Chickens have been around in Minecraft for a long time. And they are not only a source of delicious eggs, but also of feathers and especially chicken meat. You can not only keep them on a farm, but also build a small machine that provides you with endless chickens – while also collecting the most important resources! Chickens are one of the most important food sources for your world, but you should also collect the other two products and store them in chests. In this article, we show you everything you need to know about chickens. We also present a construction guide for an automatic chicken farm.
Why Chickens are Important in Minecraft
Chickens are one of the smallest mobs you can find in Minecraft. They spawn with the creation of your world and can be found in many biomes. They often appear in larger groups. You can then capture them and keep them on your farm. Like all other animals, you can also manually breed chickens. Just use seeds for this. Regular wheat seeds, but also pumpkin seeds or melon seeds will work. With these, you can fill a large pen with chickens!
Eggs
Even in the overworld, you may have heard a sound near a chicken that sounds like laying an egg. You can collect eggs and then either use them for crafting recipes or throw them. Eggs are needed for both regular cake and pumpkin pie.
However, throwing is a much better option for the eggs! Because when you throw an egg, there is about a 12.5% chance that a new chicken will hatch from it. Sometimes even three come out at once! This is an alternative method for breeding chickens and will also be important for the automatic machine. You can also throw eggs at monsters and other players, but they don’t do direct damage.
Feathers
Chickens have always dropped feathers upon death. For a long time, that was even the only loot until more types of meat were added with the Adventure Update. Even today, feathers are still part of the chicken loot. They may not be as important as meat and eggs, but they still have their uses.
Feathers are especially important for arrows, which you need for hunting animals and monsters. Additionally, you can use them to craft a book and quill to write about your adventures. The brush is also a new tool for which you need a feather. Finally, you can also use them to craft some firework stars. If you collect the feathers, you can also trade them with a villager for emeralds.
Chicken
When you kill a chicken or it dies naturally, it also drops raw chicken. You can then cook it, either over a campfire or in a furnace, to get cooked chicken. A wonderful food source for your Minecraft world! Both raw and cooked chicken can be traded with villagers for emeralds.
The chicken is directly grilled when the chicken is on fire and then dies. We also utilize this mechanic in the automatic chicken farm!
Step-by-Step: How to Build an Automatic Chicken Farm in Minecraft
An automatic chicken farm is one of the simplest farms ever! It can be built very compactly and does not require many building materials. A prerequisite is at least two chickens and a few seeds so that you can breed them. A few stacks of eggs are, of course, also good. As previously mentioned, we use two mechanics here. On the one hand, new chickens are produced thanks to the eggs. When they grow up, they are killed by lava. What remains are feathers and cooked meat!
Materials for Your Chicken Farm in Minecraft
- Glass
- Building blocks
- Slabs
- Dispenser
- 2 Redstone repeaters
- 1 Redstone comparator
- Redstone dust
- 4 Hoppers
- Chest
- 1 Rail
- 1 Hopper minecart
- 1 Lava bucket
- 2 Chickens + seeds or several eggs
Detailed Instructions for Building an Automatic Chicken Farm
The collection mechanism for this farm consists of a hopper minecart, as it can attract items through a full block or a slab (which a normal hopper cannot). Use a double chest into which a normal hopper leads. Place a rail on it with a shift-click and then place the hopper minecart on top.
Next, build a small platform at the height of the hopper in a 3x5 block format. Place a dispenser so that it points towards the hopper minecart. In front of the dispenser, place a stone cutter. This ensures that the baby chickens are not roasted, but the adults are. Above the stone cutter, use a cauldron with lava through which the chickens die.
Note: With a slab and normal lava, we had the problem that the baby chickens were pushed into the lava by the thrown eggs and burned immediately. The setup with the cauldron and stone cutter is much better.
Then you still need to build the supply for the dispenser and the eggs. Use three hoppers that are connected in a row. Surround them with glass and slabs so that the chickens can be kept there.
The Redstone is not particularly difficult either. Be sure to look at the picture for the correct circuit. Place the comparator behind the hopper. Behind it and to the left are the two repeaters. Make sure there is a full block in front of the left repeater. The whole thing is then surrounded with Redstone dust.
Now you only need to fill the upper pen with the hoppers with enough chickens. They will then lay eggs, which are fed into the dispenser. Thanks to the Redstone, it fires directly. In the small chamber below, the baby chickens grow up. Once they are big enough, they die from the lava. At first, it might take a while, but over time you will get enough meat and feathers.
If you only want to collect eggs, then the upper setup is sufficient without the Redstone and dispenser. But with this automatic farm, you always have enough for it to run on its own.
Conclusion: Why an Automatic Chicken Farm in Minecraft is Essential
No one can really pass up a chicken farm in Minecraft. It is incredibly useful and supplies you with plenty of eggs, feathers, and cooked chicken meat. And building the machine is not that hard, as long as you take some important precautions. It can run passively in the background, and you can occasionally collect the items when you’re hungry or want to craft arrows. Continuously supply yourself with eggs and meat on your own server. Rent your Minecraft server and build an efficient chicken farm!
