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v0.31:Egg production
| This article is about an older version of DF. |
Producing eggs, like the Template:L, the Template:L, the Template:L and Template:L, creates Template:L. In egg production, collection and cooking of Template:Ls is the primary activity, as domestic poultry such as Template:Ls can produce much more food as eggs than the same animal produces as meat when butchered (1 egg = 1 meal). When starting out a new fortress, raising poultry can be an excellent way to quickly fill up your food Template:Ls as it requires very little set-up for your dwarfs. As a by-product of egg production, older or excess animals can be butchered as part of the Template:L.
Acquiring Egg-laying Animals
There are several sources for obtaining egg-laying Template:Ls, outlined below.
Embark
You can buy Template:L at Template:L 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 at most one rooster. Poultry animals are very economical to purchase at embark, costing only 6Template:L each.
Of the domestic poultry, Template:Ls and Template:L produce the most eggs per clutch on average, followed closely by Template:Ls. Turkeys are the largest animals, and produce the most meat and other products if butchered as part of the meat industry, with Template:L and Template:L 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
Immature domestic poultry may arrive at your fortress with a wave of Template:Ls. These animals may be strays or Template:Ls.
Trading
Requires: A Template:L, a Template:L, a Template:L, and some tradeable goods
You can purchase egg-laying animals from a merchant. Elves may bring tamed exotic animals which are additionally Template:L.
Cage traps
Requires: Template:Ls, Template:Ls, a Template:L, a Template:L, and a Template:L
It is also possible to catch egg-laying animals through judicious use of Template:Ls. This, of course, involves building cage traps where animals will walk or fly. Once they are trapped the caged animal (or Template:L) 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 dwarfs 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 dwarfs, 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.
Egg-laying animals that are caught in a cage trap need to be tamed by an Template:L at a Template:L before they can be safely used to produce eggs.
Breeding
Requires: One or more adult females and one adult male of each species, one or more Template:Les, and time
If a male and a female of the same species exist on your map, and there is an open constructed Template:L for the female to occupy and lay a clutch of eggs in, then sooner or later (and probably sooner) the male will fertilize the eggs laid by the female. No contact between the male and the female or eggs is needed - fertilization can and will occur regardless of distance, physical obstacles such as walls or locked doors, number of each gender (beyond the first), and even ownership. (This is often referred to as "breeding by spores".) Even a male in a flock of wild animals outside the fortress walls can fertilize a clutch locked deep in a lowest level. A female can lay a clutch of eggs again immediately after the last clutch hatches. A female that can not 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 and their mother is allowed to incubate the eggs. Collecting the eggs, Template:L the mother, or deconstructing the nest box will all prevent the eggs from hatching. A clutch of eggs to be used for breeding should be Template:L to prevent their collection. Even if the eggs and mother are left undisturbed, it is possible that clutch was not fertilized. Eggs that don't hatch after two seasons will likely never hatch. To make sure that the eggs are left undisturbed, make sure that no Template:Ls accept that type of egg, and if you Template:L any meals make sure that that type of egg is turned off in the kitchen sub-screen of the Template:L screen. Alternatively, you can put the nest boxes in a room behind a Template:L and forbid the door to keep your dwarfs away from the eggs.
As a large number of free-roaming animals will reduce your game speed, a common strategy is to cage all your young poultry until matured because they cannot lay eggs, and do not give the same amount of bones, meat, and fat as adults. Keep in mind, though, that some tamed wild species take more than 1 year to mature, unlike most domestic animals. For example, it may be excusable to butcher a Template:L hatchling right away, rather than wait 3 years for it to mature and produce more meat and bones.
Using Template:Ls judiciously (or taking advantage of the animals Template:L trade) can sometimes snag you a breeding pair of a wild animal. Tame something unusual and start something crazy, like an Template:L farm!
Egg Collection
Requires: A tame adult female egg-laying animal, a Template:L, and Template:L
Once you have at least one tame adult female egg-laying animal, you need to build a Template:L to begin production of delicious and filling Template:Ls. Every so often, the adult females will claim a nest box and lay a clutch of eggs. Then, a Template:L will collect the eggs and move them to a food Template:L. As food hauling is an unskilled labor, any dwarf in the fortress can be as good at egg collection as every other dwarf! Egg collection is a great way to use those Template:Ls that otherwise just move boulders around the fortress.
As of v0.31.21, it seems that eggs must be Template:Led into Template:Ls at a Template:L before they can be eaten by dwarfs.
Egg-laying Animals
| Animal | Minimum Number of Eggs | Maximum Number of Eggs | Egg Size |
|---|---|---|---|
| Template:L | 10 | 30 | 80 |
| Template:L | 5 | 10 | 1600 |
| Template:L | 6 | 8 | 102 |
| Template:L | 2 | 3 | 60 |
| Template:L | 4 | 15 | 62 |
| Template:L | 8 | 13 | 52 |
| Template:L | 1 | 3 | 2100 |
| Template:L | 3 | 8 | 152 |
| Template:L | 4 | 15 | 42 |
| Template:L | 1 | 3 | 11 |
| Template:L | 20 | 70 | 100 |
| Template:L | 10 | 14 | 87 |
| Template:L | 1 | 3 | 60 |