The Turkey Coop

We actually finished the turkey coop about a month ago but we’re just getting around to writing about it. Last year we made our coop out of PVC piping. We were scared to free range them so we figured that with a light PVC coop we’d be able to move that around and they would still be able to have the fresh grass. Well as soon as the Turkeys were a month or two old they were so heavy that their weight broke the PVC.

This year we’re doing it right. At the end of winter we bought that old shed. Jesse then spent a day, about a month back, and built the new turkey coop out of old pallets inside the shed.

We used pallets for the walls and stacked them one of top of each other and then we built the coop door out of pieces of old wood. We figured that with old pieces of wood we would have less chance of the door warping and expanding/contracting.

We kept the turkeys inside the coop for a couple of days hoping that they would know it was their new home. The first day we let them out during the day to free range we were scared that they wouldn’t come back to their coop. They don’t come in on their own, you have to walk behind them and herd them in, which Stone loves to do. We haven’t put a pop hole into the front of their coop for them to easily enter and exit…yet, but will get to it soon. We’re hoping once we do that then they’ll come in on their own at night.

I am loving the fact that this year the turkeys can free range and get all the amazing nutrients from the grass and bugs. Here’s to happy stress free healthy turkeys and a free pallet coop! If you have more detailed questions about how we built the coop feel free to send us a message.