wanting to build a coop out of pallets...

[Acre4Me]

Go to the "Articles" section on BYC. There is an area dedicated to coops, sorted by size. I did a search on "pallet coop" and this came up:

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/recycled-material-coop.73176/

So, they disassembled the pallets to use the materials in the above link. If you just want to use the pallets, you will come up against various sizes, and quality of build - they are made to hold things stacked up on top of them, not be used as construction material, so you may be spending time reinforcing the pallets to use them in their original form.

So what did you use before your two chickens got injured? You must have an outdoor space/coop for them. Your available space might dictate some of your build specs. Our space did - we wanted to use an existing dog run (10'x 50'), so had to build accordingly.

 

[PirateGirl]

https://www.backyardchickens.com/articles/category/chicken-coops.12/

You can try searching just the coop articles (instead of searching the whole website) and you might come up with something.

I agree with getting your pallets first. I built a pallet duck house, but my plans changed a bit once I got my pallets.

 

[catmage]

These are in progress pics of our coop made with pallets. Our pallets are made different from standard ones. We have been calling them flat pallets. My husband brings them home from his work, a coffee manufacturing plant. The pallets measure 45 x 45, they kinda look like fencing panels (which is what we were going to use them for before we decided to get chickens) .

We disassembled some pallets and then used those planks in the empty slots on the whole pallet.

The base is two pallets side by side, filled in with cut off planks, then set into a frame made with 2x4s. The legs are 4x4s (or 2x4s screwed together). The internal frame is made with 2x3s. The two front doors are flat pallets that had two planks cut off the ends. The sides are planks that were deconstructed from flat pallets.

We used what we had on hand and tried not to buy a lot.

 

[jthornton]

@catmage Looking good! Put large overhangs all the way round on the roof for weather protection.

JT

 

[catmage]

@catmage Looking good! Put large overhangs all the way round on the roof for weather protection.

JT

We did I just don't have an updated photo.

We added more internal framing for the front and back doors as well as bracing underneath the base...it just isn't pictured. I get too wrapped up in the making and then forget to take pics of the process.

 

[sirrobyn0]

My first Chicken Coop was built out of pallets. I did not de-construct the pallets, I used them as is. First off if you have ever tried to deconstruct pallets to re-use the wood it can be quite time consuming and difficult depending on the pallet. So I used the pallets like prebuilt framing and then sheathed the outside side of them to form walls.

Did it work, yes. The pallets were very stable as walls, my biggest problem was this was a walk in coop, and the tallest pallets I had were 5 feet tall, so you had to stoop to get in the coop. I built a peaked roof on it so you could stand inside, but still I can't tell you the number of times I hit my head. The next problem, because pallets come in so many shapes and sizes was getting them to all line up well enough. And then I still had to sheath the outside of it. Later I built an addition off one end that is flat roofed, easy to build over pallets, but not the easiest to seal up. Bottom line in my opinion pallets are not worth while unless you have a ton of time on your hands to de-construct the pallents and salvage the wood to build the coop with.

Though not free like pallets are most big box hardware stores sell cull lumber, the ones in my area are 60 - 70% off. Cull lumber is wood they get in that is warped, cracked or otherwise damaged, or sometimes cut. It can be hit or miss if there is much at any given hardware store, but I've hit it big a few times. The wood is not perfect, I wouldn't build a house with it, but it's certainly good enough for a coop.

By the way my pallet coop is still standing, it's no longer used to house the chickens, I converted a couple of pig sheds into coop, when the flock got bigger, which has worked out 1,000 times better than the pallet coop. I opened up one end of the pallet coop and now we use it for storage.