Thoughts on pallet coop ideas

[gtaus]

I was actually thinking of using pellets as bedding, as they seem way cheaper than other options.

For coop litter, I have used free wood chips from our local county landfill for a few years when I first got my chickens. Wood chips work great and are free for me.

For the past 3 years, I switched over to using paper shreds which I make at home with my paper shredder. I shred almost all our paper products, like junk mail, office paper, newspapers, food boxes, and even cardboard boxes like those from Amazon, etc...

I like using free paper shreds even better than wood chips because the paper shreds break down in composting very fast. Paper shreds are also pretty much dust free and are a lot lighter in the muck buckets when I clean out the coop. I also like the fact that I am recycling all those paper products at home instead of hauling them off to a recycle center.

Other free litter options might include dried grass clippings and leaves. They work as well although I found leaves were very dusty.

That's really cool how you can dump [pellets] directly into the garden like that.

Well, you might be able to dump pellets themselves directly into the garden, but if your coop litter has chicken poo mixed in with it, you should probably let it sit and age for a number of months before you put it on your gardens. Chicken manure is considered a "hot" manure and needs about 6 months to "cool" down before you put it on a garden.

I use the dry deep litter system in my coop. I do not use poop boards that need to be cleaned out frequently. About twice a year I remove my coop litter with chicken poo and dump it into my chicken run to compost. I harvest my finished compost after 4-6 months and use that in my gardens.

I use pine shavings and whenever I clean my coops it's such a hassle

I don't use pine shavings for coop litter because I would have to pay for them. But pine shavings are not all that expensive by the bale at our local Fleet store compared to other options. I don't understand why you consider them such a hassle to clean out. Could you elaborate on that thought a bit more?

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Could you elaborate on that thought a bit more?

1. It collects poop easily
2. Very dusty
3. I do the deep litter method as well and for me, with using pine shavings, it's a hassle to take out all of those shavings because there's so many trips back and forth from the coop to compost, and we can't just scoop it out in one big pile like pellets if that makes sense

 

[gtaus]

In response to your statement that using pine shavings is a hassel...

1. It collects poop easily

Yep, but that's actually why someone would want to use pine shavings. If you use a deep litter or dry bedding setup, that would be andvantage.

2. Very dusty

I agree on that issue. When I used free wood chips, they were great for coop litter, but dusty as all heck when I wanted to clean out the coop. That was not much of a surprise to me because they were very dusty when I first put them in the coop as fresh litter. After six months, they were a lot worse in terms of dust.

I switched over to using paper shreds. They are almost dust free. Even when I clean out the coop, there is not nearly as much dust in the air with the used paper shreds.

3. I do the deep litter method as well and for me, with using pine shavings, it's a hassle to take out all of those shavings because there's so many trips back and forth from the coop to compost, and we can't just scoop it out in one big pile like pellets if that makes sense

I compost all my used coop litter in my chicken run. So, it's not a big trip from the back of the chicken coop to the gate of the chicken run.

If I ever make any modifications to my coop, it will be to add a dropdown panel to side of the coop that is attached to the chicken run. That way, I could just push out the old coop litter directly into the chicken run using a plastic scoop shovel or a heavy push broom.

To reduce the trips I have to make when I clean out the old coop litter, I bought a bunch of muck buckets. They can hold a lot of litter. However, I bought some cheap $10.00 muck buckets from WalMart and they were not nearly as strong as they needed to be. If I fill up a WalMart muck bucket more than halfway, the plastic breaks or the rope handles fail. That was when I was using wood chips as litter. Wood chips get heavy. Now I am using paper shreds and they are much lighter. Point is the muck buckets can hold a lot of litter and reduce the number of trips you have to make to clean out the coop.

Also, you might want to move your compost bins inside your chicken run, or even better, just convert your entire chicken run into a composting system. That's what I did. Now I harvest as much black gold compost as I want, anytime I want, but typically early in the spring and again late in the fall after all my garden plants are done producing.

BTW, if you decide to try out some muck buckets for coop cleaning, I would suggest buying the farm quality muck buckets made for carrying the heavier loads and not breaking. They cost more up front, but I can tell you I wasted a lot of money buying the cheaper plastic muck buckets from WalMart.

Here is a farm grade muck bucket listed on Amazon...

The $10.00 WalMart muck buckets look just like that $43.00 Little Giant muck bucket, but the plastic on the WalMart buckets cracked and broke under fairly light loads. I would not recommend getting the WalMart muck buckets. Look for better quality muck buckets at a local farm supply store and save money in the long run.

