Aside from cows, chickens are also a reliable source of income in Harvest Moon: Back to Nature. With just one chicken, you can collect eggs to sell, use in cooking recipes, or even give as gifts to villagers.
You can purchase chickens at the Poultry Farm for 1,500 G each. They’re easy to care for and can become even more profitable once you have a Mayonnaise Maker, which turns eggs into mayonnaise—greatly increasing their selling price.
Compared to cows and sheep, chickens are the easiest livestock to raise. Just feed them daily, and they’ll stay happy and healthy. If a chicken wins the Chicken Festival, it will start producing Golden Eggs, which sell for a much higher price.
Growth Stages
Chickens have two growth stages:
- Chick – Hatch from incubated eggs and take 9 days to grow into adults. Chicks don’t need to be fed but also don’t lay eggs.
- Adult Chicken – Once fully grown, they will lay eggs daily as long as they’re fed. Egg quality depends on the chicken’s affection level.
Incubating Eggs
To get more chickens without spending money, place a regular egg in the incubator inside the chicken coop. After 3 days, it will hatch into a chick.
Note: Chicks don’t show hearts and don’t need to be fed.
Daily Care
Chickens live inside the coop, where time is frozen—so feeding and collecting eggs won’t waste your in-game time.
Each chicken has its own feeding trough, and you only need to feed them once per day.
If you run out of chicken feed, you can:
- Buy more from Poultry Farm
- Let your chickens outside on sunny days to peck at bugs and worms naturally
Always remember to bring them back inside before evening to avoid bad weather or wild dog attacks. Chickens left outside during storms or cold weather will get sick and stop laying eggs.
Healing Sick Chickens
Sick chickens won’t move, and their icons on the menu screen will appear dim or pale. To heal them, buy Animal Medicine from the Poultry Farm. They will recover after a few days of treatment.
Tip: Always treat sick chickens, especially if they lay Golden Eggs!
Chicken Feed
Chicken feed costs 10 G per unit at the Poultry Farm. You can also make your own feed by placing Corn into the Water Mill beside the coop. One corn produces 10 feed units.
To save money, let chickens forage outside on sunny days so you won’t need to use up your stored feed.
Affection System
Chickens start with 10 Affection Points (AP), with a maximum of 255 AP (1 heart = 25 AP).
Affection only increases through feeding. Each day you feed a chicken, it gains +10 AP. It takes at least 24 days of consistent feeding to reach 10 hearts.
Here’s how different actions affect affection:
| Action | Affection Change |
|---|---|
| Feed the chicken | +10 AP |
| Hit with tools | -10 AP |
| Harassed by wild dog | -10 AP |
| Not fed | -20 AP |
| Left outside during bad weather | -120 AP |
Products
Eggs
Adult chickens that are fed daily will lay one egg per day. Egg quality depends on affection level. Chickens that win the Chicken Festival will start laying Golden Eggs, which are worth much more than normal eggs.
| Egg Type | Requirement | Sell Price |
|---|---|---|
| Normal Egg | 1–3 hearts | 50 G |
| Good Egg | 4–7 hearts | 50 G |
| Excellent Egg | 8–10 hearts | 50 G |
| Golden Egg | Win Chicken Festival | 150 G |
Eggs can also be incubated, eaten, used in recipes, or gifted to villagers.
Mayonnaise
After upgrading your chicken coop, you can ask Saibara to make a Mayonnaise Maker for 20,000 G and 1 Adamantite Ore. This machine turns eggs into mayonnaise, which sells for much more than plain eggs.
| Mayonnaise Type | Requires | Sell Price |
|---|---|---|
| Mayonnaise S | Normal Egg | 100 G |
| Mayonnaise M | Good Egg | 150 G |
| Mayonnaise L | Excellent Egg | 200 G |
| Mayonnaise G | Golden Egg | 300 G |
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