
Health points |
Baby Zombie / Zombified Piglin / Zombie Villager / Husk / Drowned: 20 |
---|---|
Armor points |
Baby Zombie / Zombified Piglin / Zombie Villager / Husk / Drowned: 2 ( |
Behavior |
Hostile |
Classification | |
Attack strength |
Chicken Jockey: |
Spawn |
Randomly spawns instead of a baby zombie, baby husk, baby drowned or baby zombified piglin |
Chicken jockeys[1] are the rare appearance of a baby zombie, baby zombified piglin, baby zombie villager, baby husk, or baby drowned riding a chicken.
Contents
Spawning[]
- Java Edition
Each baby zombie, baby husk, baby zombie villager, baby zombified piglin, 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%.
Chicken jockeys may spawn with items equipped. Baby zombified piglin versions of the chicken jockey always have a golden sword equipped, while baby drowned versions may have a trident. Although chickens take damage from magma blocks, baby zombified piglin jockeys still spawn on them, killing the chicken and leaving just the baby zombified piglin. Provoking the zombified piglin chicken jockey causes it to attack, like a normal zombified piglin.
In Java Edition, there is an extremely low chance for a baby zombie villager to spawn wearing enchanted full diamond armor and holding an enchanted iron sword on its left hand while riding a chicken; this chance is 1 in 1.9921×1035[citation needed], making this mob the rarest in the game.
Using the summon command: /summon chicken ~ ~ ~ {Passengers:[{id:zombie,IsBaby:1}],IsChickenJockey:1b}
yields a chicken jockey.
- Bedrock Edition

A baby zombie riding a spider.
In Bedrock Edition, baby zombies, baby husks, and baby zombie villagers have a 15% chance to become a jockey when it tries attacking a villager, player, or iron golem, which can ride:
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 baby zombie's current mount in an area populated with chickens may result in the baby zombie jumping onto a chicken rather than attacking the player. In addition, Baby Zombies riding on other zombie variants appear to have a chance to change into the baby variant of the mob it's riding.
Drops[]
Chicken[]
Chickens drop:
- 0–2 Feather
- 1 Raw Chicken, when not killed by fire
- 1 Cooked Chicken, when killed while on fire
- 10 if killed by a player or tamed wolf.
Baby zombie[]
Baby zombies drop:
- 0–2 rotten flesh, and rarely carrots, potatoes and iron ingots.
- Baby zombies also have a 8.5% chance each of dropping their
- Iron Shovel
- Iron Sword
- 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.
If killed by a charged creeper, it drops a zombie head.
They drop 12 when killed by a player or tamed wolf, extra 1–3 is given if the zombie has equipment.
Baby drowned[]

A drowned chicken jockey.
Baby drowned drop:
- 0–2 rotten flesh
- (Rarely) a copper ingot.
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 can be enchanted.
The baby drowned always drop their nautilus shell, but only when held in their offhand.
Like baby zombies, they drop 12 when killed by a player or tamed wolf.
Baby zombified piglin[]

