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 it will 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, this gives each spawned zombie a 0.25% chance of becoming a chicken jockey; if chickens are present, the chance increases to 0.4875%.

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

In Bedrock Edition and Legacy Console Edition, baby zombie, baby husk and baby zombie villagers have 15% chance to become jockey, which can ride:
 * Adult chickens
 * Adult ocelots
 * Adult wild wolves
 * Adult zombies and variants
 * Cows
 * Pigs
 * Sheeps
 * Horses and variants
 * Mooshrooms
 * Spiders
 * Cave spiders
 * Polar bears
 * Llamas
 * Pandas
 * Adult Stray Cats
 * Any rideable mob can become unrideable after being mounted by a baby zombie.
 * Any tameable mob can become untameable 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.

Using the summon command: will yield a chicken jockey.

Chicken
Chickens drop:
 * 0–2
 * 1, when not killed by fire
 * 1, when killed while on fire
 * 1–3 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 will usually be 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 will usually be 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 will usually be 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 will usually be 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 will usually be badly damaged, and may be enchanted.
 * 0–1
 * 0-2
 * (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 will be 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 will run through 1 block high gaps. If the above block is solid, the baby zombie will suffocate.
 * 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 will follow a player holding seeds, like a normal chicken, and can be fed. In Survival mode, the chicken jockey will target 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.
 * If the chicken moves too close to a wall two blocks high, the zombie will take suffocation damage unless the upper block is transparent.
 * 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 will separate the cured villager from the chicken.
 * Name tags will 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 will attempt to attack the chicken being ridden by the zombie, however the zombie will also take damage even though it is an undead mob.
 * Adult zombies and zombie pigmen can also control a chicken while riding on it, though they do not naturally spawn on chickens.
 * If the chicken is killed or attacked zombie pigmen will not become hostile.