Chicken

{
    "title": "Chicken",
    "rows": [
        {
            "field": "4<span class=\"nowrap mc-hearts\"><span class=\"iconbar pixel-image nowrap\" style=\"--icon-offset:-1px;\" title=\"2  hearts\">(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=&#9829)(link to File:Heart (icon).png article, displayed as 9px|link=|alt=&#9829)</span></span>",
            "label": "(link to Health article, displayed as Health points)"
        },
        {
            "field": "Passive",
            "label": "Behavior"
        },
        {
            "field": "(link to Animal article, displayed as Animal)",
            "label": "(link to Mob article, displayed as Mob) type"
        },
        {
            "field": "'''In (link to Java Edition article, displayed as ''Java Edition''):'''<br>\n'''Adult:'''<br>Height: 0.7 blocks<br>Width: 0.4 blocks<br>\n'''Baby:'''<br>Height: 0.35 blocks<br>Width: 0.2 blocks<br>\n'''In (link to Bedrock Edition article, displayed as ''Bedrock Edition''):'''<br>\n'''Adult:'''<br>Height: 0.8 blocks<br>Width: 0.6 blocks<br>\n'''Baby:'''<br>Height: 0.4 blocks<br>Width: 0.3 blocks",
            "label": "(link to Hitbox article, displayed as Hitbox size)"
        },
        {
            "field": "0.25",
            "label": "(link to Attribute#movementSpeed article, displayed as Speed)"
        },
        {
            "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
            "label": "(link to Spawn article, displayed as Spawn)"
        },
        {
            "field": "(values exceeds 1000 characters...)",
            "label": "Usable items"
        }
    ],
    "invimages": [
        "Chicken Spawn Egg"
    ],
    "images": [
        "Chicken.png",
        "Baby Chicken.png"
    ]
}

A chicken is a passive mob found in grass biomes and the main source of raw chicken, feathers and eggs.

Spawning[edit | edit source]

Chickens spawn naturally in the Overworld in groups of four on grass blocks with 2 blocks of free space above them at a light level of 9 or more. They do not spawn in deserts, snowy plains, ice spikes, snowy slopes, meadows, wooded badlands, jagged peaks, frozen peaks, and stony peaks.

In Java Edition, chickens are more common in sparse jungles.

After world generation, chickens spawn individually. 5% of chickens spawn as baby chickens.

In Bedrock Edition, chickens require a light level of 7 or more to spawn and are found in groups of two to four.

Chickens may be found in the Nether when a chicken jockey spawns.

Chicken jockey[edit | edit source]

Java Edition[edit | edit source]

All baby zombie variants and baby zombified piglins have a 5% chance to spawn riding a chicken, forming a chicken jockey. Because a baby zombie occurs from 5% of zombie spawns, the chicken jockey spawns consist of 0.25% of all zombie spawns in a chicken-free environment; if chickens are present, the chance increases to 0.4875%. A chicken jockey can also be spawned by using the following command:

/summon minecraft:chicken ~ ~ ~ {IsChickenJockey:1b,Passengers:[{id:"minecraft:zombie",IsBaby:1b}]}

Chicken jockeys may spawn with items equipped. Baby zombified piglin versions of the chicken jockey always wield a golden sword. Harming or killing the chicken does not cause the zombified piglin to attack.

Bedrock Edition[edit | edit source]

Baby zombie jockeys do not spawn riding chickens, but check for nearby adult chickens to mount prior to attacking a player, wandering trader, adult villager, snow golem, or iron golem.

Drops[edit | edit source]

Adult chickens that were not part of chicken jockeys lay an egg every five to ten minutes.

Breeding[edit | edit source]

1–7 experience orbs upon a successful breeding.

On death[edit | edit source]

Item		Roll Chance	Quantity (Roll Chance)
			Default	Looting I	Looting II	Looting III
	Feather	100%	0–2	0–3	0–4	0–5
	Raw Chicken[d 1]	100%	1	1–2	1–3	1–4

1–3 experience orbs are dropped when a chicken is killed by a player or tamed wolf or 10 if it was part of a chicken jockey.

