---
title: Chicken Accessories For Chickens
teaser: How a weird product ruined my brain for a week.
tags: design,design thinking,user experience,user research
author: Luke Mitchell
published_on: 2025-01-17
---

![A screenshot of a product on the marketplace ‘Temu’, the product is described as “Portable Pet Chicken Carrier Bag - Durable Polyester, Ideal for Ducks & Roosters Travel and Catching Duck Coop Accessories Chicken Accessories For Chickens”, the product image shows a Rooster in the bag, the bag has carrying handles.](https://images.thoughtbot.com/vqh7hqxnp2uufm9kzhwd8clc3w7a_Screenshot%202025-01-14%20at%2011.19.58.png)

I was browsing an online marketplace the other day because I was a bit bored, and because I have a unique need to seek out dark patterns. Something caught my eye as I scrolled. Amongst all the other suspiciously cheap items, was a bag for a chicken. Not a bag with a chicken pattern, not a bag shaped like a chicken, no — a bag to _carry_ a chicken. A living chicken. A bag for carrying a chicken.

It made me smile as I took a screenshot. After 30 seconds, I went back to scrolling with a blank expression. It wasn't over. I kept thinking about this thing for days afterward. All I had were questions:

- Why does this product exist?
- Why does a chicken need to be carried in a chicken-carrying bag?
- Where is the chicken going in the chicken-carrying bag?
- Who is this chicken-carrying bag for?
- How many chickens does this chicken toting person own?
- In the absence of the chicken-carrying bag, how do they carry their chicken(s)?
- How many chicken-carrying bags have been sold so far?
- How many chicken-carrying bags need to be sold to break even on the initial investment?
- Who came up with the idea for the chicken-carrying bag?
- Do they have any first-hand experience with chicken carrying?
- How do you get the chicken into the chicken-carrying bag?
- Did the chicken-carrying bag manufacturer test the usability of the chicken-carrying bag?
- How else did they test the chicken-carrying bag?
- When did the chicken-carrying bag manufacturer consider the chicken-carrying bag good enough to sell?
- How did they decide on the fabric to use for the chicken-carrying bag?
- What does the next version of the chicken-carrying bag look like?
- How will the chicken-carrying bag manufacturer find out the highest-priority feature to add next?
- How do I get to a place in _my_ life where my singular focus is improving my chicken-carrying experience?

The list is endless…

## What does this have to do with design?

Next time you're struggling to come up with a question to find out more about something — be it a design problem, a new product pitched by a budding founder, or even another bizarre (to you) product you've found online — think of this chicken-carrying bag. You will have plenty.

---

Alternative titles for this post:

- Why Did the Chicken Cross the Road in a Bag?
- This £5.17 Item Revolutionised My EDC
- For Sale: Chicken Bag, Never Worn (OK, one more question, is the chicken _wearing_ the bag?)
- 5 Chicken Accessory Trends for 2025