 

[jillybeansisme]

Hey everyone,
sorry I've been posting threads a lot lately, it's just that I always have so many chicken questions and there's always something going on with my chickens it seems
I have lots of future coop plans for my future breeder flock of 7-8 Cochin bantams.
I'm not going to be doing this anytime soon, it's just that I like to plan ahead.

I've done some research and looked on Pinterest for ideas....
Please tell me if my plans are acheivable and realistic or not and if I should change anything about my design.
I drew the text with my finger so sorry about the unreadable text.
This is a bird's eye view of the top.
View attachment 3882222
the tan parts are wood. blue is water. I was thinking about having a slanted roof with a gutter attached and when it rains, it goes down the gutter and into a barrel with little water cups attached. (P.S. water barrel and coop not to scale lol.)
I'm thinking that the watering station is gonna look like this:

View attachment 3882229

And for the coop part.....
Imma cheapskate. But it also is environmentally friendly I guess.
I want to make the coop out of pallets. Plz don't make fun
Maybe once the base of the coop is made I could put a piece of plywood on the bottom to cover the floor, and once the walls are assembled I could put cover the walls in plywood, too? I've seen some vids on YouTube where people cut panels off of the pallets and use those panels for the outside walls. I'm just not sure if I'll aquire enough in order to do that
And then for the roof, I want a clear greenhouse style roof:
View attachment 3882230
The only reason I wanted this is to let extra light into the coop and make it feel home-y (or will it look ugly?)
Alrighty. Then for the inside, I want to install a poop board with roosts of course because I found that me not having a poop board in my other coop with 13 chickens was a big mistake
I'm thinking along the lines of this:

View attachment 3882247
View attachment 3882249
View attachment 3882250
I was thinking about sort of an L-shape poop board with roosts on top and a ramp coming up to the poop board??
And then I really like the idea of installing nesting boxes below the poop boards. But I only need 3-4, and the person in the 2nd pic installed tons of boxes underneath the poop board. How would I only insert a few? How could I utilize the rest of the space underneath? How can I make the poop board where it can slide out for easy cleaning? (does it even need to slide out? How do I clean out the sand then?)
How would I make a door in the pallets? Should the coop be raised? (And how do I do that?? )
Where have you found free pallets?

Thanks so much! Sorry about all my questions in this thread

Okay, so here's my opinion. DO NOT use pallets. They are rough and your chickens could get injured. The exception to this is if you use them as exterior siding over sheeting. You definitely need framing - I used 2" x 3". I also put 1/2" foam board as insulation. My interiors are particle board that is painted. You don't want your roosts over your nesting boxes because chickens poop all the time in their sleep. You might want to consider having nesting boxes that can be accessed by you on the outside of the coop/run area so that you can open and retrieve the eggs easily without having to go in the coop. You only need 1 box for 4-5 chickens. They like to share. The boxes would be open to the chickens from inside the coop. When designing the nest box, have it open on the side so that the roof of it doesn't leak. Have a full size door that opens so the coop is easy to clean. Pine shavings are not a big deal to clean out - I just shovel them into a wheel barrow. You do NOT want to have a clear roof because the summer sun will heat the coop too much. Ventilation is of utmost importance even in winter. I have predator-proofed ventilation with an awning "solid" window held up by a stick, a predator-proof "screen door" with a solid door over it, and 4' of near the ceiling ventilation that is above the heads of roosting chickens. That's to keep the drafts up above them. There is also a "chimney" for a bit more. Consider storage area for food and shavings. I'd cut out half the water cups. In summer heat I put a frozen jug of water in the waterer to keep the water cool. You also want the run to be covered on top. This creates some shade and prevents wild bird poop from dropping down. Wild bird poop can cause bird flu and kill your flock. Make your coop and run area large. An 8' x 12' coop house could hold 24 chickens, but the run would need to be at least 240SF for that many. A great way to help predator-proof a run or free range area is baseball netting.

 

[talkinboutchickens]

They are rough and your chickens could get injured. The exception to this is if you use them as exterior siding over sheeting.

I was thinking that the main structure would be pallets and then there would be like plywood on the inside and maybe outside walls......Will that work?

You do NOT want to have a clear roof because the summer sun will heat the coop too much.

Oops silly me of course that wouldn't work
What would you use instead? Can I just use plain wood? Sorry, I never build anything so I don't really know much

You also want the run to be covered on top. This creates some shade and prevents wild bird poop from dropping down.