Killing a baby chicken yields no items or experience.

Behavior[edit | edit source]

A chicken normally wanders aimlessly when idle. They follow players holding various seeds within a 6×4×6 cubic area. Baby chickens follow adult chickens.

Chickens avoid falling off cliffs (>3.5 blocks). They flap their wings when they are in midair and fall slowly, thus chickens are immune to fall damage.

Chickens can be attached to leads.

When harmed, chickens flee around for a few seconds.

Unlike other mobs, chickens attempt to jump up to climb stairs instead of climbing them normally.^[1]

Ocelots, untamed cats‌^{[JE only]}, and foxes pursue and attack chickens.

While in a loaded chunk, an adult chicken lays an egg every five to ten minutes (6000–12000 ticks), unless it is, or was, a part of a chicken jockey. If the player is close enough to a chicken when it lays an egg, a pop sound is heard.

Chickens can stay underwater for 15 seconds or can swim, visibly flapping their wings and staying on the water surface. While swimming, a chicken needs only one block of air above its head.

Breeding[edit | edit source]

If two adult chickens are fed wheat seeds, beetroot seeds, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds, torchflower seeds, or pitcher pods, a baby chicken spawns. They cannot breed for 5 minutes afterward.

Baby chickens take 20 minutes to grow up, but the growth time can be accelerated by 10% each time it is fed seeds. A baby chicken fed a seed once per second grows up in approximately 48 seconds using 47 seeds.

Baby chickens are smaller than a half-block and can unwillingly pass through openings smaller than a full block, but do not walk through half-block-tall spaces. A baby chicken riding a minecart cannot be hit because it is completely inside the minecart's hitbox.

Eggs[edit | edit source]

Chickens are the only Overworld mob that can repopulate without breeding. Adult chickens lay eggs at random and an egg thrown at the ground by a player or a dispenser has a ¹⁄₈ chance of spawning a baby chicken. If a baby chicken spawns from a thrown egg, there is a further ¹⁄₃₂ chance to spawn three extra baby chickens, or ¹⁄₂₅₆ overall. It is theoretically possible for a stack of 16 eggs to yield 64 chickens if all spawn chances succeed for all eggs.

If the player throws an egg at a glass pane, the baby chicken can spawn on the far side of the pane.

Sounds[edit | edit source]

Java Edition:
Chickens use the Friendly Creatures sound category for entity-dependent sound events.

Sounds
Sound	Subtitles	Source	Description	Resource location	Translation key	Volume	Pitch	Attenuation distance
	​Chicken clucks	Friendly Creatures	Randomly	entity.chicken.ambient	subtitles.entity.chicken.ambient​	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
	​Chicken dies	Friendly Creatures	When a chicken dies	entity.chicken.death	subtitles.entity.chicken.death​	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
	​Chicken hurts	Friendly Creatures	When a chicken is damaged	entity.chicken.hurt	subtitles.entity.chicken.hurt​	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)	16
	​Chicken plops	Friendly Creatures	When a chicken lays an egg	entity.chicken.egg	subtitles.entity.chicken.egg​	1.0	0.8-1.2	16
	​Footsteps	Friendly Creatures	While a chicken is walking	entity.chicken.step	subtitles.block.generic.footsteps​	0.15	1.0	16

Bedrock Edition:

Sounds
Sound	Source	Description	Resource location	Volume	Pitch
	Friendly Creatures	Randomly	mob.chicken.say	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	When a chicken dies	mob.chicken.hurt	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	When a chicken is damaged	mob.chicken.hurt	1.0	0.8-1.2 (Baby: 1.3-1.7)
	Friendly Creatures	When a chicken lays an egg	mob.chicken.plop	1.0	0.8-1.2
	Friendly Creatures	While a chicken is walking	mob.chicken.step	0.25	1.0

Data values[edit | edit source]

ID[edit | edit source]

Java Edition:

Name	Identifier	Entity tags	Translation key
Chicken	chicken	dismounts_underwater fall_damage_immune	entity.minecraft.chicken

Bedrock Edition:

Name	Identifier	Numeric ID	Translation key
Chicken	chicken	10	entity.chicken.name

Entity data[edit | edit source]

Chickens have entity data associated with them that contain various properties.

