PALLET chicken house

[Polly Fouracre]

Lynda! I am so impressed! We paid £150 for a small house and run for our two girls and I was going to buy a shed for our fatteners but I am now inspired to bully Jim into building a Pallet Palace.(Bless his innocence, he's asleep watching the Grand Prix, or something and doesn't know what lies in store!!)
I was going to build a pig house from pallets but straw bales are easier!

[lynda66]

well i've been busy ..... i moved the compost to the new bin, so i can make a decent sized run ...... i think for their first few weeks outside,when i'm brave enough to let them out of my living room.... i'm gonna put the poly tunnel over the courgettes and squash, as everything else will be finished in a couple of weeks .... probably even the courgettes, but i figure it will give the babies a nice warm run, with lots of things they can eat and explore, and it saves me pulling everything up.

anyway, laid a brick base, which is actually almost level (i've bought a spirit level and a tape measure now. the shed base is now attached, i gut off a couple of the long bits i'd left for fitting, and pushed it together with the nest box.

one wall is now sort of up, though it needs a bit of adjustment, as i was on my own and struggled getting it into place ...... so no piccies yet as it went dark but it almost looks like a shed

[lynda66]

ok heres the latest piccies ......

picture 1

layed a brick base, put the wooden base on it, slid the slats under the nest box and nailed them on.

picture 2

added the back wall.

picture 3

the back of the back wall, the slats i left on have been nailed to the nest box, might trim them down a bit later

picture 4

trimmed the inside slats near the door end, so there is just the outside one

[lynda66]

finally got the front wall up so tomorrow will start on the roof


i think it might be starting to look much more house ish lol

[Snadger]

Well done Lynda! Deffo looking more chicken coop-ifyed now!

It will be good to see the eggy thread and the coopy thread come together and see your home hatched hens in your home made coop!

[lynda66]

either that or i'll be having barbecued omelette's whilst sat in a shed

[MaureenHall]

Looking really good Lynda!! I'm dead impressed

[Bephlam]

Wow Lynda...it's looking fab!!

Can't wait to see the end result...and of course the chicks (or the omlettes!)

[lynda66]

well it's all nailed together now, and the outside is mostly draught proof ..... decided to chop the slats off where they attached to the nest box, as it was going to be hard to seal it, so it's now nailed from the inside. the door end has a couple of beams one at the top and bottom, so it won't blow down now.

the next non rainy day will be spent making a frame for the roof, then i only have the door to make and a roof for the nest box sorry no pics again yet, it went dark.

[fitzilian]

i literally has my chooks for 3 weeks and already we're expending - new baby tonight...

i think we may need a bigger house / a new house as want to hatch some ducklings next year (all but 2 girls will be dinner unless i can sell them)

you've inspired me... i might just have a go at building a nice big walk in chook house... just got to get enough pallets... (how many have you used in total?)

[lynda66]

so far i've used 9 big ones, and 1 normal sized one, and a crate. the big ones are about double normal size (8foot x 4foot ish) ...... and probably would use 3 for the roof and another for the door, but i'm lucky in that i have a ready made fibreglass roof dunno where you would get the long pallets from, so double it for normal sized pallets..... actually that's a lot of pallets innit .... was just very lucky i have as many as i need on my doorstep

[Nicos]

Lynda - We got the long pallets to make a gate for the lottie from Travis Perkins

[lynda66]

oooo cool thanks.....there you go then everyone else can make a cock up now too

[fitzilian]

okay... getting 2 delivered tonight from my friend who's working on a barn conversion... and they have about 12 normal sized ones...

plus the 3 in my garden already and 2 at my dad-in-laws house... should be enough...

but will make my raised beds first as that was the original plan... cant think about new babies until spring..!

[lynda66]

i've given up on original plans ...... like having fences and stuff .... need lots more pallets for them, and raised beds, theres so much still needs doing ..... i've had 2 gates sat at the side of the house for 2 years. i'll get them up eventually...... i reckon in another 5 years the garden will be just how i want it