Queen of Coops: A Complete Backyard Ecosystem

I've always been fascinated by the beauty of systems where every part works together for the benefit of the whole. Nature is full of examples. In fact, it is the balance of many interconnected parts that allows an ecosystem to thrive. Remove just one piece, and the entire system begins to lose its balance.

A working farm is one of the best examples of this.

Every animal has a role to play. Working dogs protect livestock, barn cats control rodents, chickens scratch and fertilize the soil, while rabbits, ducks, sheep, goats, pigs, cows, and horses all contribute in different ways. Together they are connected to the land, supporting fields, pastures, forests, and ultimately one another.

Unfortunately, the typical backyard chicken setup begins with a broken system.

Careful thought goes into building a coop and run. The baby chicks arrive, they're introduced to their new home at just the right age, and everything seems wonderful...for a while.

Then the manure begins piling up.

The beautiful run that once had lush green grass slowly turns into bare dirt. It rains. Later it snows. Before long you've got a muddy, smelly mess. The run seemed like a great idea at first, but after a long rainy fall and snowy winter it becomes obvious that the birds need more shelter than the coop alone provides.

So you build a roof.

The rain stays off, but wind and moisture still blow in from the sides. You enclose the run. That helps...but now you've trapped moisture inside.

Suddenly your beautiful eggs are coated in muddy manure, your chickens are miserable, and you're beginning to wonder if keeping chickens is worth all the work.

So you start watching YouTube videos and scrolling through Facebook and Instagram looking for answers.

One person swears by sand. Another insists it's terrible, especially in winter. The deep litter method looks promising until you realize your chickens eventually stop scratching beneath the roost and the manure continues piling up. Then there's the poop board...but who wants to scrape chicken droppings every single day?

Eventually I realized this wasn't simply a coop design problem. It was a systems problem.

The backyard ecosystem was incomplete.

Working farms function so well because every output becomes an input somewhere else. Animals naturally clean up after one another. Manure becomes fertilizer. Fertile soil grows crops. Crops feed animals. Everything contributes to the health of the whole.

The question became:

What's missing from my backyard system that I could imitate in order to create that same full cycle of mutual support?

The first answer was obvious.

Chicken manure needed somewhere to go besides the floor of the coop.

It needed to become compost. But compost only solves half the equation. Something also has to use that compost. And of course, that's where the garden comes in.

There Has to Be a Solution

The story above isn't hypothetical.

It's my own experience keeping chickens. I nearly gave up more than once, but I couldn't shake the feeling that there had to be a better way.

So I began designing what I hoped would become the ultimate backyard chicken system. My goals were simple:

• Provide excellent shelter for my flock year-round.
• Turn manure into compost with as little effort as possible.
• Make gardening easier while allowing the chickens to enjoy fresh forage.

After countless sketches, prototypes, revisions, discarded ideas, and improvements, the result became the Queen of Coops™ Gothic Arch Hoop Coop System.

Let's begin by looking at the floor plan.

The Queen of Coops™ Floor Plan

At first glance, the floor plan looks surprisingly simple.

• An 8' × 10' hoop coop.
• A compost bin behind it.
• Raised garden beds along each side.
• A trellis over the entrance.

But every one of those elements was intentionally designed and positioned to solve a problem I encountered while raising chickens.

The result isn't simply another chicken coop.

It's a complete backyard ecosystem where the chickens, compost, garden, and owner all work together.

Let's take a tour.

The Heart of the System: The 8' × 10' Roost & Run

Everything begins with the main coop.

Unlike traditional coops that separate the birds from their run, the Queen of Coops combines both into one protected structure.

The entire 80 square feet serves as both the birds' living space and their protected run.

This provides several important advantages:

• Chickens remain protected from predators.
• Daily chores happen under cover.
• Food and water stay cleaner.
• The flock has room to move comfortably regardless of the weather.

The hoop design creates tremendous interior volume without requiring complicated framing.

Then, by adding the Gothic arch roof cap, I created a vented air gap that became my patent-pending Supernova Roof System®.

This naturally climate-moderated design allows the coop to be fully enclosed during harsh winters while still maintaining healthy ventilation. In warm weather, the powered ventilation system pulls air through the insulated air-gap roof, dramatically reducing heat buildup inside the coop.

