The Duck Box below the Chicken Coop

Duck box door open.

The owner described what she wanted for a shelter for her ducks. Her understanding was that ducks do not need much in the way of insulation or warmth as they have their own good insulation, duck down being second only to goose down. On the other hand she wanted to pamper her ducks and make cold winter nights easier for them by providing a shelter with “some” insulation and wind protection and to serve as a place to close them in at night as she plans to let them have the run of the pen by day. She expects they will have the whole pen to themselves in the winter as the chickens will prefer to stay inside the coop on cold days.

My plan to fit this description was a box built from stress skin panels. I’ve had plenty of experience with stress skin panels used for walls on timber frame homes but in this instance I did not need 3 1/2″ of foam insulation. I made my own panels from 1″ blue board sandwiched between two layers of plywood for a 2’x4’ box. First I made three sides and a bottom and then a door with a window so the ducks would have a little light. The top of the box was already insulated as the duck box would be attached to the bottom of the insulated floor of the chicken coop.