v50 Steam/Premium information for editors
  • v50 information can now be added to pages in the main namespace. v0.47 information can still be found in the DF2014 namespace. See here for more details on the new versioning policy.
  • Use this page to report any issues related to the migration.
This notice may be cached—the current version can be found here.

Chicken

From Dwarf Fortress Wiki
(Redirected from Hen)
Jump to navigation Jump to search
xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼
Chicken
Chicken couple sprites anim.gif
c

Toggle

Urist likes chickens for their scratching.
Biome

Tamed Attributes
Pet value 10

Template:Tame attrib proc/

Not hunting/war trainable 

Size
Birth: 60 cm3
Mid: 1,500 cm3
Max: 3,000 cm3
Food products
Eggs 4-15
Age
Adult at: 1
Max age: 7-15
Butchering returns

Food items

Meat 2-6
Fat 2-6
Intestines 1

Raw materials

Bones 0-4
Skull 1
Skin Raw hide

Wikipedia article

v50.12 · v0.47.05
This article is about the current version of DF.
Note that some content may still need to be updated.
A small domestic bird capable of flying short distances. It is prized for its tasty eggs.

Chickens are common domestic poultry known for their eggs and meat. Male chickens are known as roosters, female chickens are known as hens, and young chickens are known as chicks. Like other domestic poultry, they spend most of their time rooting around on the ground, eating vermin.

Hens will lay between 4-15 eggs when provided with a nest box. A rooster is required to fertilize the eggs, but fertilization is not guaranteed. Once hatched, chicks will grow into adults in 1 year.

Economically speaking, eggs are a very good source of food (1 egg = 1 meal) - starting out with 5 hens and roosters on embark is an easy way to keep a new fortress fed until larger scale food production can be established. Long-term, egg production remains a viable food industry, though other domestic birds (such as turkeys) produce more eggs and meat.

Most fortresses will collect the eggs as fast as they are laid, but this will prevent expanding your chicken population. To deliberately expand the population (and provide chickens for a meat industry), simply forbid one or more stacks of eggs by pressing t, select a nest box in use and press f to forbid the eggs from being collected. Alternatively, deny your dwarves access to the nest boxes with locked doors, or forbid stockpiling and cooking the eggs. Be warned that large groups of chickens will require a significant amount of space for them to roam, otherwise they will quickly get into fights; additionally, failing to collect eggs may rapidly lead to a chicksplosion.

Some dwarves like chickens for their clucking and their scratching.


Admired for its clucking.
D4Dwarf.png This article or section has been rated D for Dwarf. It may include witty humour, not-so-witty humour, bad humour, in-jokes, pop culture references, and references to the Bay12 forums. Don't believe everything you read, and if you miss some of the references, don't worry. It was inevitable.


For some reason, roosters give a skull more often than anything else; this may be because the butcher holds them by the throat when cutting. It's a well-known fact that chickens can run even after being beheaded. For more info, see the domestic animals' page.

Chickens are often observed crossing roads, with scholars speculating about their motivations.

See also[edit]

Retrieved from "https://dwarffortresswiki.org/index.php?title=Chicken&oldid=297499"