Chicken Jockey

Minecraft Wiki article. Categories: Pages_needing_isometric_renders, Java_Edition_specific_information, Bedrock_Edition_specific_information, Pages_needing_images, Unknown_Pocket_Alpha_version_history, Entities, Jockeys, Hostile_mobs…

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This article is reproduced from Chicken Jockey on the Minecraft Wiki. Mirrored from revision 3705776. It is licensed CC BY-NC-SA 3.0 by the Minecraft Wiki contributors — not under the Codex’s CC BY-SA 4.0, and it may not be used commercially. Edits belong upstream, not here.

This article would benefit from the addition of isometric renders.
 
Please remove this notice once you have added suitable isometric renders to the article.
The specific instructions are: Add new riding positions of chicken jockeys. The riders have been slightly moved back
Chicken Jockey

A chicken jockey is the rare appearance of a baby zombie, baby husk, or a gurgle (or baby zombie villager, or baby zombified piglin in Java Edition[1]) riding a chicken. In Bedrock Edition, baby zombies and variants can also mount other common mobs.

Spawning

In Java Edition, chicken jockeys spawn directly in the world, like all other jockeys. In Bedrock Edition, baby zombies and certain variants do not spawn directly but instead mount other nearby mobs.

Direct spawning

This feature is exclusive to Java Edition.
 

Each baby zombie, baby zombie villager, baby husk, gurgle, or baby zombified piglin that spawns naturally has a 5% chance to check for an existing chicken within an approximately 10×6×10 (L*H*W) box centered on the baby's spawn location and spawn riding one of those chickens if there are any. If it fails that 5% chance, there is an additional 5% chance of the baby spawning mounted on a new adult chicken.

Therefore, in a chicken-free environment, each baby zombie has a 4.75% chance of spawning directly as a chicken jockey. If chickens are present, this chance increases to 9.75%.

Taking into consideration the fact that each type of zombie has a 5% chance of spawning as a baby, each spawned zombie has a 0.2375% chance of directly spawning as a chicken jockey in a chicken-free environment. If chickens are present, the chance increases to 0.4875%.

Chickens that are mounted by zombies despawn naturally, cannot lay eggs, and drop 10XP experience instead of the usual 1–3XP. If a jockey spawns riding a new chicken, the variant of the chicken depends on the biome it spawns in. If a jockey spawns riding an existing chicken, the chicken keeps its NBT data (variant, health, custom name, age, etc), but its IsChickenJockey tag is set to 1.

Chicken jockeys can sometimes spawn with equipment. Zombie, zombie villager and husk chicken jockeys may spawn holding an iron sword, iron spear, or iron shovel, and wearing armor. Drowned chicken jockeys may spawn holding a trident, fishing rod, or nautilus shell. Zombified piglin chicken jockeys always spawn holding a golden sword or golden spear.

Although chickens take damage from standing on magma blocks, zombified piglin chicken jockeys still spawn on them, killing the chicken and leaving just the baby zombified piglin.

Zombified piglin chicken jockeys do not become hostile if the chicken is attacked or killed.

Due to the biomes the riders spawn in, husk and zombified piglin chicken jockeys can only spawn with a warm chicken, unless they spawn riding an existing chicken. If a zombified piglin chicken jockey spawns from a Nether portal block, the variant of the chicken depends on the biome the portal block is located in.

Mounting

This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.
 

In Bedrock Edition, 15% of naturally spawned baby zombies, baby husks and gurgles can mount other mobs when spawned. This includes baby zombies summoned by monster spawners and spawn eggs.

The following mobs can be mounted:

Due to a bug, baby zombified piglins jockeys don't spawn properly.[2][3]

Due to another bug, baby zombie villagers can no longer mount mobs as jockeys.[4]

Summoning

Spawn eggs cannot spawn a chicken jockey or baby zombie rider, but monster spawners and trial spawners can.

In Java Edition, chicken jockeys can be summoned directly with /summon by setting the IsChickenJockey boolean flag to 1 (true):

/summon minecraft:chicken ~ ~ ~ {IsChickenJockey:1b,Passengers:[{id:"minecraft:zombie",IsBaby:1b}]}

In Bedrock Edition, summoning a baby zombie rider requires the following command:

/summon zombie ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ minecraft:as_baby

It can then be forced to form a jockey with the following command:

/ride @e[family=baby_undead,c=1] summon_ride chicken (or any mountable mob)

In both editions, zombie can be replaced by any zombie variant.

Drops

The baby zombie (or variant) and the ridden mob each drop the same items they normally would. If the baby zombie or baby husk‌[BE only][5] is killed by a player or tamed wolf while riding a chicken, it also drops the Lava Chicken music disc. Note that the jockey must be a zombie, not a gurgle or a baby zombie villager, husk,‌[JE only], or zombified piglin, and it must be riding a chicken.

