A Pallet Palace for Goats

We were offered some baby goats by a local rescue organisation (Battery Hen Rescue NZ) so I thought I had better build them a little home! These poor little girls are only a day old so won't be going outside for a while.

Goats aren't as hardy as sheep and so need a cosy waterproof shelter that they can use when the weather is a bit rough.

We have named them Margot (Margoat?) and Barbara after the characters played by Penelope Keith and Felicity Kendall in The Good Life.

The project was done for minimal cost -- the only stuff I bought were fixings (screws/nails and hinges) In total I spent less than NZ$40

Now I have an unhealthy amount of power tools so used as many as I could!!

So among them were

Jigsaw

Reciprocating Saw

Drill (both battery and corded)

Screwdriver

Hammer

PLUS Materials

6 inch nails (150mm)

3 inch nais (75mm)

Screws(38mm)

Angle Brackets

Hinges

Pallets (various)

Plywood

Roofing Iron

Roofing screws

All of these pallets were free, found round about various industrial estates near work.

The big one at the back was found at the side of the road and nearly gave me a hernia getting it on to my roof rack, conservatively I would estimate that it weighs 70kg.

So I attached two same sized pallets to each end of the big one using 6 inch nails, and cut down a couple as flooring

I lined the side walls and floor with Plywood, this was free packing case material from my wifes work, It isn't great quality ply but will be fine as it won't be exposed to the weather.

I stapled a plastic membrame to the back of all the linings (cut open plastic garbage bags to give water resistance)

All the screws were in the bargain bin at Bunnings ($5 for a container - normally $28:50)

I also used all the right angle brackets that I got from disassembling the packing cases to join everything together.

Bit of a jump here forgot to take pics!!

So added a front and door, again all lined with plywood

Then put on a Corrugated Iron roof

The roofing was free from the local recycle on Facebook and secured with roofing screws ($15)

Then trimmed around with my nibbler in the electric drill, then tidied up.

Total time about 4 hours, cost about $40

Just need the goats to arrive now!!

Safe, Secure. Dry and Warm, will put some hay in as bedding