Do you mean placing items from your inventory? or placing them after constructing them? When you use the construction menu it should pause the game and give you a little indicator of where the item is going to be placed.
Tables built this way work the same way as anvils and furnaces and such.
as far as unraising the dead chickens, you might have to just kill them lol. raised dead will seek out living things to attack so it's best to use caution when doing necromancy.