Chicken

This article is about the herdable animal in Age of Empires II and the wild animal in Age of Mythology. For the Age of Empires II wild animal, see Wild Chicken.

The Chicken is a herdable animal in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition and a wild animal in Age of Mythology.

Age of Empires II

Chicken
Herdable animal
Introduced in	Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition - update 141935
Hit points	5
Speed	0.75
Line of Sight	3 (uncontrolled) 1 (when controlled by a player)
Collision size	0.2
Maximum food	65
Decay rate	0.125 food/second
Recommended no. of shepherds	1-2

The Chicken was introduced in update 141935 of Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition. They can spawn in random maps in place of other herdables like Sheep. They contain much lower food than other herdables, but decay slower. They have three color variations. They are worse at scouting than other livestock due to having lower Line of Sight.

Age of Mythology

Chicken
Huntable animal
Introduced in	Age of Mythology
Hit points	4
Hack armor	10%
Pierce armor	0%
Crush armor	99%
Speed	1.80
Line of Sight	10
Food amount	75
Recommended no. of hunters	1

• Retold
• Original

“	Villagers can hunt wild animals for food.	”
—In-game description

“	This animal can be hunted.	”
—In-game description

Chickens are animals in Age of Mythology that can be killed for food. With few hit points and no attack, they are easy to kill and a safe method of gathering food. Unlike most huntables, Chickens do not run away from villagers or when attacked, making them easier to keep near drop-off points.

In Retold, Chickens have the same gather rates as herdable animals.

Before Retold, it is better to gather, hunt, or herd animals first, as they have faster gather rates. Due to their use of the WildCrops unittype flag, they and Berry Bushes are gathered at the same rate, meaning Berry Bushes are a more efficient form of food, due to having 100 food versus the 75 food for the Chicken. In Tale of the Dragon, Fu Xi players can research Domestication to improve gathering from them.

Chickens appear on most maps close to the starting Town Center, as an early source of food, along with Berry Bushes. Additionally, three Chickens are spawned each time the Lure god power is invoked. Furthermore, the Asper Blood technology allows Lampades to transform enemy human units into Chickens.

History

“	Scientific name -- Gallus gallus Size -- 5-6 lbs. Diet -- seeds and insects Chickens have been eaten for thousands of years. While the Romans developed the first distinctive breed of chickens, ancient records show Asian jungle fowl were raised in China as early as 1400 BC. Since that time, chickens have become the most widespread and abundant domestic animal on the planet and one of the least expensive sources of protein. In addition to their meat, chickens provide eggs. In some modern African countries, 90 percent of households own scavenging chickens.	”
—In-game help section

Methane Chicken

Chicken Exploding
Unit information
Introduced in	Age of Mythology
Internal name	Chicken Exploding (Proto file)
Creation
Created through	Chicken Storm
Lifespan	10 seconds
Statistics
Hit points	4
Speed	1.80
Line of Sight	10
Hack armor	50%
Pierce armor	90%
Crush armor	5%
Food amount	75*
Other
Other attributes same as Chicken

“	Stay back!	”
—In-game description

Chicken Exploding (named Methane Chicken before Retold) is a cheat unit, groups of which are spawned by the Chicken Storm cheat god power, which can be obtained via the cheat code "BAWK BAWK BOOM". Once invoked, the Chickens stay for a while before self exploding, greatly damaging or destroying all units and buildings nearby. The attributes and appearance of Methane Chickens are identical to regular Chickens, but they cannot be attacked or harvested by workers. It can be attacked and killed by others, but doing so causes that Chicken to explode anyway.

The Methane Chicken cannot normally be found in the Scenario Editor.

Trivia

• Chickens eventually reappeared in Age of Empires IV, but only as static details for buildings.
• Even though chickens are farm animals, in Age of Mythology they are not herdable like livestock animals.
• Before Retold, a Chicken (or Duck) could not ordinarily belong to a player in the Scenario Editor using the units tool, because it would always belong to Gaia (Mother Nature), even if it is given to another team. It also could not be converted by a Priest while using Set as the main god. A Chicken could be converted or sided to a player only by using triggers or the cheat code "SET ASCENDANT".

Gallery

Variations of the herdable Chickens in Age of Empires II: Definitive Edition

Chickens vs other early food sources (AoE2)

Three chicken variants in Age of Mythology: Retold

An Evil Chicken seen in the Scenario Editor, in Retold

The "evil" Chicken spawn in certain random maps such as Erebus

Chickens in the original Age of Mythology

Methane Chickens raining atop a Greek city in the original game

Methane Chickens spilling their acid blood across a Greek city in the original game

Turkey skin of Chickens in the "Holidaze" event (Nov–Dec 2024) in Retold