What do you use to cover the run? Metal sheets won't work for the design that I have in mind....

 

[talkinboutchickens]

Yep, but that's actually why someone would want to use pine shavings. If you use a deep litter or dry bedding setup, that would be andvantage.

I think my issue is that I'm using the deep litter method to be honest.....instead on mixing it every so often we leave it and it starts to smell....
Mixing it is just to much work for my family.

I switched over to using paper shreds. They are almost dust free. Even when I clean out the coop, there is not nearly as much dust in the air with the used paper shreds.

I don't have enough paper in order to have enough shredded paper for my coop

To reduce the trips I have to make when I clean out the old coop litter, I bought a bunch of muck buckets.

That's a good idea...

or even better, just convert your entire chicken run into a composting system.

How can I do that?

 

[Ecarroll]

I don’t have answers to most of the questions, but as for the water barrel I have one very similar. Instead of a trash can though, I used an old bait barrel (my grandfather was a fisherman, lots of his old stuff around), and attached two of those waterer cups. It works great for me, I only wish I’d put the cups lower down and raised the barrel up on cinder blocks. Only issue is in the winter I can’t use it as it will freeze, so in the winter I use a black rubber tub because you can just break the ice on top or dump it out easy if it’s frozen all the way through.

 

[gtaus]

Mixing [deep litter in the coop] is just to much work for my family.

I think I should define some terms as I know them. Deep litter is a moist composting system in the coop. If well balanced, it should not smell.

I use a dry deep bedding system in my coop. The idea is the deep bedding will absorb the chicken poo and dry it out. The chicken poo works its way down deep into the bedding, so the coop should not smell if in balance. I clean out my deep litter twice a year and start over with fresh litter.

I don't mix my coop litter. If I see a patch that could use a little work, I might toss some chicken scratch on that area and the chickens will scratch and peck in that area, mixing it themselves.

I don't have enough paper in order to have enough shredded paper for my coop

You don't need to put down all the paper shreds litter at the start. In my case, I put maybe 3 or 4 inches of paper shreds into the coop and add additional layers over the six months until it reaches maybe 10 inches deep. Then I dump the old coop litter into the chicken run for composting. That system works great for me, especially in the winter, because the new paper shreds will cover the frozen poo under the roosts and keep everything looking good.

[Muck buckets are] a good idea...

I like the idea of using muck buckets. But I bought a bunch of cheap $10.00 plastic muck buckets from WalMart and they are not holding up very well. I only fill them halfway now because otherwise the plastic would crack and break and/or the rope handles would pull through.

Menards sells a similar tub...

I would recommend comparing them to the more expensive muck buckets sold at the farm stores. It might be worth paying more money for a higher quality tub up front and saving money in the long run.

On the other hand, a full muck bucket of old coop litter would too heavy for some people, so maybe the cheaper tubs filled halfway would be good enough. I can lift a full tub of paper shreds litter, but when I used wood chips as coop litter, that was way too heavy for me to fill the entire tub.

How can I [convert my chicken run into a composting system]?

It was an evolution for me. I started out with a nice green grass chicken run that look absolutely beautiful. Within a few months, the chickens had ripped up all the grass and everything was basically bare dirt. That turned into mud after a rain.

So, I first dumped a few loads of wood chips into the chicken run. I can get all the free wood chips I could ever use just by going out to our local county landfill. Wood chips are great and I think I could have been happy just having a chicken run full of wood chips.

But then I started reading about making compost in the run and using that compost to feed your gardens. That sounded like a better system for me. I started dumping all my grass clippings, leaves, weeds pulled from the garden, and just about anything else that was organic that would compost. All my old coop litter gets dumped into the chicken run.

Where I live, I harvest my finished black gold compost about every six months. By volume, it's mostly leaf mold and grass clippings, but of course all the chicken poo from the coop litter is also mixed in. It is some really good stuff. I have way more compost in my run than I can use, but compost only seems to get better as it ages, so I am OK with taking out what I need and leaving the rest to continue composting.

I harvest hundreds of dollars' worth of compost from my chickens run about twice a year. So much, in fact, that I invested in a cement mixer compost sifter setup...

For many years, I just used a manual sifting frame with hardware cloth on top of my wheelbarrow to sift out compost. That works fine, but it is a labor-intensive job. With my cement mixer compost sifter, I can process enough compost in 15 minutes that would take me maybe 3 or 4 hours by hand.

