Chicken Breeding

Chicken Breeding is a passive mechanic that allows chickens to propogate and produce chicks when hens and roostros are in range of each other.

Chickens do not require a coop to breed, and will do so in the wild or on The Ranch if left to their own devices. However a coop will speed up the process.

Basics
Every 6-16 hours a check is made for an adult chicken of any type to check for a nearby Roostro. If there is one nearby it has a 50% chance to produce an egg. If successful, the resulting chick will be of the same type as the hen that produced it, and will either grow into an adult hen of that type or a roostro in 6 in-game hours. A hen will cease breeding when 12 or more adult chickens are in the immediate area.

Adult hens and roostros have a chance to decay to an Elder Hen or Elder Roostro when producing an egg together. Elders Hens no longer produce eggs, and Elder Roostros do not sire chicks with hens.

In A Coop
Main article: Coop

While a coop is not necessary for chickens to breed, all of the chickens' breeding patterns can be facilitated by having them within the confines of one. The small size of the coop also ensures chickens cannot wander too far from one another, so are significantly more likely to breed.


 * A default coop will allow hens to produce eggs 100% of the time whenever a roostro check is made.
 * The Spring Grass upgrade will reduce chick growth time from 6 in-game hours to 3 hours.
 * The Vitamizer upgrade grants hens a 50% chance to lay two eggs instead of one.
 * The Deluxe Coop increases the adult breeding cap from 12 to 24; the upgrade also vacs out Elder Hens and Elder Roostros, ensuring space is reserved for breeding pairs.

Trivia

 * The "eggs" that are produced by hens are, in reality, chicks covered in a layer made to resemble an egg, similar to the film around Plorts when produced by slimes. The top-right readout on the Overscan UI will recognise the "egg" as a chick, and can be vacced up immediately to receive the chick.
 * The Spring Grass upgrade is stated to allow hens to produce eggs twice as fast. Instead, it grants chicks the ability to grow in three hours, rather than six. Egg production is unaffected. The Vitamizer upgrade is stated to allow chicks to grow into hens and roostros twice as fast. Instead, it grants hens the chance to lay two eggs instead of one. Chick growth rate is unaffected. This means that the Spring Grass upgrade functions as the Vitamizer, and the Vitamizer functions as the Spring Grass.