Egg production

xTATTEREDx  · +FINE+  · *SUPERIOR*  · ≡EXCEPTIONAL≡  · ☼MASTERWORK☼

v50.15 · v0.47.05 This article is about the current version of DF. Note that some content may still need to be updated. More Info · V

Egg production, like the meat industry, beekeeping industry, fishing industry, and farming, creates food. In egg production, collection and cooking of eggs is the primary activity, as, over time, domestic poultry, such as chickens, can produce much more food as eggs than the same animal produces as meat when butchered (1 egg = 1 meat = 1 meal). When starting out a new fortress, raising poultry can be an excellent way to quickly fill up your food barrels as it requires very little set-up for your dwarves. As a by-product of egg production, older or excess animals can be butchered as part of the meat industry.

Acquiring egg-laying animals

There are several sources for obtaining egg-laying animals, outlined below.

Embark

You can buy domestic poultry at embark and even decide how many males and females of each animal you embark with. Since you don't need males to produce eggs, and need only one male to breed, you could embark with three or four hens, and a single rooster. Poultry animals are very economical to purchase at embark, costing only 6☼ each.

Of the domestic poultry, turkeys produce the most eggs per clutch on average, followed by ducks, then chickens and guineafowl. Turkeys are also the largest poultry animals, and produce the most meat and other products if butchered as part of the meat industry, with geese and blue peafowl only slightly smaller. All domestic poultry become adults one year after hatching, but geese, blue peafowl, and guineafowl grow to full size at one year; other poultry only reach full size after two years.

Migration

Domestic poultry may arrive at your fortress with a wave of migrants. These animals may be strays or pets.

Trading

Requires: A trade depot, a trader, a merchant, and some tradeable goods

You can purchase egg-laying animals from a caravan. While human and dwarven merchants will generally bring standard poultry, elven merchants may bring tamed exotic egg-laying animals, which may prove useful for value or defense purposes.

Cage traps

Requires: Cages, mechanisms, a mechanic, animal training zone and an animal trainer

It is also possible to catch egg-laying animals through judicious use of cage traps. This, of course, involves building cage traps where these animals will walk or fly. Once they are trapped the caged animal (or invader) will be delivered to an animal stockpile and the trap will be reset with a fresh cage.

Cage traps should be built where animals will walk, not where they are when you decide to trap them. Any dwarves sent out to create and arm traps in the animals' midst will scare them away, or trigger their aggression. To successfully trap large animals, form a choke point some distance away from them: build walls, perhaps several z-levels high, to create a continuous barrier to movement.

Leave a small gap one or two tiles wide (depending on how many of the critters you want to trap) and build your cage traps there. If the animals haven't moved off or been scared off by the time you're done, and they're docile enough to not attack once they see your dwarves, use military orders to send a dwarf (or several) around behind the animals and herd them toward the choke point.

Note also that cage traps cannot be built within a certain number of tiles of the map edge, so when planning your funnels and choke points, be sure to leave four or five tiles as a buffer zone.

What wild egg-layers are available depends highly on the biome. In general, most maps have flying birds of one kind or another, but they tend to stay up in the air, where cage traps can't get them. Several underground creatures are egg-layers, and as such are available on every map, such as the crundle, elk bird or the rare and dangerous jabberer.

Egg-laying animals that are caught in a cage trap need to be tamed by an animal trainer at an animal training zone before they can be safely used to produce eggs. Note that you are not limited to standard domestic poultry; some of the most lucrative and prolific egg-layers are reptiles.

Breeding

Requires: One or more adult females and one adult male of each species, one or more nest boxes, and time

If a compatible male and a female of the same species are adjacent to each other and there is an open constructed nest box for the female to occupy and lay a clutch of eggs in, then sooner or later (and probably sooner) the male will "impregnate" the female which will allow it to lay fertilized eggs. A female can lay a clutch of eggs again immediately after the last clutch hatches. A female that cannot claim a nest box will not lay a clutch of eggs.

