Chicken (AWL)

Chickens are animals available in Harvest Moon: A Wonderful Life and Harvest Moon: Another Wonderful Life.

A total of 8 birds can be kept in the pen at one time (including ducks). They are a great starter animal, as they require a lower level of care then barn animals do and are still able to lay an egg daily for profit if kept healthy. Both roosters and hens can be purchased for a fee of 900G. Healthy adults can be sold for 450G and chicks will sell for 150G.

Care
The care involved for hens, roosters and chicks is very similar. All birds eat bird feed which can be thrown into the feeding area in the pen. Like barn animals, chickens can also be put outside to search for food. Unlike barn animals, however, each animal must be carried and brought in/outside individually. Chickens may be left outside to graze in good weather. When left outside, chickens will roam freely unless put into a confined space. In later years, it is possible to construct a small fenced area for your chickens outdoors.

Unlike other Harvest Moon games, chickens who have been left outside overnight may still lay an egg outside that can be picked up in the morning. If left in the pasture where tall grass grows, however, these eggs may be difficult to find. Chickens left out during bad weather run the risk of becoming sick, and should be given Animal Medicine if they do become sick.

A chicken's affection is increased by nuzzling them and putting them back down after lifting them. Do not nuzzle or show something to a chicken when it is sleeping or the effect will be negative (lifting and setting them down are fine).

Products
A healthy adult hen will lay one egg every day. Even without a rooster, this is still possible. However, if a rooster is purchased and living in the bird pen, there is a chance your hen will start to lay fertilized eggs. These can be sold, eaten, or used in the incubator to hatch a chick. If a chicken's affection is high enough, there's a small chance that they will lay a golden egg.

Breeding
Chickens will lay one egg every day, and only one rooster is needed for all hens to be able to lay fertilized eggs. As the coop can hold a maximum of 8 birds, the incubator will not accept another fertilized egg as long as you already have 8 hatched birds. An incubating chicken egg takes 5 days to hatch, starting the day it begins incubation, and 5 more days to mature. An egg will hatch after midnight going into the 6th day (or as soon as you wake after midnight), triggering a cutscene where the Harvest Sprites bring you to the coop to inform you of the bird's sex, and to name it.

Efficiency
Selling a chicken for 450g every 5 days is a huge boon, but the difficulty in efficiency comes in the relationship between egg production and chicken hatching. For this reason, it's good practice to ready a bird to be sold on the morning that your current incubating egg will hatch. This makes Takakura take the 8th chicken out of your coop early in the morning, allowing room for another egg to be incubated. Because the first day you incubate an egg counts as day 1 in its cycle, it does not matter what time you incubate the egg as long as it's before midnight. This method will maximize your egg production while keeping your bird turnover as high as possible.

Picking which bird to sell depends on the sex of the baby chick that's about to mature. If it's a rooster, then sell your current mature rooster so that there is no gap in fertilized eggs, leading to lower profits. If your baby chick is a hen, then sell any chicken besides the rooster for the same reason.

It is also good practice to keep one fertilized egg on you at all times so that you don't run the risk of delaying an incubation because you had to wait for one to be laid. The ideal automation would be hatch/mature/sell/incubate on the same day every 5 days.