Chicken Field

Introduction
Chickens produce two products which fulfill two very different stat requirements (Strength and Dexterity) in addition to hunger points. Chicken fields produce plucked chickens and eggs. Plucked chickens must be converted to fried chicken legs by a butcher before they can be eaten.

After the butcher has prepared them, each fried chicken leg can be eaten for 1 Strength and 1 Hunger stat point. Eggs may be eaten (1 HP) or juggled in the Training Grounds to improve Dexterity.

Chickens are in season in Fall (which occurs from September 1 - December 14 every year)

Requirements
Chicken fields are available to level 1 players and above.

You may chose a Chicken field when initially leveling from level 0 to level 1 in the Level Scribe's Office (Version 2: Viceregal Office) or you may change an existing field to a Chicken field at any time [ My Property > My First/Second field ]. Please note that if you change your field you will need to pay 50f and you will lose everything you were working on that field.

It is highly recommended you check with your local Mentor or Mayor to find out what type of field your town needs the most to avoid overproduction. Their recommendation will show when you are with the Level Scribe.

Buying Chickens
A chicken field can accommodate up to 4 coops of chickens at a time at a cost of about 50f per coop (exact price set by each Viceroyalty). Chickens can be purchased directly from the Viceroyalty from your field options under [My Property > My First Field] or [My Property > My Second Field]. Each coop is purchased separately. They can be staggered out and bought on different days, or if all 4 coops are empty then 4 new coops can purchased on the same day.

If the Viceroyalty has fed the coop, then you will not need to do so.

Care and Life Cycle
Once purchased, each coop has it's own health rating which fluctuates randomly based on the health of the chickens in the coop. Chickens should be fed corn to maintain their health and increase their longevity. The corn must be placed in your Storage Box [My Property > My Storage Box]. In Version 3, they are fed by selecting the check box next to their coop and selecting the [Feed] Button. One can also feed all of them using the [Feed All] option. In Version 2, each chicken coop must be manually fed using the [Feed] link next to each coop. Each chicken coop can eat 1 bag of corn a day.

A healthy chicken coop can produce eggs every day in random amounts (up to 3) that will slowly decrease in number as they age. The eggs will appear every day in your Storage Box [My Property > My Storage Box] and can be seen recorded in your Events for the day [Me > My Events].

Please note that out of season it will be harder to maintain chickens.

The Colonel and you...
Once a chicken coop's health drops a bit below 50% it will no longer produce eggs, but the coop can still be slaughtered to produce plucked chicken carcasses for butchering. The healthier the chickens, the more plucked chicken carcasses will be produced, averaging between 1-7 carcasses per coop based on health and season. A farmer has a chance of getting 7 carcasses a coop if their health has been maintained over a long time. Chickens who die on their own will still produce plucked chicken carcasses, but not as many as if they were properly slaughtered.

You can slaughter all or hire to slaughter the coops all at once. Hiring help costs money. The upside is that you may get a worker point if you hire a Peasant and you will always get a worker point if you hire another player. Yields from hiring may be better than if you slaughter the animals yourself. If you have the money to hire a worker for the day you can see the details of the last 10 job contracts under Town Jobs [Town > Town Jobs] to help you in setting a competitive wage for the job. If you choose to do the work yourself then you can not work another job that day.

Conclusion
Eggs and plucked chickens will appear your storage box [My Property > My Storage]. They can be moved to your Inventory and then placed on the market at your desired price if you are in town.

If you are out of town, you must have a Steward to be able to sell crops on your home market. You can purchase a Steward from the town market. Your steward can sell from your storage box.

Quick Reference
Back to Fields