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Tuesday, May 28, 2013

Making a Covered Chicken Feeder from Pallets





By Shawn J. Dostie


One of my skid piles. I don't know if they are free or not, but I didn't pay for them. I took a trailer, paid for gas, loaded them and unloaded them, so... you be the judge.




By popular demand.... Ok, I ran my mouth and told people it was easy and I could make one with 3 cuts..... I was wrong.... This is a pallet, and for safety reasons I am telling you it is untreated. I have heard that some treated ones have arsenic in them and could kill you or your animals. This is not a typical pallet but it is what was on top and what I used. As Bob Rossi would say, it's your pallet, enjoy your freedom.... OK, that may be close to something he would say.


Weapon of Mass Pallet Destruction! In all seriousness, about 5 minutes per pallet and I am slow.





Above are pictures of the tear down process and the barrels I have with ready to go pieces. I have envisioned what I want and notice the lack of a tape measure. "Ye old eyeball is not exact, but Good Enuf for my needs today!"














 

Above are photo's as I was putting it together. It is as long as the slats because I put them together with zero cuts. Working with pallets you learn really fast to pre-drill.  The legs are simply triangles cut from the 2x4, or floor section of the skid. Since I had 4 legs 4 cuts. 




Here is the top. Because I used 2 boards per side, I cut 4 more pieces, drilled and screwed them to hold the two boards then attached them. 2 more cuts in the uprights and we a have a finished product.



Quick and easy relatively free project.


For those of you who live in windy areas where something like this might blow over, take two 4 foot long 2x4's and mount them on the "feet" of the trough and it won't be as likely to blow over as the foot would be wider than the top.





By Shawn J. Dostie

Visit Shawn's site by clicking the picture link below:

Natural Chicken Keeping