Animal Breeding

Animal Breeding lets players produce offspring from farm animals instead of relying only on purchases from Irwin’s Barn. It is used to expand herds, replace older animals, and create new income sources through milk, wool, eggs, cheese, and eventual sales. Once a breeding setup is established, players can keep their pens stocked with domesticated animals and avoid repeatedly buying replacements.

Breeding requires the Animal Breeding Licence, which becomes available after unlocking Handling Licence 3 and Processing Licence 2. Animal Breeding Licence 1 unlocks the Egg Incubator recipe, allowing players to begin breeding Chooks. Animal Breeding Licence 2 unlocks Duff Dust from Irwin’s Barn, which is used to increase breeding chances for Vombats, Pleeps, and Burrowcoots.

To domesticate breeding males, players must first find the wild male animal and capture it using a Domesti-Crate from Irwin’s Barn, which becomes available at Trapping Licence Level 2 or higher. Wild males cannot be placed directly into mixed pens, since they will attack farm animals; only crate-captured domesticated males can be safely added. The wild male counterparts are found in specific places: Roosters in the Tropics, Plunks in Rivers, Vombulls in the Plains, and Boaricoots in the Desert. Domesticated males of the same or different species can be kept together safely. Penguins can be domesticated, but they cannot be bred.

Male and female animals must meet the same basic requirements to breed: they must be adult, not sick, have a proper home, and have been fed the day before. Suitable homes are the Bird Coop, Animal Den, or Animal Stall. After giving birth, females must rest before breeding again; this recovery time is half the pregnancy length. Pleeps and Burrowcoots rest for 5 days, and Vombats rest for 4 days.

For Chooks, placing a domesticated rooster in a pen with at least three other adult Chooks gives a chance that one Chook will lay a Fertilised Chicken Egg the next day. More than one rooster can be kept in the same pen to raise the odds. With Animal Breeding Licence 2, using Duff Dust on the domesticated rooster guarantees that up to three Chooks will lay Fertilised Chicken Eggs the next day, for a maximum of three eggs.

Fertilised Chicken Eggs must be placed in an Egg Incubator, which is crafted at the Crafting Table. After 7 days, a baby Chook appears in the incubator. Removing it names the chick and places it in a box automatically, similar to buying an animal from Irwin’s Barn. Players should make sure there are enough Bird Coops and Animal Feeders for the new Chooks.

Other bred animals require Animal Breeding Licence 2 and Duff Dust. Duff Dust is used on domesticated Boaricoots, Plunks, and Vombulls to enable breeding, with a maximum of one female per male. One bag of Duff Dust is needed per male. A male affected by Duff Dust is shown with love hearts and gains a unique journal entry.

Pregnancy is visible the next day: pregnant females wear pink bows, and their journal entries track the countdown to birth. During pregnancy, Vombats and Pleeps produce double milk and wool. Pregnancy lasts 10 days for Burrowcoots and Pleeps, and 8 days for Vombats. Birth happens between 8:00 and 12:00 in the morning, and the newborn appears in the same pen as the mother. Players may need extra Animal Feeders, Animal Dens for baby Pleeps and Burrowcoots, and Animal Stalls for baby Vombats.

Baby animals are always female, have random color patterns, and are born with about 2.5 hearts from their mother. This makes breeding useful both for maintaining productive pens and for raising animals that can later be sold for a good profit, especially when older animals reach 5 hearts.