Animals

Animals serve as a source of money and resources on your farm. They can typically be obtained only after a building is constructed on the farm that is suitable to house them (a coop for chickens, for example) and with the exception of the horse and the pet, must either be purchased from Marnie's Ranch or hatched from an Incubator. In either case, these animals arrive as babies and must grow into adults before they begin producing animal products.

Animals that live in coops (chickens, ducks, rabbits and dinosaurs) have a chance each morning of producing products that can be gathered on the floor. Using the Milk Pail, cows can usually be milked daily, and goats can usually be milked once every two days. Sheep can be sheared with the Shears when their wool grows in, and pigs can be let outside to dig up truffles.

Buildings

Buildings can be purchased from the Carpenter's Shop, and will be completed within a few days. The only way to have a building moved to a different location is to demolish it. To demolish a building that houses animals inside, they must first be relocated. This ensures that animals aren't lost in the process. Having any of these buildings demolished will not give you the resources back.

Barns, coops and slime hutches house animals, silos store hay, and the stable unlocks the horse.

Care

Friendship

Animals that live in barns and coops have a friendship rating that can be seen by right-clicking the animal after petting. The rating is out of 5 hearts and is shown in half-heart increments, and determines how likely that animal is to produce higher-quality products if that animal is capable of producing them in the first place. Friendship can be raised by daily petting (right-clicking the animal) and feeding.

Mood

Like friendship, an animal's current mood can be checked by right-clicking after petting the animal.

Food

Animals do not die if not fed, but will become upset and cease production of animal products until feeding resumes.

Animals that live in barns and coops can eat either fresh grass (if allowed outside) or hay (if kept inside, or unable to find grass). These animals will have their mood changed to "very happy today!" upon eating fresh grass. Slimes only need to have their troughs filled with water from the watering can, and horses and pets do not need to eat.

Grass & Hay

Opening the gates of a coop or barn will allow animals to come outside (when the weather is not rainy, snowy, or stormy) and eat grass. The animals will return to their buildings by 6pm to sleep. Closing the gates again in the evening is recommended as their mood sometimes becomes "sad" if the gates are left open overnight. Closing the gate before all the animal return inside will just cause the animals to pass through the door.

If the animals remain inside or do not find grass to eat, they will instead eat hay. To feed them hay you can take some by clicking on the hay hopper (which automatically takes hay from the silo) and put it in the feeding bench. The Deluxe Coop and the Deluxe Barn will distribute the hay automatically.

Once a silo has been constructed on the farm, using a scythe on grass will place hay inside the silo (50% chance per grass). Each silo holds 240 pieces of hay. Hay can then be gathered from hoppers inside barns and coops and placed in the feeding bins nearby. Building a silo before building animal buildings can make care much easier, though hay can be purchased from Marnie's Ranch even if the silo has not been built.

In the winter, snow covers the grass completely, making grazing impossible. As such, it may be advisable to use the scythe to cut some or all of the grass into hay before the end of the fall season to ensure enough reserve hay to feed your animals through the winter.

Coop Animals

These animals cannot be purchased until a coop is built on your farm, and must occupy a spot in a coop. They will leave their products inside the coop each morning.

Chickens

Adult chickens will produce eggs every morning if fed. Happier chickens may produce larger, more valuable eggs.

Image	Name	Cost	Produces	5 Heart Selling Price
	Chicken	data-sort-value="800">800g	Egg - 40g Large Egg - 75g	data-sort-value="1,040">g
	Chicken	data-sort-value="800">800g	Brown Egg - 40g Large Brown Egg - 75g	data-sort-value="1,040">g
	Void Chicken	n/a	Void Egg - 50g	data-sort-value="1,040">g

To obtain a Void Chicken; in a random event after you sleep, a witch will fly over one of your Chicken Coops, leaving you with a Void Egg in the morning. Alternatively, you can purchase a Void Egg from the Traveling Cart in Cindersap Forest. After you obtain the Void Egg, putting the egg into an Incubator (you must have the Big Coop) will result in the hatching of a Void Chicken. Currently, Void Chickens and Void Eggs (which cannot be processed into mayonnaise) have no special purpose and are not particularly profitable.

Whether you receive a white or brown chicken when purchasing from Marnie appears to be random.

Ducks

Adult ducks will lay an egg or drop a Duck Feather every other day. Happier ducks have a higher chance to produce Duck Feathers instead of an egg.

Image	Name	Cost	Requirements	Produces	5 Heart Selling Price
	Duck	data-sort-value="4,000">g	Big Coop	Duck Egg - 75g Duck Feather - 100g	data-sort-value="5,200">g

Rabbits

Image	Name	Cost	Requirements	Produces	5 Heart Selling Price
	Rabbit	data-sort-value="8,000">g	Deluxe Coop	Wool - 270g Rabbit's Foot - 450g	data-sort-value="10,400">g

Once sufficient friendship is reached, they can produce Rabbit's Foot automatically just like wool.

Dinosaurs

To obtain a Dinosaur, a Dinosaur Egg must be found while artifact hunting. Putting that egg into an Incubator will result in hatching a Dinosaur. The Dinosaur itself will act like any other coop animal, but it lays Dinosaur Eggs every 1-5 days and makes no sound.

Image	Name	Cost	Requirements	Produces	5 Heart Selling Price
	Dinosaur	n/a	Big Coop	Dinosaur Egg - 350g	1278g

Barn Animals

These animals cannot be purchased until a barn is built on your farm, and must occupy a spot in a barn. Their products are either gathered with a tool, or in the case of pigs, left on the ground outside while grazing.

