DIY Pallet Chicken Coop

Suffering from champagne tastes on a chicken-feed budget? Try this “cheep” DIY shelter to keep your birds in maximum creature comforts.

By Alex Walsh
Updated on January 7, 2025
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by Alex Walsh
Custom amenities include large front doors for coop cleaning access.

Build a budget-friendly DIY pallet chicken coop from upcycled materials to keep your birds in maximum creature comfort.

If you strolled through a big-box home improvement store during the past two summers, you probably noticed massive lumber price increases spurred by a series of events related to the pandemic. This was especially untimely for new chick owners like us, who had seven fluffy friends in the basement needing a permanent home in a few weeks.

Our finances didn’t allow for the purchase of a pre-manufactured, move-in-ready coop, and we discovered that many are designed more for aesthetics than for functionality. The used coop market didn’t look much better. My girlfriend, Elaina, and I decided to build the best pallet coop we could dream up on a budget. We’re both mechanical engineers by degree, so we began by doing our homework on which characteristics make up a top-notch coop, and then we jotted down some chicken scratches (pun intended).

Planning for Success

We ranked our design criteria in descending order, with chicken needs first, followed by chore functionality and accessibility and, finally, aesthetics. We ranked looks last, because we knew most designs could be jazzed up later.

The first functionality detail we considered was floor height. Pre-made coops and many DIY builds place the floor just a foot or so above the ground. This sentences humans to a lifetime of walking in excrement to sweep up shavings and having to bend down to scoop them up. Instead, we designed our floor to be about kitchen-table height and the front wall of the coop to swing open via two pallet-sized doors. This enables us to roll a wheelbarrow up to the coop front and rake shavings directly in. We also liked the idea of a coop on legs to create space underneath where our birds can dust bathe, enjoy shade, and stay out of inclement weather.

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