Should i put farm buildings in open spaces?

[Brady]

What i mean is, should i put coops and barns and such far apart from each other so i can build bigger pens with grass?

[ChrillBill]

You don't have to, but personally I prefer to dedicate one area for my coop and one for the barn. Having a pen for them to hang out in and eat grass is also a must for me since I don't want them running around all over the farm. But it all boils down to what you would prefer I guess. Having the coop and barn close together with a shared pen could save you some space.

[Brady]

ok

[Castlegate]

And give your ducks access to the pond so that they can swim.

[Brady]

ok. So does ducks, rabbits and chickens need grass too?

[ChrillBill]

Yes they all eat grass if that's what you mean.

[Brady]

ok. Ill make sure to make room.

[ChrillBill]

There is also a neat trick when it comes to grass starters. Grass usually don't last very long with animals on the loose every day, lol. What many (including myself) likes to do is to plant one tile of grass, then put a lightning rod over that tile. This will keep the animals from eating that particular tile of grass, which in turn will keep the grass spreading and growing from that tile. It can save you some money, resources and time down the road :)

[Brady]

oh wow, thanks for the tip! glad lightning rods are easy to make lol. Also, how fast does grass spread?

[ChrillBill]

Ooh I had to look it up. This is according to the wiki:
Each fully grown grass tile consists of 4 tufts of grass. Each day, every individual tile containing grass has a 65% chance of growing. If the tile containing grass has less than 4 tufts and succeeds a growth check, it will grow 1-3 additional tufts of grass. (randomly determined) If a fully grown grass tile succeeds a growth check, it will check all 4 adjacent tiles. If they are tillable, there is a 25% chance for each tile for 1-3 tufts of grass to grow.

[Brady]

ok. hopefully i'll be able to get enough grass from pierre to make those chances better lol.

[Brady]

so, how big would you recommend animal pens?

[Dex]

one thing i always do is try to upgrade to the deluxe coop and barn as soon as feasible (Winter year 1 for me this playthrough). it really cuts down on the micromanaging with the food. i just build 2 silos and fill them with free grass from around my farm (i dont cut down the long grass until i get a silo).

As for size, i think only pigs need more space to find truffles, but i'm not positive on that.

[ChrillBill]

Originally posted by balesb060:

so, how big would you recommend animal pens?

It depends on which map I'm using. They don't have to be very large at all.
Here is one example from the very first farm I created in this game:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2292074910
As you can see the coop and barn are in the same area.
Plus I had a separate barn with just pigs which gave me a lot of truffles lol.


Here is another example where the coop and barn are in different areas:
https://steamcommunity.com/sharedfiles/filedetails/?id=2512566000
The coop is also connected to a pond here :D Hope these were inspirational!

[Brady]

ok. i already knew for certain that i'll build big areas for pigs, just needed a little insight on pen size and grass.

[Brady]

also, the style you built your pen is amazing. is it ok if i take inspiration from that?