To Help Visualize Space Requirements

[3KillerBs]

Talking with my DH this morning on the way into work about our planned coop I commented that a chicken can be thought of as a 15" cube (~12" of bird with a little personal space).

He said that he could see that because he's been playing a lot of Minecraft lately.

Things that are roughly the size of a live, standard-size chicken:

A big flowerpot

A big crockpot or Instantpot

A small inkjet printer

A pair of workboots side-by-side

A pasta pot

One of those square cloth baskets that go into a set of storage cubes



Things that are roughly the size of two chickens side-by-side:

A microwave

A laundry basket

A rolled-up sleeping bag


I thought it might help people in the planning stages if they could visualize these things piled up together in the space allotted to their coops and think about how much room they'd have to walk around, interact, and do chicken things.

 

[Tre3hugger]

Thanks @3KillerBs !

 

[3KillerBs]

Thanks @3KillerBs !

I'm a visual thinking myself and DH and I often word the same concept differently, so finding a set of visual analogies helps us communicate exactly what we mean.

I thought it could be useful to other people trying to work out exactly what they need for the number of birds they think they want.

 

[aart]

15" cube

I think that's a good size.
Prototyping with real sizes and shapes is an excellent design tool.

 

[3KillerBs]

I think that's a good size.
Prototyping with real sizes and shapes is an excellent design tool.

Thank you.

I find that even a scale drawing doesn't give the full effect that laying out a physical model does.

When we remodeled the kitchen in the old house I layed out my plan in blue painter's tape on the floor and walls and went through some mock meal prep to make sure that it would work in reality the way it worked in my head.

 

[aart]

I find that even a scale drawing doesn't give the full effect that laying out a physical model does.

No, it doesn't....still a good step tho.

When we remodeled the kitchen in the old house I layed out my plan in blue painter's tape on the floor and walls and went through some mock meal prep to make sure that it would work in reality the way it worked in my head.

Yep, floor tape is the first step!

I mocked up many full size prototypes as an equipment designer, then had the operators evaluate and help tweak them. Avoided many very expensive mistakes that way, and got the users on board early.

My daughter used cardboard boxes, some custom made, to mock up her tiny house 'furniture' before building in wood.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Things that are roughly the size of a live, standard-size chicken:

A big flowerpot

I thought it might help people in the planning stages if they could visualize these things piled up together in the space allotted to their coops and think about how much room they'd have to walk around, interact, and do chicken things.

Now I'm imagining someone putting a bunch of big flowerpots into a coop, stacked and stuffed into every corner, and going, "See, they fit! Coop's not too small!"

 

[aart]

Now I'm imagining someone putting a bunch of big flowerpots into a coop, stacked and stuffed into every corner, and going, "See, they fit! Coop's not too small!"

I had the same thought....it will happen.

 

[3KillerBs]

Now I'm imagining someone putting a bunch of big flowerpots into a coop, stacked and stuffed into every corner, and going, "See, they fit! Coop's not too small!"

True.

Some people do seem to have a deep emotional investment in refusing to understand that if it looks like a dollhouse it's only suited for keeping toy chickens.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Some people do seem to have a deep emotional investment in refusing to understand that if it looks like a dollhouse it's only suited for keeping toy chickens.

The best ads are the ones where the "chickens" in the stock photos ARE toy chickens. Like even the manufacturer realizes that a real bird would look too huge in the photo.