Chicken

A chicken is a common passive mob found in most grassy biomes. Chickens are the main source of chicken, feathers, and eggs.

## Spawning

Chickens spawn naturally in the Overworld in groups of 4 on grass blocks, with 2 blocks of free space above it at a light level of 9 or more. They do not spawn in deserts, forests, taiga, snowy taiga, dark forest, 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 the world generation, chickens spawn individually.

5% of chickens spawn as chicks.

### Chicken Jockey

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.

## Drops

When an adult chicken is killed, it drops:

* 0–2 feathers. The maximum is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0–5 with Looting III.
* 1 raw chicken (1 cooked chicken if killed while on fire). The maximum is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 1–4 with Looting III.
* 1–3 when killed by a player or tamed wolf; (10 if it was part of a chicken jockey).

Chickens that were not part of chicken jockeys lay 1egg every 5 to 10 minutes.

When they breed, they drop 1–7.

Killing a baby chicken yields no items or experience.

## Behavior

Chickens are active, wandering aimlessly, chicks also following adults. When falling, they flap their wings and fall slowly, thus they are immune to fall damage. However, they avoid falling off cliffs. When harmed, they flee around. Chickens uniquely attempt to jump up to climb stairs instead of climbing them normally. They are attacked by ocelots, untamed cats,‌ and foxes. Chickens follow players holding various seeds within 6 blocks.

While in a loaded chunk, a chicken lays an egg every 5–10 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 swim, visibly flapping their wings and staying on the water surface. While swimming, a chicken needs only one block of air above its head. If a chicken is trapped underwater for more than 15 seconds, it drowns and dies.

## Breeding

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

Chicks take 20 minutes to grow up, but the growth time can be accelerated by 10% each time it is fed seeds.

Chicks 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 chick riding a minecart cannot be hit because it is completely inside the minecart's hitbox.

### Eggs

Chickens are the only Overworld mob that can repopulate without breeding. Chickens lay eggs at random, and an egg thrown at the ground has a 1⁄8 chance of spawning a chick. If a chick spawns from a thrown egg, there is a further 1⁄32 chance to spawn 3 extra chicks, 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.

Chickens spawn more frequently if the egg is thrown at an existing entity rather than a block.

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

## Other

The deadly Cockatrice resembles an ordinary Chicken and could be mistaken for one at a distance.

## See Also

* Mobs
* Egg
* Food