Animals

Buying & bringing home

• Buy chickens from Angela, the chicken seller NPC. After purchase they do not enter your backpack — they appear in the small fenced field behind her house. Grab them manually: carry them home one by one on foot, or load them into a car boot. Community-confirmed Steam thread "Chicken coop mission" (DJM, Yakiwi)
• In every documented case the coop-mission stuck point came from missing the post-purchase prompt; other bugs in this mission cannot be ruled out. Community-confirmed Steam thread "Chicken coop mission" (DJM, Yakiwi) · Community discussion scan archive (local file: community-scan-2026-08-08.md, 90 topics scanned, 44 read)
• Exact chicken purchase price is unverified. One player reported about 4,000+C for four chickens; treat as a lead only. Single-source Community discussion scan archive (local file: community-scan-2026-08-08.md, 90 topics scanned, 44 read)

Housing & heater

• Chickens live in a coop. The heater and AC must be the coop/barn versions bought from Angela — the house decoration heater/AC sold at City Hall does nothing for coops. Official Steam thread "Big Chicken Eggs" (Jennoula, official)
• Mount the coop heater on the outside of the coop exterior wall. Official Steam thread "Big Chicken Eggs" (Jennoula, official)
• A fenced outdoor roaming area matters: chickens that can roam outside in an enclosed area get the chance to lay large eggs. Official Steam thread "About the chickens" (Jennoula, official)
• Chicks exist as the early growth stage of chickens; 2 additional rooster variations were added. Official · pre-EA documented The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement)

Feeding

• Chickens eat hay — they pick the grains out of hay/straw piles. Official Steam thread "Chicken Feed" (Jennoula, official)
• Two ways to feed: hold hay near the animal to hand-feed (raises the food reserve bar in its info tab), or fill the trough and animals eat by themselves once every morning, covering the whole day. Official Steam thread "Food and water reserves" (Mancer, Jennoula)
• General daily care: only the trough inside the coop needs filling — animals eat and drink inside before leaving in the morning, so outdoor troughs stay optional while the door is open. Official Steam thread "About the chickens" (Jennoula, official)
• To separate a visual change from a feeding problem, check the food and water reserves after the next morning cycle. If they have not refilled, inspect the indoor trough and its water source before using the sickness branch; this check alone does not identify the cause. Official Steam thread "Food and water reserves" (Mancer, Jennoula) · Steam thread "About the chickens" (Jennoula, official)
• Official 2023 Alpha update notes say wild grass produces Hay at any growth stage. This is pre-Early Access documentation and does not by itself confirm current-build behavior. Official · pre-EA documented The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement)
• Hay comes from cutting bushes or looting crates and barrels on NPC farms. Single-source Steam thread "where can i find hay" (Tila)

Water

• Water is supplied through a trough; hand-feeding does not work for water — the water reserve bar only refills from a trough. Official Steam thread "Food and water reserves" (Mancer, Jennoula)

Eggs & meat

• Adult chickens with every need and satisfaction maxed start laying. Egg size (S/M/L) and whether an egg is fertile are RNG; hover an egg to check fertility. Large eggs are the rarest and require maxed needs plus happiness. Official Steam thread "Egg Hatching Question" (Jennoula, official; SUwUMaBUwU)
• Chicken Egg - Small retails at 60C on the Leafy Market shelf. This is a shop purchase price, not what your eggs sell for. Video-observed Games Station gameplay footage V0.8.10.455 (local archive: games-station.mp4, shelf scan 03:15–03:45)
• Chicken Breast and Chicken Leg exist as current-build shop items. This confirms that these item records exist; the shelf footage alone does not prove how a chicken is processed, dropped or made available in the current runtime. Video-observed Games Station gameplay footage V0.8.10.455 (local archive: games-station.mp4, shelf scan 03:15–03:45)
• Meat, milk and eggs are species-specific items. Official · pre-EA documented The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement)

Breeding & hatching

• An egg-hatching mechanic for oviparous animals is documented. Official · pre-EA documented The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement)
• Large eggs arrived only around the 4th-5th batch for one player — pure RNG; daily petting raises the animal rating and large eggs became noticeably more frequent. Community-confirmed Steam thread "Egg Hatching Question" (Jennoula, official; SUwUMaBUwU) · Steam thread on the Gigi egg quest (DJM, Bobthekiller and others)

Sickness & the vet

• The End of Day report now alerts you to sickness. Chicken illness lasts 4 days before death; arrange treatment promptly. This is not a feeding interval. Official Ranching, Multiplayer & Building Update 0.8.10.858
• An animal sickness mechanic exists; the heater prevents temperature sickness but cannot cure an already sick animal. Official Steam thread "Big Chicken Eggs" (Jennoula, official) · The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement)
• Take sick chickens to the veterinarian. The vet only treats animals that are actually sick — a famished (starving) animal is turned away. Single-source Steam thread "how to cure at the vet?" (Seansniper27, maxitubby)
• A famished chicken recovers by the next morning if you bring it back to the coop and feed it manually. Single-source Steam thread "how to cure at the vet?" (Seansniper27, maxitubby)

