We have found a wonderful pallet resource for stuff here at the homestead.

A local manufacturing firm has hundreds of these lovely big solid pallets for sale for only $4 each.  Considering they are nearly 4 x 8, uniform in size and build and in fantastic shape, that is a deal!  We got ten a while back and I have already used them for all sorts of builds!

I want to build a deck/stage sort of thing for the middle yard so we can have some bluegrass jams and such here at the farm.  Miss Julia and I painted them with some of our special farm paint to help preserve them.  I was going to put some deck boards down on the top, but then winter set in and I decided to steal some for another project!  I decided there would probably not be much picking and grinning happening in the yard this winter!   I can always get more in the spring!

 

I took two of them and some scrap cut offs of landscape timbers to build each of the coops a chicken table.  I’m not sure what else to call it.  But basically, it’s just a raised pallet that the chickens love!  They sit on top of it and can act like King of the Hill, or they like to lay under it if it’s too sunny.  The little ones like to run in and out from under it if they are being chased.  It’s just something easy for their enrichment and they seem to enjoy them!    And the best part?  They basically cost me about $4 each, since I had the legs from the discard pile.  (They were cuts off from a 8 foot timber….)

 

Of course, we’ve used pallets here and there as fencing and they do pretty well for interior fences.  I wouldn’t use them as a perimeter fence because they are not forever fencing, for sure.  But they are good for dividing up yards and pastures.

 

Here’s the other chicken table that I made.  I think the hens just like having a place to hang out that up a little higher.  Sort of mimics the ability to hang out in trees or something.  Seeing how much they like the tables makes me think that they might like other natural things in their run, like old tree branches or old crates, things to walk in and out of.  We love to spread down straw for them, they just adore scratching and digging through it.  I think happy chickens lay more eggs and are not stressed.   And it makes Chicken TV a whole lot more fun to watch!

 

This is what I stole those stage pallets for!  A special new coop that I built in the poultry barn nearly all by myself!  (The girls helped me move the pallets in there but then I was on my own!)  You can see how nice those $4 pallets are.  I really like the look of them.  As soon as I can, I’d like to go and get another 10 of them.  We are going to have to eventually build our outside pig pen and a coop for all our pullets that are getting bigger and bigger!

I’d like to use some to make a sheep run-in shed in the big pasture.  Just something that everyone can shelter in when it’s hot or if it’s raining.  With just a couple sturdy 4 x 4 corner posts and a roof, I think a handful of these around the posts would make a great shelter for very little cash!  And that’s a good thing!

 

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