When I first bought my cement mixer and made it into a compost sifter about 3 years ago, I estimated that I was processing about $60.00 of store-bought compost equivalent every hour. And that is at my old man pace not working very hard or very fast!

If you have a backyard flock of chickens, and you love to garden, you are really missing out on a lot of compost potential if you don't put your chickens to work in the run making that compost. And it's not forced labor, either. The chickens love to scratch and peck in the chicken run compost litter all day looking for tasty bugs and juicy worms to eat. All that action breaks down the litter fast. And my chicken feed bill is about half in the summer when the girls are outside digging in the compost and finding stuff to eat.

I should also mention that I live on a lake and have hawks and Bald Eagles overhead all the time. I cannot let my chickens free range without a high risk of losing them to predation. So, I brought the free range to them by converting my chicken run into a composting system. It works well for me and the chickens.

 

[paintedChix]

O boy!! Is it my turn???? Yay!

On roofing panels, I can't help you as much since I primarily use tarps. I do know that folks in desert areas have used the shaded color roofing panel. Some say they add shade cloth hung over their roofs. Others alternate w/ tin & then use some type of insulation both to reduce heat/cold & condensation. Sucks to have it raining inside, LOL.

On pallets - I've used more than a few over the years. I'm getting ready to refurbish some sheds & coops.
Instead of wood pallets this time, as we go along, I'm replacing w/ plastic (most wood pallets in our area arent free, the plastic ones cost between $5-20/ea - depending on supplier).

Yes, the old wood pallets did rot away on some, got splintery on others. Free is free. Low cost always has advantages to your budget. Why put in a floor? If concerned, first make sure you put them up on a cement foundation of some type. Cinderblocks, filled w/ rock so it drains well is great. Then you can sand your pallets smoith & stain or paint them - injury & weather protection. Use screws instead of nails - both saves wear/tear when assembling the coop & makes ez to disassemble if need to refurbish, rebuild or move it.

You can build your pallet coop as a shed w/ rafters & roof or you can do just one layer high & do a hooped roof - CP, PVC or electrical conduit. You could still do roofing panels, even making you own "sheets" from pallet wood if you were so inclined. There are examples on Google images (ive developed a hate relationship w/ meta Al) & Pinterest. There are examples here on BYC. I don't have those links at the moment...

There is a full article from a guy that built a shed type chicken coop. It's two pallets high, taller in front than in back. Loads of pictures. 2 articles on his site ( I think, haven't looked at it lately). It's a blue grey color - painted. He's not on BYC.

Run - you asked how to do roof. You could roof the whole bit, like the shed. Or you can hoop it w/ CP, PVC or electrical conduit. Then could tarp or shade cloth it for shade, use wire (don't recommend chicken wire) or bird netting. There are other ways of supporting both wire & bird netting.

Bedding & DLM - I'm going to post this & do another post....

 

[paintedChix]

Gtaus beat me on DLM & composting in the run. Very eloquently. I bow. Grin.

I will add - I have personally found any & all bedding to get dusty. Some get dusty due to where it comes from (hay & straw baled here in the sandhills of NC are WAY dustier than it was in CO, WY, MT & Canada. Even woodchips here start as dustier than in those states) & how it's handled. All gets dusty as chickens scratch, dust bathe & poop in it. Chickens, even new hatched chicks, have TONS of dander, that gets added to litter as they daily fluff themselves & preen.

Here are my links - sorry. The icons aren't fixed yet. Larry off work tonight & snoring...

O, one more thing. My sheds, for pony pastures, were supposed to be temporary. I didn't use nails or screws. I put t-posts in to hold them "sturdy". I strapped the pallets w/ hay string. I've had to replace tarps. Some hay string has broken now. Some pallets are... disintegrating at the bottom. BUT they were put up temporarily in March 2015 & still functional now. I purchased the 48"x48" pallets, used, in 2012 & originally used them as compost bins. Moved ponies/2 horses to temp, leased pasture & used some to build a shed there. Then moved to our current property & built 2 sheds. They still stand. The free pallets used for 2 - 4x8' & several 8x8' pens/coop were all different sizes... They are finally being rebuilt now. I will be getting a load of plastic pallets next week, I hope.

DLM - https://photos.app.goo.gl/3Z4ZpfpHr1Nr5DZC8

CP, sheds, coops -

https://photos.app.goo.gl/fgKYkhxNAXBnH6B36