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This simple broody house and run is made from recycled ‘pallet’ wood. It can be made by anyone with limited woodworking skills. The are no special tools or power tools required. There are barely any ‘bought out’ items required so it can be produced on the most limited of budgets.

1) The pallet should look something like this. There are six top boards, three joists and three bottom boards. Thickness of the boards can vary from 16mm to 24mm

2) The pallet is held together with ‘annular nails. Use whatever tools you need to get the pallet apart such as hammers, chisels, crow bars etc

3) De- nail every board and joist and save all of the nails. They can be used in the build

1) Lay one of the joist onto a firm surface

2) Take a full board and nail in position flush and square to the joist. Use two or three nails

3) De- nail every board and joist and save all of the nails. They can be used in the build

4) Place three further boards onto the joist

5) Use coins as spacers to provide a slight expansion gap

6) Nail each board in position with two or three nails

7) Work out the cutting length based on four times the board width minus two times the board thickness eg (10x 4) – (2.5 x 2) = 35

8) Mark your cutting length on the first and last board and the draw on a cutting line with a pencil and straight edge

9) Place a joist under the boards in flush with the cutting line Nail boards in position.

10) Using a saw, cut off excess length of boards and joists ‘flush’ to produce the finished floor

1) Using the board offcuts form two ‘L’ shape corner sections by nailing them together

2) Fix in position with nails flush to bottom of the floor

3) Add two full boards to fill the gap between the corners and nail in position

4) Mark a pencil line to from the roof slope. 28 cm at the back and 35cm at the front

5) Screw or nail on a temporary batten to hold the boards for cutting

6) Using a saw cut off excess boards

7) You can now use the existing corners and side as guides to pencil mark individual boards for cutting. For the example to the right, two of the offcuts will already have the correct angle of slope

9) Once again form two ‘L’ shaped corner sections by nailing them together

10) Nail the two corner sections in position flush with the bottom of the floor

11) Mark and cut as many further boards as possible and nail in position

12) This gap will form the door at the front of the Brooder

13) I have left this gap because I ran out of boards from the first pallet. However, the board could be 1cm short at the top for ventilation. Alternatively drill 10mm holes in the back panel at a later stage in the build.

14) Cut two joist to the same width as the floor. This will correct and tie in the top of the house.Nail in position close to the roof height..

15) You will probably need to support/back up the nailing in some way. Here I have used an offcut.

16) Repeat the operation for the sides with another two cut joists. They do not have to line up with the front and back

17) The only waste so far from one pallet can be seen to the left of the picture on the right