Java Edition:

Bedrock Edition:

See Bedrock Edition level format/Entity format.

Achievements[edit | edit source]

Icon		Achievement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)	Gamerscore earned	Trophy type (PS)
PS4	Other
		Overkill { "anchor": "", "title": "Overkill", "icon": "", "title": "Overkill", "description": "Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit. ", "requirements": "Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall. ", "gamerscore": "30G ", "trophytype": "Bronze ", "rewards": ""Victor's Wide Hat" headwear " }	Deal nine hearts of damage in a single hit.	Damage can be dealt to any mob, even those that do not have nine hearts of health overall.	30G	Bronze
		It Spreads { "anchor": "", "title": "It Spreads", "icon": "", "title": "It Spreads", "description": "Kill a mob next to a [[Sculk Catalyst|catalyst]] ", "requirements": " ", "gamerscore": "10G ", "trophytype": "Bronze ", "rewards": "" }	Kill a mob next to a catalyst	—	10G	Bronze
		Over-Overkill { "anchor": "", "title": "Over-Overkill", "icon": "", "title": "Over-Overkill", "description": "Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the [[Mace]] ", "requirements": " ", "gamerscore": "20G ", "trophytype": "Silver ", "rewards": ""Charged Gauntlet" gloves " }	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	—	20G	Silver

Advancements[edit | edit source]

Icon	Advancement	In-game description	Actual requirements (if different)
	A Throwaway Joke	Throw a Trident at something. Note: Throwing away your only weapon is not a good idea.	Hit a mob with a thrown trident.
	Adventure	Adventure, exploration and combat	Kill any mob, or be killed by any living entity.
	Arbalistic	Kill five unique mobs with one crossbow shot	Armor Stand also counts for this advancement. This is a hidden advancement, meaning that it can be viewed by the player only after completing it, regardless of if its child advancement(s), if any, have been completed.
	It Spreads	Kill a mob near a Sculk Catalyst	Kill one of these 73 mobs near a sculk catalyst: Armadillo Axolotl Bee Blaze Bogged Breeze Camel Cat Cave Spider Chicken Cod Cow Creeper Donkey Dolphin Drowned Elder Guardian Enderman Endermite Evoker Fox Frog Ghast Goat Glow Squid Giant Guardian Hoglin Horse Husk Illusioner Llama Magma Cube Mooshroom Ocelot Panda Parrot Phantom Pig Piglin Piglin Brute Pillager Polar Bear Pufferfish Rabbit Ravager Salmon Sheep Shulker Silverfish Skeleton Skeleton Horse Slime Sniffer Stray Spider Squid Strider Trader Llama Tropical Fish Turtle Vex Vindicator Warden Witch Wither Wither Skeleton Wolf Zoglin Zombie Zombie Horse Zombie Villager Zombified Piglin Mobs that drop no experience as well as the ender dragon are ignored for this advancement.
	Over-Overkill	Deal 50 hearts of damage in a single hit using the Mace	–
	Take Aim	Shoot something with an Arrow	Using a bow or a crossbow, shoot a mob with an arrow, tipped arrow, or spectral arrow.
	The Parrots and the Bats	Breed two animals together	Breed a pair of any of these 26 mobs: Armadillo Axolotl Bee Camel Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Frog Goat Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Sniffer Strider Trader Llama Turtle Wolf A mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs are ignored for this advancement.
	Two by Two	Breed all the animals!	Breed a pair of each of these 25 mobs: Armadillo Axolotl Bee Camel Cat Chicken Cow Donkey Fox Frog Goat Hoglin Horse Llama Mooshroom Mule Ocelot Panda Pig Rabbit Sheep Sniffer Strider Turtle Wolf A trader llama does not count as a llama, and a mule must be the result of breeding a horse and a donkey for this advancement as they are not breedable together. Other breedable mobs can be bred, but are ignored for this advancement.

