How to Tame Chickens in Solarpunk – Animal Taming Guide
First step to activating a solar zoo.
If you came across the chicken on the starting island and saw it locked early in Solarpunk, you might be wondering when you can tame it. There’s also a case where you already unlocked the requirements, but have trouble getting the chicken farm to work, which is the most confusing part of this animal taming guide.
In this guide, we’ll cover all these mechanics and show you how to tame chickens and everything you need to maintain your chicken farm in Solarpunk.
How to Unlock the Animal Basics Pack Research in Solarpunk
To start taming chickens or animals, you must research the Animal Basics Pack in the Research Table first. This shows up at tier 5, which means you must have Wheat unlocked and have gone through the 2nd expanded area with the level 2 Airship Research Upgrade from the Tradebot trades.
When you unlock tier 5 in the Research Table, the Animal Basics Pack shows up, which requires 5x Wheat. This is going to be hard since Wheat is also limited at this part of the game. Once you explore the new islands, you’ll get some Wheat and just plant the seeds until you accumulate enough Wheat for this research.
After researching the Animal Basics Pack, you’ll unlock the following crafts on the Workbench:
- Chicken Coop – 10x Wood and 4x Sticks
- Feeding Trough – 10x Wood, 5x Sticks, 5 Iron Bars
- Water Trough – 10x Wood, 10x Stone, 5 Iron Bars
- Animal Feed – 2x Wheat
These crafts are all needed to tame a chicken, so gather the resources first.
How to Tame Chickens in Solarpunk
To start taming chickens, you must have a Chicken Coop ready. To successfully tame a chicken and start getting Eggs from them, you must meet their three needs: Hunger, Thirst, and Shelter. Interacting with a chicken will show you your progress on those three needs. However, as long as you can provide shelter, which is the Chicken Coop, they should start staying around that area and actually claim the Chicken Coop as their home. You’ll see this when the Chicken Coop suddenly has the name of the chicken marked on top of it.
In the starting island, there’s already a single chicken roaming around by the hill near the lake. The chicken can roam around, but the AI is a bit unpredictable. Place the Chicken Coop near the chicken to provide it with shelter.
Note: If you want the Chicken Coop nearer to your base and the chicken is pretty far from it, the chicken might not claim the Chicken Coop. In my experience, the chicken never went to my base, even if the Chicken Coop was just by the lake around 20-30 meters away from the chicken. If you want the chicken to get relocated specifically to a spot, you might need the transportation mechanic, which is explained later in the guide.
Next, you need a Feeding Trough and Water Trough near the Chicken Coop. You can’t place them beside the Chicken Coop, so use the minimum distance required to place them nearest to the Chicken Coop. Use a Watering Can to fill up the Water Trough and Animal Feed to fill up the Feeding Trough. It takes half a Watering Can to fill up the Water Trough and four Animal Feeds to fill up the Feeding Trough.
Once all of those are set, the chickens’ needs should be gradually increased until they reach 10/10. When the needs are 10/10, you’ll start getting Eggs. The Eggs spawn in the basket next to the Chicken Coop, which can hold up to four Eggs at a time, so make sure to grab them frequently.
How to Transport Animals to Your Starting Island in Solarpunk
For transporting animals, you need to research the Animal Transport using the TraderBot Blueprints. The Animal Transport research unlocks at tier 2, which means you need at least a Silicon to reach this research.
Once you have the Animal Transport research, you’ll unlock the Animal Receiving Station and the Animal Transportation.
Using the Energy Workbench, craft the following:
- Animal Receiving Station – 20x Iron, 15x Silicon, 10x Copper, and 5x Leaf
- Animal Transportation – 4x Iron, 15x Leaf, 3x Copper
Place the Animal Receiving Station at your preferred destination. Put a name on it just in case you want to use multiple Animal Receiving Stations. Next, set your Animal Transportation to one of your hotbar slots. The Animal Transportation is a consumable and will disappear on use.
To use the Animal Transportation, find an animal and bring out the Animal Transportation item. Press the right mouse button to use it on the animal, and it’ll open a prompt. Select your Animal Receiving Station and press “Transport.”
If the Animal Receiving Station isn’t showing up here but you are sure you have it placed somewhere, it could be a bug. In my experience (patch 1.0.0), every time I place the Animal Receiving Station, it doesn’t appear in the prompt until I reload the game (selecting “back to menu” instead of exiting the game completely). To make sure the Animal Receiving Station is working before you travel to a different island, you can use the Animal Transportation on the chicken on the starting island to see if the station shows up. Just don’t select “Transport,” and it won’t use the item.
