It’s amazing what one man can do with pallets and some time on his hands…Earlier in the year Ian set to creating a chicken coop made entirely out of pallet wood, this was in part to keep me quiet as I’d been making ‘I want chickens and fresh eggs’ noises and partly because he had accumulated vast numbers of pallets on his supermarket rounds. He started off looking for them for kindling but soon realised that they were far too good just to burn – that and the fact we had enough kindling to last for the next few years. We just couldn’t get over the sheer waste of wood as most of the pallets he’d rescued were destined to be burned in the supermarket’s delivery yards. Of course some were not good for much else but most were very strong and yealded plenty of wood after de-nailing. So now we have a delightfully different chicken coop sitting at the top of our land by the apple trees, hopefully to be occupied by charming chicks in spring.
Ian then turned his hand to creating a Wendy house for our younger guests, of course this is no ordinary play house – that would be too boring and simple, so it’s in the shape of a Sussex barn – what else? It has to be seen to be believed, complete with dormer windows, shingle roof and double doors front and back and all made out of pallets. It’s not quite finished yet but I’m sure it will be long before our next seasons’ guests arrive. I think the next project is going to be a gazebo so watch this space….
3 Comments
I love the use of discarded wooden pallets! I will be using this idea for a chicken coop of my own. Thankyou!!
How many pallets did it take to make the chicken coop and have you used it for chickens yet?
Hi John, I’ll pass on your comment to Ian and I’m sure he’ll be delighted with your praise. He’s even more proud of his fantasy play house. Unfortunately as he kind of works his designs around what pallets and other supermarket cast offs are available it’s very difficult to tell you how many it took. I know that he found some wooden display units being thrown out and that became the foundation structure of the coop. Even more unfortunate is that he really made it as a challenge and doesn’t believe that it’s actually worth our while keeping hens for the amount of eggs we use. I had thought it would be nice to offer fresh eggs for sale to our guests but judging by how few were interested in home grown veg or home made jams & chutneys so it’s unlikely that we shall be spending any money fencing in the coop and buying chickens in the foreseeable future. However on a more positive note, he’s just putting the finishing touches to the greenhouse he’s made out of pallets and some old doors & windows we were given and that will be used extensively by me. Can’t wait to get some seeds in!