Video[edit | edit source]

History[edit | edit source]

Java Edition Alpha
v1.0.14							Chickens were added.
							Chickens fall more slowly than other mobs and have a flapping animation, but still take fall damage on landing.
v1.0.17							Chickens are now immune to fall damage.
Java Edition Beta
1.0							Eggs are now throwable, with a chance to spawn a chicken on impact.
1.8			Pre-release				Chickens now drop raw chicken. Before this, chickens dropped only feathers upon death.
							Chickens now run away when attacked.
Java Edition
1.0.0			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 2				Chickens can now be bred using wheat.
			Beta 1.9 Prerelease 3				Added baby chickens.
			RC1				Thrown eggs can now hatch baby chickens.
1.2.1			12w04a				Ocelots now attack chickens.
			12w07a				Chickens now have new AI to avoid hazards.
1.4.2			12w36a				Chickens now use wheat seeds, melon seeds, pumpkin seeds and nether wart instead of wheat to breed.
			12w38a				Added new step sounds for chickens.
1.7.4			13w49a				Added chicken jockeys — baby zombies spawned riding adult chickens.
							Chickens can now spawn in The Nether, as zombie pigmen also have a jockey variation.
1.8			14w02a				Baby chicken growth can now be accelerated using seeds.
			14w33c				Baby chickens can now swim.
			14w34d				Chickens can no longer be bred using melon seeds, pumpkin seeds or nether wart.
1.9			15w31a				Chickens can now be led and bred using melon seeds, pumpkin seeds, and beetroot seeds, in addition to regular seeds.
			15w43a				Chickens can now drop several raw/cooked chicken, if killed with a Looting-enchanted weapon.
1.10			16w20a				Chickens no longer spawn in ice plains.
1.11			16w32a				The entity ID has been changed from Chicken to chicken.
							A texture has been added under the chicken's head, which changes the texture from to .[2]
1.14			18w43a				Changed texture.
			19w07a				Added foxes, which pursue and kill chickens.
1.15			19w37a				5% of chickens now spawn as babies.
1.20 (Experimental)			1.19.4 Pre-release 1				Chickens can now be fed using torchflower seeds.[3]
Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.3.0							Added chickens.
							Baby chickens have also been added, but they do not yet spawn naturally.
v0.6.0							Baby chickens now spawn naturally.
v0.7.0							Chickens now lay eggs and have a 1 in 8 chance to spawn a baby chicken and a 1 in 254 chance for an egg to hatch 4 chickens.
v0.8.0			build 1				Baby chickens can now be spawned by throwing eggs.
							Chickens can now breed.
							Chickens now follow the player if the player holds wheat seeds.
v0.9.0			build 1				Chickens now spawn in small groups.
v0.10.0			build 4				Chickens no longer have a black texture on their chin due to the texture being missing, which changes the texture from to .
v0.11.0			build 1				Added chicken jockeys — baby zombies or baby zombie pigmen spawn riding chickens.
v0.12.1			build 1				Added ocelots, which attack chickens.
							Chickens can now drop several raw/cooked chicken, if killed with a Looting-enchanted weapon.
v0.14.0			build 1				Baby zombie jockeys no longer spawn riding chickens, but check for nearby adult chickens to mount prior to attacking a player, villager or golem.
v0.15.0			build 1				Baby husks can now mount adult chickens.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0			beta 1.10.0.3				Changed texture.
1.13.0			beta 1.13.0.1				Added foxes, which attack chickens.
1.18.30			Preview 1.18.20.28				Chickens no longer spawn in snowy taigas.
			Release				Reverted the chicken spawning change made in Preview 1.18.20.28.
Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360	Xbox One	PS3	PS4	PS Vita	Wii U	Switch
TU1	CU1	1.00	1.00	1.00	Patch 1	1.0.1	Added chickens.
TU5							Chickens now run away when attacked.
TU7							Added baby chickens.
							Chickens can now be bred using seeds.
TU14		1.04					Using a chicken spawn egg, baby chickens can now be spawned by using on a chicken.
TU31	CU19	1.22	1.22	1.22	Patch 3		Added chicken jockeys — baby zombies spawned riding adult chickens.
							Chickens can now spawn in The Nether, as zombie pigmen also have a jockey variation.
							Baby chicken growth can now be accelerated using seeds.
?	CU44	?	?	?	?	1.0.4	A texture has been added under the chicken's head, which changes the texture from to .
New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0							Added chickens.