A fertilized clutch will only hatch if they are left in the nest box undisturbed. Collecting the eggs or deconstructing the nest box will prevent the eggs from hatching. A clutch of eggs to be used for breeding should be forbidden while still in the nest boxes to prevent their collection. Alternatively, you can put the nest boxes in a room behind a door and lock the door to keep your dwarves away from the eggs. For insurance, you can set no stockpiles to accept that type of egg, and forbid cooking that type of egg in the kitchen tab of the labor menu. Even if the eggs are left undisturbed, it is possible that clutch was not fertilized. Eggs that don't hatch after two seasons will likely never hatch, and the eggs will need to be collected in order to allow the female to lay another clutch of (hopefully fertilized) eggs, otherwise the female will continue incubating the unfertilized clutch in perpetuity.

As a large number of free-roaming animals will reduce your game speed, a common strategy is to cage all your young poultry until they mature. Keep in mind, though, that some tamed wild species take more than a year to mature, unlike most domestic animals. For example, it may be excusable to butcher a saltwater crocodile hatchling right away, rather than wait 3 years for it to mature and produce more meat and bones.

Using cage traps judiciously (or taking advantage of the animals elves trade) can sometimes snag you a breeding pair of a wild animal. Tame something unusual and start something crazy, like a cave crocodile farm!

Capture

Through the use of expeditions, a player can capture animals not otherwise available. For example, raiding a goblin settlement may yield beak dogs which, curiously, lay eggs.

Egg collection

Requires: A tame adult female egg-laying animal, a nest box, and food hauling

Once you have at least one tame adult female egg-laying animal, you need to build a nest box to begin production of delicious and filling eggs. Every so often, the adult females will claim a nest box and lay a clutch of eggs. Then, a food hauler will collect the eggs and move them to a food stockpile. Food hauling is an unskilled labor, so any dwarf in the fortress can do it. Egg collection is a great way to use those peasants that otherwise just move boulders around the fortress. This is a small guide aimed towards egg farming, I hope this helps and makes it easy to understand the egg industry... likewise an egg industry can be implemented towards a meat/leather/bone industry at any time with patience. Here's the guide : https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2975716340

Eggs must be cooked into prepared meals at a kitchen before they can be eaten by dwarves.

