Chicken

Chickens are common egg-laying passive mobs.

Java Edition
Chickens naturally generate in groups of 4 on any solid block with 2 blocks of free space above it at a light level of 9 or more. They spawn more frequently in jungles than in other biomes. Like other farm animals, they do not spawn in snowy tundras and variants, but still spawn in snowy taigas.

Bedrock Edition
Chickens naturally generate in groups of 2-4 at light level 7 or above. 5% of naturally generated chickens spawn as babies.

They do not have a higher spawn rate in jungle biomes and variants.

Baby chicken
Chickens can be bred to produce baby chickens.

Thrown eggs have a $1⁄8$ chance to spawn a baby chicken. If successful, there is a $1/8$ chance to spawn four baby chickens instead. If the egg was thrown at a wall at a certain angle, the chicken may spawn in the wall, suffocating the chicken.

Baby chickens grow up in 20 minutes, although the growth can be accelerated by seeds; each use of seeds reduces the remaining time by 10%. Baby chickens do not lay eggs. Due to their small size, they can pass through openings even smaller than a full block, though not willingly.

When swimming, they need only one block of air above their heads.

Chicken Jockey
All baby zombie variants and baby zombie pigmen have a 5% chance to spawn riding a chicken, forming a chicken jockey. Since a baby zombie only occurs from 5% of zombie spawns, this means that the chicken jockey spawns makes up only 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 command.

Chicken jockeys may spawn with items equipped. Baby zombie pigmen versions of the chicken jockey always wield a golden sword. Provoking the zombie pigman chicken jockey causes it to attack, like a normal zombie pigman. Killing the chicken does not cause the zombie pigman to attack.

Drops
When an adult chicken is killed:
 * 0-2 . The maximum is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 0-5 with Looting III.
 * 1 (1  if killed while on fire) The maximum is increased by 1 per level of Looting, for a maximum of 1-4 with Looting III.
 * and 1-3 when killed by a player or tamed wolf. (10 experience if it was part of a Chicken Jockey)

They also lay 1 every 5 to 10 minutes while alive.

Like other baby animals, killing a baby chicken yields no items or experience.

Behavior
Chickens appear to wander around aimlessly, although chicks also follow adult chickens. When falling they flap their wings quickly and fall slowly, making them immune to fall damage. Despite this, they still avoid falling off high cliffs.

While in a loaded chunk, a chicken lays an egg every 5 to 10 minutes (6000 to 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 popping sound can be heard. Chicken corpses can also lay eggs.

They share some behaviors with other "farm animals":
 * They are drawn to light when in a dark environment.
 * When struck, they run around quickly and aimlessly.
 * They can swim, visibly flapping their wings as they stay on the surface.
 * They follow players that are holding wheat seeds, pumpkin seeds, melon seeds, and beetroot seeds, and are also able to breed with those items.

Chickens are attacked by wild ocelots and foxes.

When swimming, chicks need only one block of air above their heads. Full-grown chickens need two blocks of air above their heads or else they take damage when they float up and eventually die.

Unlike most mobs, chickens attempt to jump up stairs instead of climbing them normally.

Breeding


If two chickens are fed wheat seeds, beetroot seeds, melon seeds, or pumpkin seeds, they mate and produce a baby chicken. After breeding, the chickens are unable to breed again for 5 minutes.

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

Data values
Chickens have entity data associated with them that contain various properties of the mob.

Trivia

 * $1/32$, there exists a mushroom-covered variant of chickens known as cluckshrooms.
 * When a chicken is riding a minecart, it is impossible to attack the chicken rather than the cart as it is completely inside the cart's hitbox.
 * When a chicken is killed while falling, the corpse also falls more slowly than normal, and the wings still make a flapping animation.
 * Chickens are able to "hide" within hoppers due to their small size, protecting them from lava or water that might be directly on top of the hopper.
 * Chickens are the only Overworld mob (without the use of hacks/inventory editors) that can breed without a separate item farm, by building a suitable area, collecting their eggs, and throwing the eggs back onto the ground. See also chicken farm.
 * A few weeks before the end of Java Edition Beta, Notch tweeted that he changed the chickens to ducks, causing a turmoil on Twitter. A few days later, Jeb, still getting feedback on the idea, stated that it was just a joke.
 * While loading/creating/exiting a world on Legacy Console Edition, the message that appears can say "Is it a Chicken, or a duck?". Also, the summary for the mobs avatars at the end says "... and a chicken... Or is it a duck?".
 * The changelog for Pocket Edition 0.3.0 referred to chickens as ducks.
 * Notch later referred to chickens in a blog post as "the chicken/duck/whatevers", implying they had no official name.
 * If the player throws eggs at glass panes, there is a small chance for the baby chicken to spawn on the other side of the panes.
 * Despite being based on an animal that does not give live birth, chickens are able to give birth.
 * If an egg is thrown into the water, there is still a chance for a chick to spawn.
 * In the book Mobestiary, it is said that chickens often spawn near hostile mobs, seemingly acting as spies. However, this is not true, and the presence of a hostile mob does not actually affect the chicken spawn rate, or any individual chicken's behavior.