Chickens!!
Chickens (sometimes called Ducks) are passive mobs that supply feathers, raw chicken, and chicken eggs. If killed by fire, they can supply cooked chicken instead of raw.
Chickens have white feathers and wings, yellow beaks, yellow feet and red wattles. Their texture is somewhat checkered, in a similar fashion to wool. They are small enough to fit entirely within a block: 0.875 blocks tall, 0.5 blocks wide and 0.8125 blocks long. Like most other mobs with baby forms, their baby form has a smaller body, but the head is the same size as adults, and so appears disproportionately large.
Behavior
Chickens can be bred like other farm animals, by feeding any two adult chickens with wheat seeds, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds or nether wart. After breeding, chickens will not accept any more food for about 5 minutes.
Chicks can also be produced by breaking eggs. The eggs must be explicitly broken; eggs sitting around as items will not hatch, and will eventually despawn like other items.
When an egg is thrown (or shot from a dispenser), it will eventually hit a solid block or a mob, and break. It then it has a 1/8 chance to spawn a baby chicken; if it does, there is a 1/32 chance of spawning 4 chicks instead of one. If the egg was thrown at a wall at certain angles, the chicken may spawn in the wall and either suffocate (opaque blocks) or pass through entirely (transparent blocks).
Hatching chickens by throwing eggs, and breeding them, can be done simultaneously to multiply them much more quickly than other mobs.
Farming chickens is very useful, as it provides a renewable source of chicken eggs, chicken meat, feathers, and optionally experience points. As with other animals, you will want to keep them in an enclosed or fenced area so they don't wander off. (Chicken farms can generate quite a bit of noise; you probably will want to build large farms at least sixteen blocks away from frequently used areas.)
However, there are various glitches which can allow animals to escape through fences, and chickens are particularly subject to these, so special measures can be required. The minimal Chicken farming technique would include a walled yard or large pit, at least 2 blocks deep with a ladder out. (A door or gate allows chickens to escape whenever you open it.)
Remember that ungathered eggs will vanish after 5 minutes -- merging stacks does extend that, but even so, if you're trying to build a large population you'll want to gather them several times a day.
Automatic egg farms can be created by placing chickens in water arranged so as to support the chickens, while letting the eggs (and any drops from killed chickens) fall into a collection area. (However, as of 1.5.1 chicks can drown in water, which again requires more complex arrangements.)
The introduction of hoppers makes egg farming much more convenient, allowing eggs to be automatically collected into a chest, where they will not despawn. Further, a dispenser driven by a redstone clock can be used to turn the eggs back into chickens, which will eventually mature for a new crop. Note that careless use of automatic hatchers can produce enough chickens to cause serious lag on a single-player game or server!
Chickens have white feathers and wings, yellow beaks, yellow feet and red wattles. Their texture is somewhat checkered, in a similar fashion to wool. They are small enough to fit entirely within a block: 0.875 blocks tall, 0.5 blocks wide and 0.8125 blocks long. Like most other mobs with baby forms, their baby form has a smaller body, but the head is the same size as adults, and so appears disproportionately large.
Behavior
- Chickens appear to wander around aimlessly, without attempting to stay out of water or avoid falls.
- They are immune to fall damage. When falling they will flap their wings quickly and fall slowly.
- While in a loaded chunk, a chicken lays one egg approximately every 7.5 minutes (6000 to 12000 ticks).
- They share some behaviors with other "farm animals":
- They are drawn to light in a dark environment.
- The adults can swim, visibly flapping their wings as they stay on the surface, The babies, however, are prone to drowning; being so small, they can drown even in some partial blocks of water.
- They can be led around by holding a wheat seed, and bred with any type of seed or netherwart to produce a baby (a "chick"). (See "Breeding" below for full details.)
Chickens can be bred like other farm animals, by feeding any two adult chickens with wheat seeds, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds or nether wart. After breeding, chickens will not accept any more food for about 5 minutes.
Chicks can also be produced by breaking eggs. The eggs must be explicitly broken; eggs sitting around as items will not hatch, and will eventually despawn like other items.
When an egg is thrown (or shot from a dispenser), it will eventually hit a solid block or a mob, and break. It then it has a 1/8 chance to spawn a baby chicken; if it does, there is a 1/32 chance of spawning 4 chicks instead of one. If the egg was thrown at a wall at certain angles, the chicken may spawn in the wall and either suffocate (opaque blocks) or pass through entirely (transparent blocks).
Hatching chickens by throwing eggs, and breeding them, can be done simultaneously to multiply them much more quickly than other mobs.
- Chicks move faster than adults.
- Chicks follow adult chickens until they grow into an adult. If produced by breeding, they will follow one of their parents; if that chicken dies or they were produced from an egg, they will choose a nearby chicken as their "parent". Since they are faster, they are prone to pushing their parents around.
- Chicks take about 20 minutes to fully mature.
- Chicks do not lay eggs, and like other baby animals, they do not drop anything (including experience) if killed.
- Due to their small size, chicks can pass through openings even smaller than a full block.
- Unlike adult chickens, chicks will drown if put in water.
Farming chickens is very useful, as it provides a renewable source of chicken eggs, chicken meat, feathers, and optionally experience points. As with other animals, you will want to keep them in an enclosed or fenced area so they don't wander off. (Chicken farms can generate quite a bit of noise; you probably will want to build large farms at least sixteen blocks away from frequently used areas.)
However, there are various glitches which can allow animals to escape through fences, and chickens are particularly subject to these, so special measures can be required. The minimal Chicken farming technique would include a walled yard or large pit, at least 2 blocks deep with a ladder out. (A door or gate allows chickens to escape whenever you open it.)
Remember that ungathered eggs will vanish after 5 minutes -- merging stacks does extend that, but even so, if you're trying to build a large population you'll want to gather them several times a day.
Automatic egg farms can be created by placing chickens in water arranged so as to support the chickens, while letting the eggs (and any drops from killed chickens) fall into a collection area. (However, as of 1.5.1 chicks can drown in water, which again requires more complex arrangements.)
The introduction of hoppers makes egg farming much more convenient, allowing eggs to be automatically collected into a chest, where they will not despawn. Further, a dispenser driven by a redstone clock can be used to turn the eggs back into chickens, which will eventually mature for a new crop. Note that careless use of automatic hatchers can produce enough chickens to cause serious lag on a single-player game or server!