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Minecraft Chickens

Chickens are one of the more useful passive mobs in the game, due to their low health, decent spawn rates and good drops. Chickens drop 0-2 feathers and 1 raw chicken when they’re killed. They will also drop experience orbs, granting the player 1-3 experience points. Like other meat dropping mobs, their meat is cooked if they die by fire.

In addition to drop items on death, chickens will also drop eggs while being alive. This happens randomly every 5 to 10 minutes.

Occurrence and Behavior

Chickens will spawn in the overworld in groups of 2-6, but it’s quite common to find several of these groups close to each other. They can only spawn on grass blocks in a light level of 9 or higher. In addition, chickens can spawn when you shoot an egg on the ground. There’s a 1/8 chance of a chick hatching from an egg. It’s possible for 4 chicks to spawn from 1 egg, though there’s only a 1/256 change of this happening. This makes chickens the overworld-only mob which can appear in the nether and the end, without the use of mods or monster eggs.

Chickens are one of the only mobs that can’t die from fall damage. Rather than dropping like a brick, they will flap their little wings and slowly glide down, before gently landing on their feet.

Like all other mobs, chickens can ride a minecart. A chicken will not slow down a falling minecart, however.

Breeding

Chickens can be bred using wheat. Rather than laying an egg after they’ve mated, chickens will give birth to live offspring. Be wary of any ocelot that may wander around, they will kill any chicken they can get their claws on. This includes any ocelot that spawns inside of your fenced off area. Cats will leave your chickens alone.

Farming Chickens and Eggs

Chickens and their eggs can be farmed in various ways, ranging from a simply field to an automated system.