By this point, Buckethead had left, following disagreements with Baker and frustrations over the band's lack of progress. Zutaut persuaded him to rejoin by installing a giant chicken coop in the studio for Buckethead to work in, with furniture, straw, chicken wire, and rubber chicken parts. Zutaut described it as "part chicken coop, part horror movie ... you could almost smell the chickens". Only assistant engineers were allowed to enter, to adjust microphones. Rose's assistant Beta Lebeis downplayed the coop as inexpensive and fun, saying "it didn't cost money or anything – think about it, it's just wire ... It's something you do in three or four hours. Just for fun, to play a joke on somebody." However, according to Zutaut, the coop caused friction when Buckethead began using it to watch hardcore pornography, disturbing Rose. Zutaut told an interviewer that, after one of Rose's dogs defecated in the coop, Buckethead insisted it not be cleaned up as he liked the smell. After three days, the smell had become overwhelming and the studio staff removed it, upsetting Buckethead. Brain denied that Buckethead had acted disruptively.