Behavior

The jockey’s behavior is controlled by the rider.

  • Chicken jockeys fall slowly and do not take fall damage, like normal chickens.
  • The ridden mob can run through 1 block high gaps if its hitbox allows it. The rider suffocates unless the above block is transparent.
  • The rider can pick up/equip items if capable.
  • Chickens (unless spawned with commands without the IsChickenJockey tag) do not lay eggs.[6] However, they can still breed with other chickens, and the offspring do lay eggs. In Bedrock Edition, if a baby zombie or a variant mounts a normal chicken, the chicken stops laying eggs. If the rider is killed, the chicken starts laying eggs again.
  • Zombie riders (both the riders and ridden mobs[7]) despawn like regular hostile mobs.
  • In Java Edition, the chicken acts like a regular passive mob again if the rider is killed, but still does not lay eggs and may despawn.
  • Only the ridden mob needs a name tag to prevent both the ridden mob and rider from despawning.
  • Curing a zombie villager jockey:
    • In Java Edition: turns it into a villager chicken jockey. The baby villager continues to ride the chicken if it grows up[8] or turns into a witch.
    • In Bedrock Edition: dismounts the villager riding the jockey after it has been cured.

History

This section would benefit from the addition of more images.
 
Please remove this notice once you have added suitable images to the article.
The specific instructions are: JE snap 7 renders

Development

November 29, 2013A two-image gallery was uploaded to Imgur, and showed a baby zombie inside a chicken. It was also posted to Reddit.
November 30, 2013Dinnerbone tweeted the link to an image of chicken jockeys, after seeing the image on Reddit.

Java Edition

Java Edition
1.7.413w49a Added chicken jockeys.
1.7.5Chickens that are part of chicken jockeys can now despawn when no longer ridden.
1.814w02aChicken jockeys no longer lay eggs.
1.915w35a Zombie villagers now retain their professions and clothes, which have a tattered appearance. This has caused zombie villager chicken jockeys to have a changed appearance, as well.
1.1016w20a Added a baby husk jockey variant.
1.1318w11a Added a baby drowned jockey variant.
1.1418w43a The texture of zombie chicken jockeys has been changed.
The texture of husk chicken jockeys has been changed.
The texture of zombie pigman chicken jockeys has been changed.
The texture of baby drowned chicken jockeys has been changed.
18w50a Zombie villager chicken jockeys now have different clothes in desert, jungle, plains, savanna, snowy, swamp and taiga biomes.
Zombie villager chicken jockeys no longer have a profession.
Giants now use zombie AI so they can be spawned as giant chicken jockeys.
19w03aReverted the changes made to giants from 18w50a, removing giant chicken jockeys.
Existing giant chicken jockeys now appear as adults.
1.1620w09a"Zombie pigman jockey" has been renamed to "zombified piglin jockey".
The model and texture of zombified piglin jockeys have been changed.
20w22a The model of zombified piglin jockeys has been changed, again.
pre4 The model of the zombified piglin jockey wasn't positioned properly due to a bug.
1.16.220w30a The model of the zombified piglin jockey has been fixed.[9]
1.21.525w06a Chicken jockeys now spawn as warm or cold chicken variants in their respective biomes.
Baby zombie villagers now spawn as warm or cold chicken variants in their respective biomes.
Baby husks now spawn as the warm chicken variant.
Gurgle now spawn as warm or cold chicken variants in their respective biomes.
Baby zombified piglins now spawn as warm or cold chicken variants in their respective biomes.
1.21.7Release Candidate 1Zombie chicken jockeys now drop the Lava Chicken music disc when killed by a player or tamed wolf.
26.1snap7The models and textures of baby zombie variants have changed.
snap10The models and textures of gurgles, baby zombies, and baby husks have changed.
The riding positions of baby zombies, husks, piglins, zombified piglins, and zombie villagers, as well as gurgles, have been changed.[10]
26.2snap5Tweaked the riding positions of chickens.

