Quick Links
There are plenty of animals to acquire in Stardew Valley, and each provides a variety of different goods the player can make a profit off of. Stardew Valley's chickens are probably one of the most basic farm animals and probably the type of animal players will first acquire when playing the game.
There are several different varieties of chickens to obtain, and this guide will cover how to get the blue chickens – a relatively rare version of regular chickens that don't really have any benefits except a different color palette.
Updated August 3, 2023 by Erik Petrovich: There aren't too many unique models of animals that players can house on their Ranch, but chickens actually do have a few alternate looks. The Void Chicken is easy to get by progressing through the mines, but to get a blue chicken Stardew has a bit of a more involved process. After getting a coop on their farm, progressing Shane's friendship heart significantly, then finally players have a small chance to get blue chickens in Stardew – there is a way to "cheat" the system, though. By buying chickens from Marnie, and re-naming them, players can guarantee that they will get a blue chicken by simply re-rolling its appearance over and over again. Read on to find out exactly how to get blue chickens in Stardew Valley.
Build A Coop & Add Regular Chickens To The Farm
Starting with the basics, players will need to obtain a coop before they can own and raise any chickens in Stardew Valley. First, collect 300 pieces of wood, 100 stone, and a total of 4,000 Gold to spend. Speak to Robin about building a coop on the farm after meeting these requirements. She can be found at her house a screen north of Pelican Town.
She will then ask the player to choose where on the farm to build the coop. It will take her three days to finish construction on the coop. White and brown chickens can then be purchased from Marnie. One chicken costs 800 Gold, making it the cheapest Ranch animal in the game.
After buying chickens, make sure they have an outside area with plenty of grass to munch on. It can take some effort to manage a coop in Stardew Valley successfully at first, especially with all of the petting and feeding that players must do every day – and the more chickens one has, the more mouths there are to feed, and more feathers to be rustled.
Befriend Shane By Reaching Eight Hearts
Befriending Shane may seem largely unrelated to the idea of obtaining a new variety of chicken, but it is a requirement for unlocking blue chickens. Blue chickens will become available to the player after they trigger Shane's 8-heart event. In order to increase their relationship with Shane, players can gift him Loved and Liked gifts. Doing this on his birthday, Spring 20, will give players an even bigger friendship boost.
|
Shane's Hated Gifts (AVOID) |
Shane's Liked Gifts |
Shane's Loved Gifts |
|---|---|---|
|
Most foraged items |
All Fruits |
Pizza |
|
Seaweed |
All Eggs, but not Void Eggs and Dinosaur Eggs |
Hot Pepper |
|
Quartz |
All Universal Likes, but not Pickles |
Beer |
|
Universal Dislikes |
Pepper Poppers |
|
|
Universal Hates |
One of the easiest ways to consistently increase the relationship with him is to head to the Stardrop Saloon in the evening, where he will come to drink after his shift at the JojaMart. Players can buy him a beer at the bar counter by speaking with Gus for the price of 400 gold.
Gus also sells pizza for 600 gold for players who don't mind splurging a bit. It's also possible to catch Shane before his JojaMart shift, walking through Pelican Town, which makes him an easy target for friendship. It's actually possible to reach full Friendship with Shane before the end of the first year with the right strategy, just be prepared to buy a lot of beer and pizza.
Shane's Heart Events
Shane's Heart Events are some of the game's most devastating as players can do little to watch him spiral out of control with his drinking problem. After one of the game's saddest cutscenes, Shane's final Heart Scene feels much more hopeful.
In order to get blue chickens in Stardew Valley, players need to reach the full Eight Hearts with Shane. These are the times and locations needed to activate Shane's heart events when he reaches the respective heart level:
|
Heart Total |
How To Trigger Heart Event |
|---|---|
|
Two Hearts |
Enter the forest south of the player farm from 8 pm to 12 am. |
|
Four Hearts |
Enter Marnie's ranch; the time of day doesn't matter. |
|
Six Hearts: |
Enter the forest south of the player's farm while it is raining between 9 am and 8 pm. |
|
Seven Hearts |
Part 1: Enter Marnie's Ranch when Shane is home after seeing the six-heart event. Part 2: Enter the town while it is sunny between 10 am and 4 pm. Clint and Emily must also have two hearts for this event to trigger. |
|
Eight Hearts |
Enter Marnie's Ranch whenever Shane is home. |
How To Get Blue Chickens in Stardew
Once Shane's Eight Hearts event has been triggered, blue chickens will officially be available to the player. There are now two ways to get blue chickens in Stardew Valley: by hacking new chickens, which have a small chance of turning blue, or by buying chickens from Marnie. There's actually a way to game the chance of a chicken being blue by buying them from Marnie.
- Buy blue chickens from Marnie: This is the guaranteed way of getting a blue chicken. When she asks the player to name the new chicken, there will be a notice at the top of the screen that says the color of the chicken being named. If it's not blue, simply cancel the transaction and repeat until it says the chicken is blue.
- Hatch new chickens in the coop: Every new chicken hatched from a white or brown egg has a 25% chance of being blue. Players will need to upgrade to a Big Coop by speaking with Robin to start hatching via the Incubator. The Big Coop requires 10,000 gold, 400 wood, and 150 stone.
Blue chickens are functionally identical to white chickens as there are no blue eggs. They simply produce white eggs as a white chicken would. Blue chickens are mainly just for appearances and bragging rights, but they do look much more flashy compared to their white and brown counterparts. The apparent flashiness of owning a blue chicken may rival owning a Stardew Valley ostrich.
Stardew Valley is available now on Mobile, PC, PS4, Switch, and Xbox One.