Feed automation chain

• Full chain: mount an Auto-Feeding Kit on the coop, build a Silo inside its range and load hay, build a Water Tower (its link radius is much smaller than the silo's), sign the water contract with the mayor, then pick food/water type on the coop trough and flip the switch — a green light confirms a correct setup. Official Steam thread "Does the automatic barn feeding kit work?" (Akhenatom, Jennoula) · Steam thread "Silos" — Jennoula replies #3 and #5 · Steam thread "Watertower problem" (maxitubby, Mancer, Jennoula)
• Hovering buildings with the hammer equipped shows linkage; a silo displays how many auto-feeders connect to it, and linking happens automatically. Single-source Steam thread "Silos" — Jennoula replies #3 and #5
• The water meter is on the phone, or on the wall at the far right end past the ranch gate. Single-source Steam thread "Watertower problem" (maxitubby, Mancer, Jennoula)

Quests

• The Gigi large-egg quest needs large eggs: pet chickens daily to raise their rating and use the Angela heater. Two large eggs are needed before the delivery point appears. Community-confirmed Steam thread on the Gigi egg quest (DJM, Bobthekiller and others)
• Daily care needs only the trough inside the coop — animals eat and drink there before leaving in the morning (official). What an outdoor area affects is large-egg chance: chickens that roam outside in an enclosed area get the chance to lay large eggs. There is no evidence that the Gigi quest requires an outdoor trough. Official Steam thread "About the chickens" (Jennoula, official)
• The chicken coop mission has no confirmed bug — bought chickens wait in the field behind Angela's house, and documented stuck cases trace back to the missed prompt. Community-confirmed Steam thread "Chicken coop mission" (DJM, Yakiwi)

Disappearing-chicken checklist

• Hotfix 0.8.10.562 officially fixed several animal disappearance paths: entering a barn or coop at night, chicks growing up, newborn mammals spawning, animals appearing after a load, and animals becoming stuck between a barn or coop and its doors. This remains the historical fix boundary; test new reports on the latest available build and record the exact version. Official · pre-EA documented Hotfix 0.8.10.562 — official Steam announcement
• The 0.8.10.842 update adds animal edge-case fixes for barn/coop association, growth-stage state, hunger display, linked counts, repeated turning at doors and a same-frame disappearance case. Official 0.8.10.842 update — official Steam announcement
• Before 0.8.10.562, chickens submitted at the coop door could enter the stock count but vanish or get stuck inside the coop's exterior wall. The historical workaround was to walk inside before dropping them; stuck birds could sometimes be recovered by removing the others and demolishing the coop. Historical Steam thread on the coop-door chicken delivery bug (Big Grizzly) · Steam thread "Hühnerstall Bug" (Kartesk, Jennoula) · Hotfix 0.8.10.562 — official Steam announcement
• Check linking first: walking near the door should show a stock counter like 0/6 over the dark floor area — no counter means the coop is not linked. Official Steam thread "Hühnerstall Bug" (Kartesk, Jennoula)
• Before treating a missing chicken as a bug, the official moderator checklist is to verify the coop linked count, whether the door opens into a fully enclosed fence, any daily report notices, and green dots anywhere on the full map. These observations narrow the cause; none alone proves player error or a game bug. Official Steam thread: missing-chicken troubleshooting checklist
• No fence plus an open door lets chickens wander off for good. Community-confirmed Community discussion scan archive (local file: community-scan-2026-08-08.md, 90 topics scanned, 44 read)
• Without the Angela heater/AC, chickens die from heat or cold stress. Community-confirmed Steam thread "Animals keep dying" (multiple players)
• Before 0.8.10.562, one player reported that reloading the save sometimes respawned a vanished chicken. Historical Steam thread "A temp chicken issue fix!" (LittleGhost and others)

Selling & profit

Buying

Housing

• Three barn types with exclusive interiors exist, and livestock can be raised fully outdoors without a barn — with consequences over time. Official · pre-EA documented The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement)

Feeding

Milk & meat

• Cow Milk - Small and Cow Meat - Small appear on current-build Leafy Market shelves — the items exist; how a raised cow produces them is unmeasured. Video-observed Games Station gameplay footage V0.8.10.455 (local archive: games-station.mp4, shelf scan 03:15–03:45)
• Cow Meat - Medium retails at 672C (Basic quality, restores 42 health / 130 energy). Shop shelf price, not a ranch sell price. Video-observed Games Station gameplay footage V0.8.10.455 (local archive: games-station.mp4, shelf scan 03:15–03:45)
• Meat and milk are species-specific items. Official · pre-EA documented The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement)

Breeding

• A pregnancy mechanic for mammal animals is documented, and calves exist as the early growth stage for cows and bulls. Newborn quality probability is influenced by player luck. Official · pre-EA documented The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement) · The Ranchers — official Steam store page

Sickness

• The End of Day report now alerts you to sickness. Cow illness lasts 7 days before death; arrange treatment promptly. This is not a feeding interval. Official Ranching, Multiplayer & Building Update 0.8.10.858
• The animal sickness mechanic applies to livestock generally; cow-specific treatment flow is unverified in the current build. Official · pre-EA documented The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement)

Automation

• The same Feature Kit chain (Auto-Feeding Kit + Silo + Water Tower + water contract) is documented for barns as well as coops. Official · pre-EA documented The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement)

Selling

Buying

Feeding

Breeding

• As a mammal, goats fall under the documented pregnancy mechanic; current-build behavior unverified. Official · pre-EA documented The Ranchers, Ranching v2 update! (official Steam announcement)

Sickness

• The End of Day report now alerts you to sickness. Goat illness lasts 8 days before death; arrange treatment promptly. This is not a feeding interval. Official Ranching, Multiplayer & Building Update 0.8.10.858