Egg-laying animals

Outdoor Animals

Animal	Graphic	Body Size (max)	Maturation Time (years)	Max Age (years)	Number of Eggs	Egg Size**	Notes
Adder		150	0*	15-20	3-10	16
Albatross		8,000	1	40-50	1	305
Alligator		400,000	1	60-100	10-30	80
Alligator snapping turtle		80,000	0*	30-70	5-10	70
Barn owl		500	1	10-20	3-6	32
Beak dog		150,000	1	10-20	5-10	1600	Domestic in goblin civilizations. Not tameable until v0.44.07.
Black mamba		5,000	0*	10-15	10-30	50
Blue peafowl		4,000	1	15-30	6-8	102	Domestic
Bushmaster		8,500	0*	12-24	10-20	22
Buzzard		1,400	1	10-20	2-3	60
Cassowary		50,000	1	40-50	3-6	550
Chicken		3,000	1	7-15	4-15	62	Domestic
Common snapping turtle		30,000	0*	30-50	5-10	50
Desert tortoise		5,500	1	80-100	3-5	40
Duck		1,000	1	7-9	8-13	52	Domestic
Eagle		4,000	1	20-30	1-3	142
Echidna		10,000	1	10-20	1	1
Emperor penguin		30,000	1	20-50	1	465	Not tameable
Emu		35,000	1	15-25	5-15	805
Giant adder		201,049	0*	15-20	3-10	16
Giant albatross		256,320	1	40-50	1	305
Giant alligator		3,268,000	1	60-100	10-30	80
Giant anole		200,629	0*	5-7	1-2	10
Giant barn owl		203,500	1	10-20	3-6	32
Giant black mamba		235,100	0*	10-15	10-30	50
Giant bluejay		200,700	1	10-20	2-7	11
Giant bushmaster		259,845	0*	12-24	10-20	22
Giant bushtit		200,035	1	1-2	5-13	1
Giant buzzard		209,804	1	10-20	2-3	60
Giant cardinal		200,350	1	10-20	2-5	9
Giant cassowary		560,000	1	40-50	3-6	550
Giant chameleon		201,049	0*	5-10	40-50	10
Giant cockatiel		200,629	1	15-30	2-8	11
Giant crow		203,500	1	10-15	4-6	21
Giant desert tortoise		238,645	1	80-100	3-5	40
Giant eagle		228,040	1	20-30	1-3	142
Giant echidna		270,500	1	10-20	1	1
Giant emu		450,100	1	15-25	5-15	805
Giant gila monster		214,020	1	20-30	2-12	32
Giant grackle		200,840	1	10-20	1-7	12
Giant great horned owl		214,020	1	15-20	1-5	51
Giant grey parrot		202,800	1	40-60	1-5	40
Giant hornbill		217,525	1	35-40	1-4	50
Giant iguana		228,040	1	10-20	40-50	15
Giant kakapo		221,040	7	60-120	1-4	52
Giant kea		207,010	1	30-50	2-5	62
Giant kestrel		201,750	1	10-20	3-6	32
Giant king cobra		242,160	0*	15-25	10-30	5
Giant kingsnake		210,510	0*	20-30	5-12	20
Giant kiwi		217,525	1	20-50	1-2	450
Giant loon		242,160	1	25-30	2-4	152
Giant lorikeet		201,400	1	15-30	2	11
Giant magpie		201,400	1	10-20	2-5	11
Giant masked lovebird		200,629	1	10-15	4-5	7
Giant monitor lizard		933,000	1	20-30	15-25	70
Giant oriole		200,280	1	10-20	3-7	8
Giant osprey		214,020	1	20-30	2-4	60
Giant ostrich		857,700	1	35-45	10-15	2000
Giant parakeet		200,840	1	15-25	2-4	11
Giant peach-faced lovebird		200,419	1	10-15	4-6	9
Giant peregrine falcon		113,292	1	12-15	3-4	46
Giant platypus		214,020	1	10-20	1-3	11
Giant pond turtle		203,500	0*	40-100	1-15	6
Giant puffin		205,252	1	15-20	1	30
Giant python		1,700,000	0*	10-20	10-30	50
Giant raven		208,404	1	20-40	3-7	52
Giant red-winged blackbird		200,350	1	10-20	2-4	11
Giant saltwater crocodile		6,440,000	3	60-100	20-70	100
Giant skink		203,500	0*	15-20	10-30	10
Giant snapping turtle		414,000	0*	30-50	5-10	50
Giant snowy owl		214,020	1	10-30	5-10	62
Giant sparrow		200,210	1	5-10	2-7	3
Giant swan		270,500	1	10-25	5-7	340
Giant tortoise		300,000	1	100-200	5-10	82
Giant vulture		263,430	1	10-20	1-3	60
Giant white stork		221,040	1	20-40	1-7	110
Giant wren		200,280	1	5-7	3-10	5
Gigantic tortoise		2,478,000	1	100-200	5-10	82
Gila monster		2,000	1	20-30	2-12	32
Goose		4,500	1	10-24	3-8	152	Domestic
Great horned owl		2,000	1	15-20	1-5	51
Grey parrot		400	1	40-60	1-5	40
Guineafowl		1,500	1	10-15	4-15	42	Domestic
Hornbill		2,500	1	35-40	1-4	50
Iguana		4,000	1	10-20	40-50	15
Kakapo		3,000	7	60-120	1-4	52
Kea		1,000	1	30-50	2-5	62
Kestrel		250	1	10-20	3-6	32
King cobra		6,000	0*	15-25	10-30	5
Kingsnake		1,500	0*	20-30	5-12	20
Kiwi		2,500	1	20-50	1-2	450
Kobold		20,000	12	150-170	1-2	1100	Forms crude civilizations, not tameable
Little penguin		1,500	1	20-30	2	53	Not tameable
Loon		6,000	1	25-30	2-4	152
Monitor lizard		100,000	1	20-30	15-25	70
Osprey		2,000	1	20-30	2-4	60
Ostrich		90,000	1	35-45	10-15	2,000
Penguin		4,000	1	20-30	2	125	Not tameable
Peregrine falcon		600	1	12-15	3-4	46
Platypus		2,000	1	10-20	1-3	11
Puffin		750	1	15-20	1	30
Python		200,000	0*	10-20	10-30	50
Raven		1,200	1	20-40	3-7	52
Saltwater crocodile		800,000	3	60-100	20-70	100
Sea serpent		9,000,000	6	150-175	1	6100	Aquatic, cannot lay eggs due to a bug.Bug:4105
Snowy owl		2,000	1	10-30	5-10	62
Swan		10,000	1	10-25	5-7	340
Turkey		5,000	1	7-10	10-14	87	Domestic
Vulture		9,000	1	10-20	1-3	60
White stork		3,000	1	20-40	1-7	110

