Chicken

A chicken is a common passive mob, found in grassy biomes.

Spawning
Chickens naturally generate in groups of 4 on grass blocks 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; they do not spawn in snowy tundras, but still spawn in snowy taigas. 5% spawn as babies.

Chickens naturally generate in groups of 2-4 at light level 7 or above. 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 (a Minecraft day), 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.

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 when killed by a player or tamed wolf. ( if it was part of a chicken jockey)

They also lay 1 every 5 to 10 minutes.

Upon successful breeding, is dropped.

Killing a baby chicken yields no items or experience.

Behavior
Chickens wander aimlessly, chicks also follow adults. When falling they flap their wings and fall slowly, thus are immune to fall damage, although they avoid falling off cliffs. Chickens uniquely attempt to jump up stairs instead of climbing normally. Besides, they are attacked by ocelots, untamed cats and foxes. When harmed, they flee around.

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 sound is heard.

They swim, visibly flapping their wings and staying on the water surface. 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 are harmed when they float up and perish.

Breeding


Chickens follow players holding various seeds within 6 blocks.

If two adults are fed wheat seeds, beetroot seeds, melon seeds or pumpkin seeds, a baby spawns. They cannot breed for 5 minutes afterwards.

Baby chickens take 20 minutes to grow up. This time is accelerated by 10% each time it is fed.

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.
 * Chicken corpses can also lay eggs.