Issues[edit | edit source]

Issues relating to "Chicken" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia[edit | edit source]

• When a chicken is killed off a ledge, the corpse also falls more slowly than normal and the wings continue flapping.
• Chickens can "hide" within hoppers due to their small size, which protects them from dangers like lava on top of the hopper.
• A few weeks before the end of Java Edition Beta, Notch tweeted that he changed the chickens to ducks,^[4] causing a turmoil on Twitter. A few days later, Jeb, still getting feedback on the idea, stated that it was just a joke.^[5]
  • The changelog for Pocket Edition v0.3.0 alpha referred to chickens as ducks.^[6]
  • Notch later referred to chickens in a blog post as "the Chicken/duck/whatevers".^[7]
  • During Minecraft: Story Mode, Petra at one point questions whether chickens are ducks.

Gallery[edit | edit source]

Renders[edit | edit source]

• 

  Animation of a chicken floating, flying, or sitting.

• 

  Animation of a baby chicken floating, flying, or sitting.

Screenshots[edit | edit source]

• 

  A chicken looking at the player.

• 

  A dying chicken and its item drops when killed.

• 

  A chicken next to an egg.

• 

  A chicken riding a minecart.

• 

  A chicken compared to a tiny slime.

• 

  A chicken on fire.

• 

  A chicken is swimming.

• 

  A group of chickens following a player.

• 

  A chicken being attacked by an ocelot.

• 

  A chicken flapping its wings while falling from a high place.

Mojang screenshots[edit | edit source]

• 

  An automatic chicken farm.

Textures[edit | edit source]

• 

  Chicken texture file.

• 

  Programmer Art

In other media[edit | edit source]

• 

  Artwork of a chicken.

• 

  An artwork of a chicken by Mojang.

• 

  Ditto.

• 

  A chicken in promotional artwork for the Horse Update.

• 

  A chicken in promotional artwork for the first Caves & Cliffs update.

• 

  Efe clutching a chicken in an ancient city.

• 

  Sunny discarding an egg in front of a chicken.

• 

  A chicken startling Sunny and Efe.

• 

  A giant chicken be warded off, parodying a scene from Jurassic Park.^[8]

• 

  Lego Minecraft chicken.

• 

  Flower Chicken, an official T-Shirt design.

• 

  Jolly Mobs Chicken, an official T-Shirt design.

• 

  Wavy Chicken, an official T-Shirt design.

• 

  Acid Duck, an official T-Shirt design.

• 

  Evolution of the Chicken, a design featured on an official water bottle.

• 

  Blue Chicken Family, an official tote bag.

• 

  The Secret Chicken, featured in the Trails & Tales Event.

• 

  The diamond chicken, a joke variant featured in Java Edition 2.0

• 

  Chicken Body, sold as part of the Community Celebration event.

• 

  Chicken Hat, also sold as part of the Community Celebration event.

• 

  Chicken Jockey Costume by Dots Aglow

• 

  Chicken in a Suit, a skin featured in the Battle & Beasts skin pack.

• 

  Chicken Tee

• 

  City texture pack

• 

  Greek Mythology mash-up pack

• 

  Halloween mash-up pack

• 

  Zombie Jockey Harness

• 

  Chicken concept art for the Minecraft movie.

• 

  Chicken but with pants on.

• 

  A demotivational poster of a chicken with sunglasses.

• 

References[edit | edit source]

External links[edit | edit source]

• Chicken article on Wikipedia
• A Working Chicken Coop – Minecraft.net on August 2nd, 2022

Navigation[edit | edit source]

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