When I first thought of building a chicken coop, I wasn’t sure how to start. I was not aware of the requirement for the chicken’s best living conditions and all the resources they needed to live a happy and fulfilling life. So, I turned to Google and YouTube, which brought me a lot of information. However, in my rush, I mixed up some essential vocabulary: ”The chicken coop” and “chicken run.” I initially thought that the chicken coop meant the whole enclosure the chickens would live in. Instead, it meant the wooden structure the hens sleep in, lay their eggs in, and poop in. The other part of the enclosure the hens live in is called “the run”: it is a flat area where the chickens spend their time foraging for food and wandering around during the day. 

Back to the original problem, the website stated that the chickens needed three to four square feet each in the chicken coop; I thought it meant the house and the running space; the whole facility was 5ft by 12ft. The entire structure was too small for the number of chickens I had. Luckily, it would be bad if it wasn't for one crucial part: the hens I have are bantams. They are smaller and less aggressive than standard-sized chickens. So, the size of the hen house was not an issue this time. From this experience, I learned that when I am unsure about something, I need to fact-check; otherwise, I will suffer the consequences of my blunder.

Another problem I faced when designing the chicken coop was criteria and constraints. However, I did not see them as trouble because they gave me an idea or a general sense of what the chicken coop would be like. For example, if there were no price constraint, it would leave me wondering: “Should I buy the more expensive but higher quality wood or the cheaper but less durable wood?”. Also, if there were no size constraints, I would have to look it up myself. So even though sometimes constraints get in the way of my ideas, without them, it is even harder to design something since I have little direction in my thoughts. With constraints, I know what I need to consider and the limitations I’ll have to face to prepare a solution before I even start working on it. Without constraints, there would be no clues about what I needed to do, and I wouldn’t have a vision for the final product. 

To build a good chicken coop, I needed to do extensive detailed research and make sure I truly understood it. I shouldn’t just rush in blind with no idea what I am going to do and start cutting things up. When I first started the project, I did not fully comprehend how to do it perfectly. Only after I slowed down and completely understood did things go smoothly.