* This creature cannot be fully tamed by dwarves, and thus will require frequent training.

** Egg size does not currently affect food quantity.

Subterranean Animals

Animal	Graphic	Body Size (max)	Maturation Time (years)	Max Age (years)	Number of Eggs	Egg Size**	Notes
Cave crocodile		600,000	3	60-100	20-60	80
Cave dragon		15,000,000	0*	Immortal	1-3	6100
Crundle		10,000	0*	10-20	5-20	60
Elk bird		100,000	1	10-20	2-10	60	Grazer, may starve itself to death while incubating eggs.Bug:4637
Giant cave swallow		200,000	1	10-20	2-3	2100
Helmet snake		50,000	0*	40-60	10-30	50
Jabberer		4,500,000	1	10-20	1-2	5100

* This creature cannot be fully tamed by dwarves, and thus will require frequent training.

** Egg size does not currently affect food quantity.

Megabeasts

Animal	Graphic	Body Size (max)	Maturation Time (years)	Max Age (years)	Number of Eggs	Egg Size**	Notes
Dragon		25,000,000	10	Immortal	1-3	6100
Roc		20,000,000	1	Immortal	1-2	201000

* This creature cannot be fully tamed by dwarves, and thus will require frequent training.

** Egg size does not currently affect food quantity.

Animal people

Animal People*

Animal	Graphic	Body Size (max)	Maturation Time (years)	Max Age (years)	Number of Eggs	Egg Size**	Notes
Adder man		35,075	0	60-80	3-10	16
Albatross man		39,000	1	60-80	1	305
Alligator man		235,000	1	60-80	10-30	80
Anole man		35,045	0	60-80	1-2	10
Barn owl man		35,250	1	60-80	3-6	32
Black mamba man		37,500	0	60-80	10-30	50
Bluejay man		35,050	1	60-80	2-7	11
Bushmaster man		39,250	0	60-80	10-20	22
Bushtit man		35,002	1	60-80	5-13	1
Buzzard man		35,700	1	60-80	2-3	60
Cardinal man		35,025	1	60-80	2-5	9
Cassowary man		60,000	1	60-80	3-6	550
Cave swallow man		35,050	1	20-30	4-5	11
Chameleon man		35,075	0	60-80	40-50	10
Cockatiel man		35,045	1	60-80	2-8	11
Crow man		35,250	1	60-80	4-6	21
Desert tortoise man		37,750	1	60-89	3-5	40
Eagle man		37,000	1	60-80	1-3	142
Echidna man		40,000	1	60-80	1	1
Emu man		52,500	1	60-80	5-15	805
Giant tortoise man		185,000	1	60-80	5-10	82
Gila monster man		36,000	1	60-80	2-12	32
Grackle man		35,060	1	60-80	1-7	12
Great horned owl man		36,000	1	60-80	1-5	51
Grey parrot man		35,200	1	60-80	1-5	40
Hornbill man		36,250	1	60-80	1-4	50
Iguana man		37,000	1	60-80	40-50	15
Kakapo man		36,500	7	60-80	1-4	52
Kea man		35,500	1	60-80	2-5	62
Kestrel man		35,125	1	60-80	3-6	32
King cobra man		38,000	0	60-80	10-30	5
Kingsnake man		35,750	0	60-80	5-12	20
Kiwi man		36,250	1	60-80	1-2	450
Loon man		38,000	1	60-80	2-4	152
Lorikeet man		35,100	1	60-80	2	11
