How to Let Wild Chickens Hatch Eggs on Any Block

Removing the Hay Block Requirement

Out of the box, wild chickens roaming grassy fields will not multiply on their own because eggs only hatch when resting on hay blocks. You can allow eggs to hatch on grass, dirt, or any other surface through the mod configuration.

1. Open your Minecraft instance folder and enter the config directory.

2. Locate and open the configuration file for Despawning Eggs Hatch in a text editor.

3. Find eggOnlyHatchesWhenOnTopOfHayBlock and change its value from true to false.

Balancing Wild Hatch Rates and Growth

When eggs can hatch anywhere, leaving the hatch probability at maximum can quickly fill meadows and forests up to the area cap. Adjust the companion settings in the same file before saving:

1. Lower the hatch probability: eggWillHatchChance defaults to 1.0, meaning every single despawning egg hatches. Set a lower value so only a portion of wild eggs turn into chicks after five minutes.

2. Choose baby or adult spawns: Keep newHatchlingIsBaby set to true (the default) if you want natural baby chicks that take time to grow up before laying more eggs, or set it to false if you want newly hatched chickens to spawn immediately as adults.

3. Save the configuration file and restart Minecraft (or your server) for the changes to take effect.