I get a huge amount of satisfaction from DIY projects where I haven’t had to spent a single penny. It makes you feel incredibly resourceful, and using discarded or leftover materials is great for the environment too. Bonus!
As you may remember, we’ve had to hand-raise a lamb who was abandoned last year and unfortunately the flock hasn’t accepted him back. As you can see from the below image, I don’t really think Shawn minds. I was watching him sleep in front of the fire the other night and realised that Shawn doesn’t have a shelter in his little paddock, down the side of the rumpus room. Sheep don’t really need a shelter and are quite happy outdoors, but I still like to provide a shelter for all my animals in case they want to escape the elements.
So, with the cold weather starting to set in, I decided to make Shawn a simple shelter using pallets and some metal sheets we had lying around the farm. The pallets were scavenged from the side of the road, but you can source them from a variety of different businesses who are usually happy to give them away.
For this project, you only need two pallets.
I decided to make Shawn’s shelter a square shape to ensure he had enough room to move around and be big enough to accommodate him as he gets older. You could also make the shelter into a triangle shape for a smaller animal.
I started by removing 3 planks of wood from the centre of each pallet. This gave me extra planks of wood to use for the back wall and roof, without comprising the structure of the pallets.
I attached 3 planks to the roof, and 3 planks to the back. I used odd screws that I had lying around from other projects. Just remember to drill pilot holes before screwing to ensure the wood doesn’t split.
Once the structure was up, I covered it in sheets of metal we had around the farm to make it water proof, screwing them into place.
If you’re making a smaller structure, you may not need to add the supporting planks to the roof. I’ve added it here to strengthen the roof as we get high winds on the farm. This may not be necessary where you live.
And there you have it, a nice shelter for Shawn.
This only took a couple of hours to make so it’s perfect to knock together on the weekend.
If you want to make an outside animal shelter, check out your local recycling/scrap yard for discarded materials you might be able to re-use, or even your neighbour’s hard rubbish collection pile. Do your bit for the environment while creating something unique and functional.
If you’ve made a project from wooden pallets or discarded items, please leave a comment below and let us know what you made. Your idea could be just the inspiration someone needs to start their own DIY project.
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