Chicken Jockey

"It’s a zombie that rides a chicken. This was made by Nathan as a, well, I think it’s partly a joke. He thought it was funny. And they are quite scary because they’re very aggressive. We had a huge problem with, er, when the zombies, they spawn and despawn all the time in the game, but with the chickens, they always remain. So for a while we had a problem that they would just fill the caves with chickens. Because they would spawn chicken jockeys but then despawn the zombie, just leaving the chicken behind. But Nathan fixed that, so now the chicken despawns as well."

- Jens Bergensten

A chicken jockey is the rare appearance of a baby zombie, baby zombie pigman, baby zombie villager, baby husk, or baby drowned riding a chicken.

Spawning
Each baby zombie, baby husk, baby zombie villager, baby zombie pigman, or baby drowned that spawns has a 5% chance to check for an existing chicken within a 10×6×10 box centered on the baby's spawn location, and spawn riding one of those chickens if there are any. If it fails that 5% chance to check for existing chickens, there is an additional 5% chance of the baby zombie spawning mounted on a new chicken. In a chicken-free environment, each spawned zombie has a 0.25% chance of becoming a chicken jockey; if chickens are present, the chance increases to 0.4875%.
 * Java Edition

Chicken jockeys may spawn with items equipped. Baby zombie pigmen versions of the chicken jockey always have a golden sword equipped, while baby drowned versions may have a trident. Provoking the zombie pigman chicken jockey causes it to attack, like a normal zombie pigman.

$$, there is an extremely low chance for a baby zombie villager to spawn wearing enchanted full diamond armor and holding an enchanted diamond sword while riding a chicken; this chance is 1 in 1.9921&times;1035, making this mob the rarest in the game.

Using the summon command: yields a chicken jockey.

In Bedrock Edition and Legacy Console Edition, baby zombie, baby husk and baby zombie villagers have 15% chance to become a jockey when it tries attacking a villager, player, or golem, which can ride: • Adult chickens
 * Bedrock Edition

• Adult ocelots and stray cats

• Adult wild wolves

• Adult zombies and variants

• Cows

• Pigs

• Sheep

• Horses and variants

• Mooshrooms

• Spiders

• Cave spiders

• Pandas Any rideable or tameable mob can become unrideable or untameable, respectively, after being mounted by a baby zombie.

In Bedrock Edition, if a baby zombie has spawned on another type of mob (such as an Adult zombie), killing the chicken jockey's current ' mount ' in an area populated with chicken may result in the baby zombie jumping onto a chicken rather than attacking the player.

Chicken
Chickens drop:
 * 0–2
 * 1, when not killed by fire
 * 1, when killed while on fire
 * 10 experience if killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Baby zombie
Baby zombies drop: If killed by a charged creeper, it drops a.
 * 0–2, and rarely s, es and s.
 * Baby zombies also have a 8.5% chance each of dropping their
 * or any equipped armor that they spawned with. The chance of each can be increased by 1% per level of Looting, up to 11.5% chance. The equipment is usually badly damaged, and may be enchanted.
 * or any equipped armor that they spawned with. The chance of each can be increased by 1% per level of Looting, up to 11.5% chance. The equipment is usually badly damaged, and may be enchanted.
 * or any equipped armor that they spawned with. The chance of each can be increased by 1% per level of Looting, up to 11.5% chance. The equipment is usually badly damaged, and may be enchanted.

They drop 12 experience when killed by a player or tamed wolf, 1–3 extra experience is given if the zombie has equipment.

Baby drowned
Baby drowned drop:
 * 0–2
 * (Rarely) a.

Baby drowned also have an 8.5% chance each of dropping their:

The chance of each can be increased by 1% per level of Looting, up to 11.5% chance. It is usually badly damaged and never enchanted.

Baby drowned always drop their, but only when held in their offhand.

Like baby zombies, they drop 12 experience when killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Baby zombie pigman
Baby zombie pigman drop: Baby zombie pigmen also have an 8.5% chance each of dropping their. The chance of each can be increased by 1% per level of Looting, up to 11.5% chance. It is usually badly damaged, and may be enchanted.
 * 0–1
 * 0-1
 * (Rarely) a.

Like baby zombies, they drop 12 experience when killed by a player or tamed wolf.

Halloween
If a baby zombie or zombie pigman wearing a pumpkin or jack o'lantern is killed using a tool enchanted with Looting, there is a chance equivalent to the level of Looting used to drop the pumpkin or jack o'lantern, up to a maximum of a 3% chance of a drop.

Behavior

 * Chicken jockeys generally run around, behaving like the zombie, instead of using the chicken AI.
 * Bedrock Edition is an exception.
 * Chicken jockeys fall slowly and do not take fall damage, like normal chickens.
 * The chicken moves at the speed of the baby zombie, which is much faster than a normal chicken.
 * The chicken can run through 1 block high gaps. The baby zombie suffocates unless the above block is transparent.
 * Chicken jockeys can pick up/equip items.
 * The chicken does not lay eggs. However, they can still be bred into regular chickens.
 * The baby zombie and the chicken can be separated by using a bucket of water on them.
 * In Creative mode, a chicken jockey that isn't already targeting a player follows a player holding seeds, like a normal chicken, and can be fed. In Survival mode, the chicken jockey targets a player who attempts to do this, and the chicken cannot be fed.

Trivia

 * The baby zombie's hitbox is larger than the chicken's. Attacking the chicken may harm the zombie instead, unless the player carefully attacks its feet.
 * Chicken jockeys, like spider jockeys, cannot pass through portals.
 * Zombie pigman chicken jockeys can spawn from portals in the Overworld.
 * A normal chicken jockey may spawn in the Nether if a zombie pigman calls a normal zombie as reinforcement.
 * If the zombie happens to be a zombie villager, curing it separates the cured villager from the chicken.
 * Name tags prevent the chickens from despawning, and they can be bred to spawn normal egg-laying, non-despawning chickens.
 * Chicken jockeys can spawn from zombie spawners.
 * The wither attempts to attack the chicken being ridden by the zombie and the zombie also takes damage.
 * Adult zombies and zombie pigmen can also control a chicken while riding on it, though they do not naturally spawn on chickens.
 * A zombie pigman chicken jockey does not become hostile if the chicken is killed or attacked.