Magpie man		35,100	1	60-80	2-5	11
Masked lovebird man		35,045	1	60-80	4-5	7
Monitor lizard man		85,000	1	60-80	15-25	70
Oriole man		35,020	1	60-80	3-7	8
Osprey man		36,000	1	60-80	2-4	60
Ostrich man		80,000	1	60-80	10-15	2000
Parakeet man		35,060	1	60-80	2-4	11
Peach-faced lovebird man		35,030	1	60-80	4-6	9
Peregrine falcon man		35,300	1	60-80	3-4	46
Platypus man		36,000	1	60-80	1-3	11
Pond turtle man		35,250	0	60-80	1-15	6
Puffin man		35,375	1	60-80	1	30
Python man		135,000	0	60-80	10-30	50
Raven man		35,600	1	60-80	3-7	52
Red-winged blackbird man		35,025	1	60-80	2-4	11
Reptile man		50,000	12	60-80	1-3	1600
Saltwater crocodile man		435,000	3	60-80	20-70	100
Serpent man		50,000	12	60-80	1-3	1600
Skink man		35,250	0	60-80	10-30	10
Snapping turtle man		50,000	0	60-80	5-10	50
Snowy owl man		36,000	1	60-80	5-10	62
Sparrow man		35,015	1	60-80	2-7	3
Swan man		40,000	1	60-80	5-7	340
Vulture man		39,500	1	60-80	1-3	60
White stork man		36,500	1	60-80	1-7	110
Wren man		35,020	1	60-80	3-10	5

* Animal people cannot be tamed, but they can join civilizations during worldgen and later arrive as visitors.

** Egg size does not currently affect food quantity.'

Vermin*

Animal	Graphic	Body Size (max)	Maturation Time (years)	Max Age (years)	Number of Eggs	Egg Size**	Notes
Anole		90	0	5-7	1-2	10
Blue jay		100	1	10-20	2-7	11
Bushtit		5	1	1-2	5-13	1
Cardinal		50	1	10-20	2-5	9
Cave swallow		100	1	10-20	4-5	11
Chameleon		150	0	5-10	40-50	10
Cockatiel		90	1	15-30	2-8	11
Crow		500	1	10-15	4-6	21
Grackle		120	1	10-20	1-7	12
Lorikeet		200	1	15-30	2	11
Magpie		200	1	10-20	2-5	11
Masked lovebird		90	1	10-15	4-5	7
Oriole		40	1	10-20	3-7	8
Parakeet		120	1	15-25	2-4	11
Peach-faced lovebird		60	1	10-15	4-6	9
Pond turtle		500	0	40-100	1-15	6
Red-winged blackbird		50	1	10-20	2-4	11
Skink		500	0	15-20	10-30	10
Sparrow		30	1	5-10	2-7	3
Two-legged rhino lizard		1,000	1	2-3	10-30	40
Wren		40	1	5-7	3-10	5

* Vermin cannot currently be used for egg production in fortress mode.

** Egg size does not currently affect food quantity.'

Bugs

Aquatic egg-laying animals will not claim a nest box. It doesn't matter if the box is built underwater or on land. ^Bug:4105

V · T · E Industries
Primary	Beekeeping · Farming · Fishing · Gathering · Meat · Poultry · Stone · Wood
Secondary	Alcohol · Armor · Arms · Ceramic · Extract · Finished goods · Fuel · Furniture · Gem · Glass · Metal · Paper · Soap · Textile
Tertiary	Military · Health care · Noble · Trade · Tavern
Quaternary	Library · Temple