Eight weeks of sweat, swearing, a few tears
The internet said that building a chicken coop was s a “weekend project.” And, well, we all know everything on the internet is true. So, you see, it sounded totally reasonable. The caveat you should know for this story is that I had never built anything. Ever. Also, the central part of the plan was to use free pallets. This “weekend chicken coop project” took me the better part of eight weeks of sweat, swearing, a few tears, and an enormous quantity of nails and screws! This, folks, is how not to build a chicken coop!
How not to Build a Chicken Coop
Did you know that pallets are not all the same size? Well, I didn’t. But, I did use heat-treated pallets. Heat-treating a pallet is a process of seasoning the pallets with heat instead of chemicals, so that’s good. However, that is the only thing I got right.
I hatched my chicken coop plan, starting with an old window I got from a friend and pallets. Remember, we had four rapidly growing feathered dinosaurs in our kitchen during this time, so the timeline was real and pressing.
It all started with some article I read somewhere boasting about building a chicken coop with pallets being a “weekend project.” The idea was that using pallets was similar to putting up fully framed walls. But, ahem, that, in fact, is not a fact – as I found out because pallets are not uniform at best. Of course, it would be a weekend project if you had building experience or knew that pallets were not all the same size. But as a novice, it was not. So, once again, I learned the old-fashioned way – by trial and error (with a lot of error)!
Backyard Chickens
At the time, we bought six chickens with another family and kept four chickens. We had two Rhode Island Reds and two Black Sexlinks. Both breeds are cold-hardy, so I thought they would be appropriate for our area. Our kids named them Agnes, Roadrunner (the fastest), Gold-finger (it had one gold finger/toe), and Runt (the smallest).
Back then, if we were working around the yard, we’d let them free range; as long as we could watch them. We called it “chick sitting.” They loved going under the deck, where there were a ton of spiders and bugs. The problem with chick-sitting is that chickens are fast. We learned quickly that chickens are tough to catch and eat absolutely everything. Including the landscaping, you don’t want them to eat like the cute little hosta I planted in front of the coop!
Reuse and Recycle gone wrong
I tried to reuse or recycle materials I had from the old playset. Or materials we already had in the garage or shed. The window came from a friend, the nesting boxes were milk crates we cut the sides out of, and the roosting perches were green saplings. A lot of materials, though, had to be purchased. Stylish hardware adds a nice finishing touch, but it’s expensive!
For the chicken run, I chose metal posts. We live in New England, and wood wouldn’t last long due to the weather. The wire encasing the run is green 1”×3″ fencing. The metal wire (landscaping cloth) covering the bottom (12″ up the fence and 12″ flat on the ground) prevented predators from digging under the fence, and it’s not cheap either!
Chicken Security
Hardware cloth underneath the coop keeps racoons and fisher cats from digging through the floor.
We learned a few lessons in those first couple of years of chicken keeping. Top of the list: chickens are dumb. We had chickens stick their heads through the fence to have their heads eaten off by a raccoon the same night their buddy lost a head! We’ve had young chickens get crushed by their coop ladder. Lastly, we quickly learned to reinforce the coop and run. We’ve had a hawk get into the run fencing because I left a small 6” hole to dump scraps into the run. We’ve had animals try to dig under the fence unsuccessfully because of the hardware cloth. Hardware cloth – it’s worth the cost.
Also, they are fast little sprinters – faster than us! If you allow chickens to free range, everything is fair game as snacks – your garden, landscaping, everything. Picture us running after chickens in the backyard; it’s about as comical as you think it would be.
Finishing touches
Ultimately, because we could see this whole corner of the yard from the living room’s big bay windows, we needed to make the chicken coop a “feature” in the backyard, not an eyesore. This house was in a suburban neighborhood of Boston. It was essential to preserve the home’s value, so I needed the chicken coop to be “cute.”
I spray-painted the cinder block foundations a “camouflage” color, which helped them blend in with the surroundings attractively. I also draped plants down the side because why not at this point? The Hosta was a nice touch until my free-roaming chickens discovered it was delicious. But, overall, the combination of The Gardening Passion Expands Garden and the chicken coop did look nice through the living room window!
Unexpected Mom-glory
Mom-glory is creating those special memories. The memories they look back on with a smile or glimmer in their eyes as adults. The kids and I had a lot of fun building this chicken coop and learning about chickens together; I wouldn’t change that part for the world.
- Free front window
- Free pallets
- Free saplings for roosts and ladder
- Free rope
- Free roof shingles
Coop Expenses
- T-ll plywood
- Screws, nails, etc
- Cinderblocks
- PVC pipe
- Metal feed can
- Ten 7’ metal posts
- 1”x 3” green metal fencing
- Hardware Cloth
- Zip ties
- Polyester netting
- Hosta
- Plant holder
- Plant
The argument against pallets
Don’t get me wrong; the chicken coop turned out wicked cute. And the people who eventually bought our house loved the coop and adored the chickens. To say it was solid was an understatement. When the new owners ultimately removed the chicken coop, it took a chainsaw – ha! However, there is certainly an easier way to build chicken coops without pallets that will be much easier than working around essentially a pallet jigsaw puzzle.
Have you built a chicken coop using pallets? Would you recommend using pallets?
~ Lola
“There are no gardening mistakes, only experiments!”
Why I Garden; if you grow it, they will eat it
Gardens we’ve built
Community Oasis Garden; exploring the passion
The Gardening Passion Expands; the garden that created a bidding war
Quick Turn Garden; two years and counting
The Empty Nest Garden; totally out of control
Coops we’ve built
How NOT to Build a Chicken Coop
The Bored Engineer’s Coop
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