Need some info on animals.

[JC]

so i built my first coop, and bought some hay, but when i went to put it in the spot, it says i need a silo. (which i did not have yet) I checked on um a few days strait, and couldn't figure it out, and clicked on one and it said it was scrawny. Poor chickens.

I then read you can let um out the chicken door to eat outside. I did that, but how long do they need to be out to eat? is it fairly instant, like i can water my plants, then put um back inside?

I have the monster farm, so if i go caving and come home late, i don't want the monsters to eat my chickens!


But in all seriousness, how does that work? Do they just come and go when they are hungry and take care of themselves? or do i need to manage them a bit?

Do you build a silo asap so you don't have to worry about them as much? Not really sure how this whole animal thing works.


also, it says you can build a stable and get a horse, Not sure what you do with it? Do you ride it to the blacksmith, or the mines or something? can you leave um outside the bar, and won't wander off?

[Sleepingtub]

uhhh....usually if you let your animals out they'll just eat the grass that are lying around, and i don't think you can even put your animals back into the barns or coop (or atleast i never tried), but usually they start going back into their barn or coop by around 5:00pm, and i think they automatically get thrown in if its past 8:00pm (sometimes if they are not caged they wonder around and get lost and never make it back lol)....so all you really have to do is to make sure to close the door when they're all back in. Plus i always build a silo before getting any animals just so I have food for them on days that rains because the animals don't leave the barns or coops when it rains, and you need it for winter anyways...and as for the horse you don't need to feed it and it doesn't wander off. It practically lives outside. hope that helps haha...

[JC]

it does, ty.

[Idbuddy]

also horse is for moving aroudn faster, might not be the greatest thing if you dont mind normal movement but it is something to consider

[Eneicia]

You can put out hay every day if you have some from Marnie. Just right click on the bench like thing while holding the hay.

[Nakos]

You can't put the chickens back inside. They will however return to the coop at 6:00ish every night. So it becomes a nightly task to close the coop door after the chickens have gone to roost. (Not closing the door has a small negative to happiness. Also, a small risk of a chicken being taken by a wolf).

Yes, the way the game is set up, you're encouraged to build a Coop first. This (sadly) is the wrong way to go about it. Always build (and fill) a silo first (if you do any additional playthroughs). In your case, you should build a silo as fast as possible. Fortunately, Silos are fairly cheap.

This graphic (from the wiki) shows where to get hay (once you have a silo set up) and where to put it.

https://stardewvalleywiki.com/File:Chickens_fed.png

Also, when you cut the grass outside for hay, don't clear cut. Cut the grass "badly" leaving tufts behind. This makes the grass grow back faster (because of the way the spawn mechanics work).

[JC]

Originally posted by Eneicia:

You can put out hay every day if you have some from Marnie. Just right click on the bench like thing while holding the hay.

ahh that is what i was missing.. I saw the bin and it said i had no silo, i thought that is where they ate. TY!




I also figured out, you can build a fence to keep your chickens together, i know kinda obvious but i didn't even think of it.



@nakos thanks for the info about cutting hay

[Pyrimidal]

Originally posted by JC:

so i built my first coop, and bought some hay, but when i went to put it in the spot, it says i need a silo. (which i did not have yet) I checked on um a few days strait, and couldn't figure it out, and clicked on one and it said it was scrawny. Poor chickens.

I then read you can let um out the chicken door to eat outside. I did that, but how long do they need to be out to eat? is it fairly instant, like i can water my plants, then put um back inside?

I have the monster farm, so if i go caving and come home late, i don't want the monsters to eat my chickens!


But in all seriousness, how does that work? Do they just come and go when they are hungry and take care of themselves? or do i need to manage them a bit?

Do you build a silo asap so you don't have to worry about them as much? Not really sure how this whole animal thing works.


also, it says you can build a stable and get a horse, Not sure what you do with it? Do you ride it to the blacksmith, or the mines or something? can you leave um outside the bar, and won't wander off?

I just leave the coop open all time time with the exception of winter. Usually they'll roam around until 5:00 pm then go back inside, and won't come out until it's daytime. I've never had any trouble with leaving them to their own devices, but then again I hate animals and the only reason I even have any is because CC bundle and rabbit feet gifts.

[Ekimmak]

If you close the door at night, you can talk with them to raise their affection faster (which leads to better products).

But they also get affection from being able to eat grass outside, so if it gets tasking enough, you can just leave the door open at all times.