A zombified piglin chicken jockey.
Baby zombified piglins drop:
- 0–1 rotten flesh
- 0–1 gold nugget
- (Rarely) a gold ingot.
Baby zombified piglins also have an 8.5% chance each of dropping their golden sword. 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.
Like baby zombies, they drop 12 when killed by a player or tamed wolf.
Halloween[]
If a baby zombie or zombified piglin 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. [Java Edition only]
- 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.
- Command spawned jockeys are an exception.
- 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 (unless spawned with commands without the IsChickenJockey tag) 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, unless the zombie is a zombified piglin in a non-aggressive state, the chicken jockey targets a player who attempts to do this, and the chicken cannot be fed.
- Chickens become passive again if the rider is killed.
- Zombified piglin chicken jockeys are the only jockeys that aren't hostile.
Data values[]
Neither the chicken and rider's IDs nor the entity data are any different than if the chicken or rider were standing alone.
History[]
The specific instructions are: MC-188880 before and after, also these images are massive and there is overinking to be cleaned here
Java Edition | |||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|
November 29, 2013 | A two-image gallery was uploaded to Imgur, and showed a baby zombie inside a chicken. It was also posted to Reddit. | ||||
November 30, 2013 | Dinnerbone tweeted the link to an image of chicken jockeys, after seeing the image on Reddit. | ||||
1.7.4 | 13w49a | ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
1.7.5 | Chickens that are part of chicken jockeys can now despawn when no longer ridden. | ||||
1.8 | 14w02a | Chicken jockeys no longer lay eggs. | |||
1.9 | 15w35a | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
1.10 | 16w20a | ![]() | |||
1.13 | 18w11a | ![]() | |||
1.14 | 18w43a | ![]() | |||
![]() | |||||
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18w50a | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | ||||
Zombie villager jockeys no longer have a profession. | |||||
1.16 | 20w09a | "Zombie pigman jockey" has been renamed to "zombified piglin jockey". | |||
![]() | |||||
20w22a | ![]() | ||||
Pocket Edition Alpha | |||||
v0.11.0 | build 1 | ![]() ![]() | |||
v0.12.1 | build 1 | ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||
v0.14.0 | build 1 | Baby zombies now have 15% chance to mount a chicken to become a jockey. | |||
The zombie pigman can no longer become a chicken jockey. | |||||
v0.15.0 | build 1 | ![]() | |||
Baby zombie variants can now ride adult husks. | |||||
Baby zombie variants can now ride horse variants. | |||||
Pocket Edition | |||||
? | Adult zombie pigmen are no longer rideable by baby zombie variants. | ||||
Bedrock Edition | |||||
1.8.0 | beta 1.8.0.8 | Baby zombie variants can now ride pandas and adult stray cats. | |||
1.10.0 | beta 1.10.0.3 | ![]() | |||
![]() | |||||
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![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() ![]() | |||||
Zombie villager jockeys no longer have a profession. | |||||
1.13.0 | beta 1.13.0.9 | Adult zombie pigmen can now be ridden again by baby zombies. | |||
Legacy Console Edition | |||||
TU31 | CU19 | 1.22 | Patch 3 | ![]() ![]() ![]() | |
TU60 | CU51 | 1.64 | Patch 30 | 1.0.11 | Baby zombie jockeys can now ride any mobs, that match as bedrock edition's. However, normal chicken jockeys are still spawned. |
1.90 | ![]() | ||||
![]() | |||||
New Nintendo 3DS Edition | |||||
0.1.0 | ![]() ![]() ![]() |
Issues[]
Issues relating to "Chicken Jockey" are maintained on the bug tracker. Report issues there.
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.
- Zombified piglin chicken jockeys can spawn from portals in the Overworld.
- A normal chicken jockey may spawn in the Nether if a zombified piglin calls a normal zombie as reinforcement.
- Name tags prevent the chickens from despawning, and they can be bred to spawn normal egg-laying, non-despawning chickens.
- The wither attempts to attack the chicken being ridden by the zombie and the zombie also takes damage.
- Adult zombies and zombified piglins can also control a chicken while riding on it, though they do not naturally spawn on chickens.
- A zombified piglin chicken jockey does not become hostile if the chicken is killed or attacked.
- Chicken jockeys spawned using
/summon
use the chicken's speed instead of the baby rider's speed. - To prevent a chicken jockey from despawning, only the chicken needs to be name tagged, because riders of other entities never despawn.
- In Java Editon, if a zombie villager chicken jockey is cured, then the villager continues riding the chicken even after it grows up.[2]
Video[]
Gallery[]
A chicken jockey with some other chickens walking around.
Chickens can still lay eggs while being ridden when spawned with commands without the IsChickenJockey tag.
A chicken jockey named "Dinnerbone".
A baby zombie villager chicken jockey before 1.9.
A zombie pigman chicken jockey before 1.16.
The chicken hitbox below the zombie.
The four variations of chicken jockeys using "Grumm" or "Dinnerbone" name tags.
A chicken jockey from Bedrock Edition.
A chicken jockey that broke into the player's house.
A husk chicken jockey.
A zombie pigman chicken jockey in the Nether.
A jockey in the rain.
A husk chicken jockey in a desert biome in the early morning.
A rare variation of a zombie villager jockey, wearing full enchanted diamond armor and a enchanted iron sword in its left hand as of Village and Pillage.
A baby zombified piglin chicken jockey spawned by a spawner.
In other media[]
Chicken Jockey from the Mobestiary.
References[]
- ↑ "I saw this on reddit and had to make it a real thing: Chicken Jockeys." – @Dinnerbone on Twitter, November 30, 2013
- ↑ MC-200418