Bedrock Edition

Pocket Edition Alpha
v0.11.0build 1Added baby zombies and chicken jockeys.
build 2Added baby zombie pigmen and their chicken jockeys.
v0.12.1build 1 Added baby zombie villagers and their chicken jockey.
v0.14.0build 1Overhauled the jockey mechanics. Baby zombies, baby zombie villagers, and baby zombie pigmen that are not jockeys already now have a 15% chance of becoming able to mount certain mobs, including chickens, when angered.
v0.15.0build 1 Added baby husks which can become a chicken jockey.
v0.16.0?Baby zombie pigmen can no longer mount mobs.
Bedrock Edition
1.10.0beta 1.10.0.3 The texture of zombie chicken jockeys has been changed.
The texture of husk chicken jockeys has been changed.
The texture of zombie villager chicken jockeys has been changed.
Zombie villager chicken jockeys no longer have a profession.
1.21.70
Experiment
Drop 1 2025
Preview 1.21.70.22 Added cold and warm chickens, which can be mounted by baby zombies, baby zombie villagers, and baby husks.
1.21.93Zombie chicken jockeys now drop the Lava Chicken music disc when killed by a player.
1.21.120Preview 1.21.120.20Zombie chicken jockeys now drop the Lava Chicken music disc when killed by a tamed wolf.
1.21.130Preview 1.21.130.20Baby zombie villagers and baby husks can no longer mount chickens and adult zombies, however can still find other mounts.
Preview 1.21.130.26Baby husks can once again mount chickens and adult zombies.
Baby zombie villagers can no longer mount mobs as jockeys.
26.0Preview 26.0.27 15% of baby drowned that spawn now find mobs to mount.
Due to a bug, baby zombified piglins jockeys don't spawn correctly.[11]
Due to more bugs, baby husks no longer mount mobs as jockeys, and baby zombie villagers can still not mount mobs as jockeys.[12]
26.10Preview 26.10.23 The models of baby zombies and their variants have changed.
Preview 26.10.24 Fixed a family typo preventing baby husks jockeys from mounting mobs.
Preview 26.10.25 The models of gurgles, baby zombies, and baby husks have been changed.

Legacy Console Edition

Legacy Console Edition
Xbox 360Xbox OnePS3PS4PS VitaWii USwitch
TU31CU191.221.221.22Patch 3 Added chicken jockeys.
TU60CU511.641.641.64Patch 301.0.11Baby zombies can now ride most mobs, that match as bedrock edition's. However, normal chicken jockeys are still spawned.
1.90 The texture of chicken jockeys has been changed.
The texture of baby zombie pigman jockeys has been changed.

New Nintendo 3DS Edition

New Nintendo 3DS Edition
0.1.0 Added chicken jockeys.

Issues

Issues relating to "Chicken Jockey" are maintained on the bug tracker. Issues should be reported and viewed there.

Trivia

  • In Java Edition, the chance for a baby zombie villager to spawn wearing full enchanted diamond armor holding an enchanted iron sword in its left hand while riding a chicken is about 1 in 2.91082×1022, however it is still not the rarest jockey.
  • In Java Edition, the rarest mob is the zombie villager chicken jockey from abandoned jungle village with fully enchanted diamond armor, jack o'lantern, leader attributes, and an enchanted iron sword in its left hand.
  • In Bedrock Edition, the rarest jockey is a baby zombie with full enchanted diamond armor with an enchanted iron spear riding a baby brown panda.
  • In Bedrock Edition as of 26.0, if there were no bugs, there are 3074 possible zombie (variant) riders, when including all mob variants. This does not include different armor configurations for zombies, husks, and zombified piglins, cat, chicken, cow, pig, and wolf sound variants, and statistics.
  • Zombified piglin chicken jockeys can spawn from portals in the Overworld.
  • A chicken jockey is the main protagonist of the openings for MINECON Live 2019 and Minecraft Live 2020.

Renders

Chicken jockey
Jockey Chicken variant
Temperate Warm Cold
Zombie
Husk
Gurgle
Zombified piglin
Zombie villager Plains
Desert
Savanna
Taiga
Snowy
Jungle
Swamp
Mounts
This section would benefit from the addition of isometric renders.
 
Please remove this notice once you have added suitable isometric renders to the article.
The specific instructions are: Add zombie donkey, mule, zombie horse, and skeleton horse jockeys as well as updating the models of the cow mooshroom and baby zombie riding them.
This feature is exclusive to Bedrock Edition.
 

Screenshots

Mojang screenshots

In other media

References

  1. ↑ Not in Bedrock Edition due to MCPE-234690 and MCPE-235955.
  2. ↑ MCPE-235955
  3. ↑ spawn_baby_jockey - This is because of a spawn event not existing in the events field in the zombified piglin's minecraft:entity JSON file.
  4. ↑ MCPE-234690
  5. ↑ MCPE-224103 – Husk Incorrectly Drops Lava Chicken Record When Riding a Chicken
  6. ↑ MC-165545 – resolved as "Works As Intended".
  7. ↑ MC-48965 – resolved as "Works as intended".
  8. ↑ MC-200418
  9. ↑ MC-188880 – Baby zombified piglins riding on chickens aren't positioned properly – resolved as "Fixed".
  10. ↑ MC-306300
  11. ↑ MCPE-235955
  12. ↑ MCPE-234690

Sources