Barn animals may become pregnant at random if the pregnancy option is enabled on their status menu. This is opened by right-clicking on the animal after having done so to give it affection first. An icon to the right of the menu can be toggled to allow pregnancy for that animal. If an animal becomes pregnant, during the night a message box will pop up saying an animal gave birth. The game will then prompt you to choose a name for the new animal. For pregnancy to happen you need to have upgraded to a Big Barn and have enough room for another animal.

Cows

Image	Name	Cost	Produces	5 Heart Selling Price
	Cow	data-sort-value="1,500">g	Milk - 100g Large Milk - 150g	data-sort-value="1,950">g
	Cow	data-sort-value="1,500">g	Milk - 100g Large Milk - 150g	data-sort-value="1,950">g

When interacted with, cows will stick their tongue out at you.

Goats

Image	Name	Cost	Requirements	Produces	5 Heart Selling Price
	Goat	data-sort-value="4,000">g	Big Barn	Goat Milk - 180g Large Goat Milk - 275g	data-sort-value="5,200">g

Goats produce milk every other day. They may get sad if you leave the gates to the barn open overnight.

Sheep

Image	Name	Cost	Requirements	Produces	5 Heart Selling Price
	Sheep	data-sort-value="8,000">g	Deluxe Barn	Wool - 270g	data-sort-value="10,400">g

Sheep need to be shorn when their coat grows in. This can be done with the Shears which can be purchased at Marnie's Ranch.

Pigs

Image	Name	Cost	Requirements	Produces	5 Heart Selling Price
	Pig	data-sort-value="16,000">g	Deluxe Barn	Truffle data-sort-value="500" 500g 625g 750g 1,000g	data-sort-value="20,528">g

Pigs will find Truffles after being let outdoors. Truffles can be used in the Oil Maker to make Truffle Oil.

Collection will be affected by Foraging skill, allowing you to gather gold quality Truffles with a chance of double harvest.

During Winter, pigs will not produce Truffles since the field is covered in snow and they won't leave the barn.

Other Animals

Horse

The horse can be ridden to make traveling faster. If you leave it somewhere, it will find the way home by itself. It is obtained by purchasing the Stable from the Carpenter's Shop. The horse comes with the stable, but you will keep the horse even if the stable is demolished. Like Pets, the horse will be named upon obtaining it, but the prompt is only given when trying to ride the horse for the first time. The horse can also not fit through some small gaps.

Slimes

Slimes are unique in that they are not docile and harmless like other animals. They are similar in appearance and behavior to Slimes found elsewhere in the game, and will attack and damage the player if able to. They are obtained by placing a Slime Egg in a Slime Incubator, either a player-crafted one or the built-in one that comes with the Slime Hutch.

Slimes produce Template:ItemLink, and do so only when both male and female Slimes (those with and without antennae) are present in the same location, and when given access to water via the troughs in the Slime Hutch. The Slime Ball can be right-clicked to release multiple Template:ItemLink items. These piles of slime have a chance of appearing daily, much like the products of coop animals.

Male and female slimes will also occasionally breed with each other. The color of the resulting offspring will fall anywhere on a spectrum between the parents' colors (e.g. a green slime may breed with a red slime to produce a yellow or orange slime).

Slime Eggs can be obtained as rare drops from Slimes or by compressing 100 Slime items in a Slime Egg-Press. They come in various colors and will produce slimes of the same color as the egg. Slimes of any color can breed with slimes of any other color.

Slimes incubated or bred in this way can be fought and killed just like any other slimes, and will drop items. A slime hutch can become a very dangerous place after even a few eggs have hatched, and it is advised that players take caution. It is recommended that the player obtain the Slime Charmer Ring before attempting large-scale slime farming.

It is also important to note that once the hutch has more than 5 Slimes, there is a 3.5% chance per night per slime to escape and disappear.

In a Random Event after you sleep, a Witch will fly over your Slime Hutch, she will turn all of the Slimes into Black/Transparent Slimes.

Pets

The player is allowed to adopt either a cat or a dog. The animal you adopt is dependent on which you choose as your preferred one in the character creation menu.

Marnie will arrive at your home with your pet on or before the first Spring 12. Adopting the pet is optional (Marnie will ask if you want to keep it). You will be able to choose any name you want for your pet the moment you adopt it.

You can click on your pet once a day to pet it and it will show you its love File:Pet love.png.

If you pet it often enough you will receive the message: " <Animal Name> loves you "

There is a bowl on some wooden tiles on the top left side of your house that you can fill with water for your pet. The bowl is purely cosmetic and filling it has no effect on you and your pet's friendship.

Non-Interactable Animals

Certain animals in Stardew Valley cannot be interacted with, and certain ones of these only appear in certain seasons.

Butterflies

Butterflies are abundant, and come in many colors, though they can only be seen in spring and summer. To see butterflies, walk around, shake or chop trees.

Owls

Owls as they can only be seen in data.

Owls are somewhat uncommon, and can only be seen at night (7:00pm-2:00am). They have been seen in all seasons.

Fireflies

Fireflies can be seen everywhere at night, particularly in Cindersap forest, during the summer. They create a small glow of light around them.

Seagulls

Seagulls appear at the beach. They can be seen floating in the water, doing nothing, or cleaning themselves with their beak. Should the player get too close, they will fly away.

Other Wildlife

Other wild animals potentially encountered in the Valley include rabbits, squirrels, green frogs, crows, woodpeckers, sparrows (small brown birds), and the occasional sea serpent. Squirrels may occasionally cause Hazelnuts or an appropriate tree seed to fall from trees they run up to.