The result is an open, airy home where 10 to 12 birds can comfortably live year-round.

For those who also provide access to an outdoor run, the Queen of Coops can comfortably house flocks of up to 24 birds.

Solving the "Poop Problem": The Tilt 'N Slide® Compo-Roost

Knowing that aged chicken manure makes outstanding compost, I began experimenting with ways to collect it automatically.

My first attempts involved simply allowing manure to accumulate beneath the roost.

It worked...

...but it also kept ammonia inside the coop.

I watched people scrape poop boards every morning or dump manure from tarps stretched beneath the roost.

Even that felt like more work than necessary.

What I really wanted was a simple gravity-fed chute that would move the manure outside the coop where it could age naturally.

I also knew I didn't want a compost pile that required constant turning.

After experimenting with several concepts, I eventually developed what became the Tilt 'N Slide® Compo-Roost.

A fitted sheet of slippery twin-wall polycarbonate is mounted beneath the roost bars and attached to the cattle panel side-walls with zip-ties. While the chickens sleep, their droppings land directly on the angled slide.

As they dry, gravity does the rest.

Most of the manure simply tumbles through the rear opening and drops directly into the compost bin.

Occasionally the slide benefits from a quick rinse with a high-pressure hose, which also provides welcome moisture for the compost pile below.

The Rear Compost Bin: Alchemy in Action 

On a working farm, manure isn't considered waste.

It's a valuable resource.

Many gardeners affectionately call finished compost "black gold."

The Queen of Coops compost bin sits directly beneath the rear opening where manure is automatically deposited.

To maintain a healthy balance between nitrogen-rich manure and carbon-rich materials, I simply toss a few shovel-fulls of deep litter from the coop floor onto the slide once or twice each week. I also add leaves, grass clippings, garden waste, kitchen scraps, and crushed eggshells.

Because the compost bin is made from perforated HDPE panels that encourage airflow, there's very little need to turn the pile.

Over time the manure becomes rich, living compost ready to nourish the surrounding garden beds.

Instead of exporting waste, the system continually recycles nutrients back into your own backyard.

Raised Garden & Grazing Beds: A Garden That Feeds the Chickens and You

The third piece of the ecosystem puzzle is the garden.

Technically, you don't have to add garden beds to the Queen of Coops.

But if your goal is to complete the cycle, I highly recommend them.

With only three treated 2×12 boards, you can create long raised beds that run alongside both sides of the coop.

Grow greens specifically for your flock. Or also grow vegetables, herbs, and flowers for you and your family.

Because the 2" × 2" welded wire mesh allows chickens to reach only a few inches into the beds, they'll happily graze whatever grows near the fence while leaving the rest of your garden untouched for your own harvest.

The compost feeds the garden.

The garden feeds the chickens.

The cycle continues.

The Front Trellis: Beauty Meets Function

One feature I knew I wanted from the very beginning was a trellis.

Since the main structure already uses cattle panels, extending one section over the entrance was a natural choice.

Although the trellis adds tremendous curb appeal, it also makes use of space that would otherwise go completely unused.

It can support:

• Squash
• Cucumbers
• Beans
• Gourds
• Flowering vines
• Climbing roses

The living canopy creates welcome shade over the entrance while transforming the coop into something that's as beautiful as it is productive.

Designed Around Natural Chicken Behavior

Perhaps the biggest difference between the Queen of Coops and conventional chicken coops is that the design works with chickens instead of constantly fighting their instincts.

Chickens naturally:

• Roost at night.
• Deposit waste beneath the roost.
• Scratch constantly.
• Enjoy fresh greens.
• Seek moving air during warm weather.
• Shelter during storms.

Rather than asking the birds to change their behavior, the Queen of Coops simply places each feature exactly where they already want to use it.

Their natural habits become part of how the entire system functions.

Small Footprint: Big Impact

Despite occupying a footprint of only about 11½ feet by 14 feet, the Queen of Coops combines four separate backyard projects into one integrated design:

• Chicken coop
• Composting system
• Raised garden
• Garden trellis

Most backyard chicken coops solve one problem at a time. The Queen of Coops was designed to solve them all together.

And once you've experienced a backyard where everything works together instead of against itself, it's hard to imagine going back.

Kimberley Fisher