That's right - this one is a chicken. A simple model at first glance… or so I thought. What began as a quick afternoon design intended as a gift for one of my siblings quickly turned into a much longer and more challenging process than expected. I loved the initial concept and was excited to order parts and begin working on the instructions, but after starting a new job and stepping away for a bit, I returned to the project only to realize something unfortunate: the model couldn't actually be built.

Redesigning the chicken to make it a fully legal LEGO build took weeks. Every time I thought I had resolved one issue, another would appear. The tail wasn't properly connected, the sides of the head were floating, and the wings weren't attached at all. It quickly became a technical puzzle that required constant iteration. While I did have to make some compromises compared to the original concept, I'm proud of the final result and believe it still captures the charm and character I was aiming for.

At its core, this model remains intentionally simple: a chicken sitting on a nest, surrounded by eggs and feed. While I plan to explore more complex play features in future builds as a way to further challenge myself and grow as a designer, this project served a different purpose. It allowed me to experiment with creature-oriented design, something I've especially enjoyed in past sea creature builds, and ultimately resulted in a piece that was both a valuable learning experience and a meaningful gift.

A link to the instructions can be found here.
You can find the parts list (.xml) here.