scene of two guys at the beach sitting on some pallet wood chairs with a pallet wood table. Looks pretty good to me. I think it might be great around a fire pit, fire ring, BBQ grill, etc... in the backyard. No plans or anything like that, just took a screenshot of the chairs and table. Here for your consideration...

 

[gtaus]

Outdoor Reclaimed Lumber Bench

Thinking about DIY outdoor furniture, I am very happy with my Easy Outdoor Bench build that I found on YouTube. I made one of those benches with new lumber from Menards before I got into pallet wood/reclaimed lumber builds. I used reclaimed 2X8's for the project on my second build and I think it looks great. I have one bench out by the chicken run for relaxing and watching some chicken TV, and the second bench is now by the fire ring.

Here is a picture of the bench I built with reclaimed 2X8's...

If something like that interests you, here is the YouTube instructions for the build...

That YouTube video was pre-COVID, about 5+ years ago, and I imagine the price of lumber has gone up a bit since then. Still, I can tell you that it is pretty easy to build and is a solid bench when you are done. Of course, using reclaimed lumber, I built that second bench for maybe only a couple dollars' worth of screws. That reclaimed wood was just sitting on a lumber pile getting old. Better to turn it into something useful.