The Value of Thoughtful Engineering

How Smarter Design Delivers More for Less

When the entire Queen of Coops System arrives at your door on a 4’ x 8’ pallet, people are understandably surprised.

“Is this all?”

Because unlike many premium chicken coops, the Queen of Coops system doesn’t contain a pile of dimensional lumber, sheets of OSB, underlayment, siding and roofing.

Which is surprising, because as Americans, we've been literally been programmed to judge value by size. How many times have we seen “Value Sized” tagged onto the largest of anything on an advertisement?

But designing the Queen of Coops on lean lines wasn’t actually my original intent. I initially set out to solve a common coop problem:

Mountains of manure, ammonia build-up, stinky mud, unhappy chickens, and constant need for cleaning that I often put off longer than I should.

I already knew the solution was found in nature.

Animals produce waste, microorganisms break it down, the nutrients feed plants, and those plants support animals once again. It's a cycle that's been working for thousands of years.

But what I wanted was to find a way to bring that cycle into a backyard chicken coop while making life easier for both the chickens and the people caring for them.

That was my mission, but it was a challenge. I tried out many designs on paper and then spent countless hours building them in my yard. Some aspects were successful, but were far too big and complicated to work as a kit that could be shipped and easily built by others.

At one point, I almost gave up, but my fundamental design mantra kept ringing in my ears.

"There is a way to solve every problem...and if I keep looking for it, I'll finally figure it out."

The Cattle Panel Breakthrough

Honestly, I’d set aside the idea of coming up with a closed-loop coop system that could be built as a kit for nearly two years. But I hadn’t quit chickens! In fact, I’d rather switched gears and had a grand idea of creating parallel lines of Silver Duckwing chickens that could be sexed at hatch, and I’d been sourcing genetics, hatching eggs and buying chicks. And the chicks grew and grew and before I knew it, I needed more space to house them. A LOT more space. And of course, I turned to the humble hoop coop for a quick fix.

Over the course of several weeks, we built 4 of them. And then things changed and we had to disassemble the first four and reassemble them—and build 3 more.

And that experience gave me an intimate understanding of what builders and masons from ancient times to modern have known:

Arches rule.

Whether used over narrow openings like windows or doors, or in large spans and spaces like bridges and cathedrals, arches have remained one of the most efficient ways to create space and strength with minimal material.

Suddenly, I wasn't trying to invent a new structural system. I was borrowing one that builders had trusted for thousands of years.

Three cattle panels create a rigid structural shell that's lightweight, incredibly strong, readily available throughout North America, and surprisingly simple to assemble.

Ship Innovation, Not Commodity Lumber

The arch solved the freight problem that had stopped my pursuit of designing a chicken-compost-garden system kit that could be shipped across the country, so once again, it was game on!

As I continued to refine my design, I realized that all the specialized components that make Queen of Coops system would fit comfortably on a 4' × 8' pallet. But adding16-foot treated boards and 16-foot cattle panels would dramatically change the situation. Oversized freight is cost prohibitive to ship, more difficult to schedule, and often requires specialized handling upon delivery.

To me, that simply didn't make sense.

Pressure-treated lumber and cattle panels are commodity materials. They can be purchased at almost any home improvement or farm supply store, often just minutes from home.

Instead of asking customers to pay to ship bulky materials they could easily buy locally, I knew shipping only the specialized components that truly require custom manufacturing was a no brainer.

The remaining structural materials typically cost only about:

• Four pressure-treated 2×6 boards for the base
• Pressure-treated lumber for the optional raised garden beds
• Three 16-foot cattle panels
• One 2x4x12 for a roost

For about $260 in locally purchased materials, customers avoid hundreds of dollars in oversized freight while still receiving a complete, engineered system.

The money saved wasn't spent on cheaper materials. It was invested where it creates the greatest value.

The Right Material for the Right Job

Traditional premium coops often rely on cedar for nearly every visible surface.

Cedar is a wonderful material, and you'll still find it prominently featured in the handcrafted front of every Queen of Coops.

But good engineering isn't about using the same material everywhere. It's about selecting the material that performs best in each application.

The rear wall is a perfect example.

Initially I planned to make it out of cedar as well, but I knew it didn’t make sense to use cedar where it wouldn’t show behind the compost bin. Also, I wanted to incorporate some polycarbonate for additional light, but as I was wrestling with how to design and build the back wall, I kept thinking about the hoop coops that sit in my own yard. I had used twin-wall polycarbonate to panel the entire back of every coop. It's both lighter and lighter—reducing freight costs and allowing natural daylight to brighten the interior of the coop. Plus, it's highly impact resistant, naturally insulating, and proven in commercial greenhouse applications where durability matters.

And to make the design more cohesive, I’ve the two panels are joined by a cedar trim board that creates a clean architectural finish that ties the front and back design together beautifully.

Using polycarbonate wasn't about saving money.

It was about creating a better-performing wall.

Let Every Part Earn Its Place

As Queen of Coops evolved, I found myself asking another question over and over again:

"Can this part do more than one job?"

That simple question shaped almost every feature in the system.

The side-wall weather aprons do more than direct rainwater away from the coop: they also form the inside wall of the raised garden beds which require less lumber, and also help discourage digging predators.

The Gothic arch roof cap is more than a beautiful crowning touch: it protects the coop from the weather while creating the air-gap chamber that makes the patent-pending Supernova Roof System® possible.

The raised garden beds beautify the landscape, grow fresh food, provide reach-through grazing, and complete the nutrient cycle between chickens, compost, and garden, and they also create a thermal sink that helps the coop stay a cooler in summer and warmer in winter.

Even the Tilt 'N Slide® Compo-Roost relies on one of the most dependable mechanisms ever discovered:

Gravity.

No motors, conveyors, or complicated mechanical systems. Just thoughtful engineering using natural forces to do the work.

Better Engineering Creates Better Value

One of the greatest misconceptions about engineering is that better products require more parts. In reality, the opposite is often true.

Good engineering removes unnecessary complexity, eliminates waste and allows one thoughtfully designed component to perform several jobs at once.

My goal was to create a beautiful and functional backyard ecosystem that is delivers exceptional performance, long-term durability, and premium features while keeping the overall cost within reach of far more families.

And I think I nailed it.

Kimberley Fisher, Queen of Coops