How to Hatch a Smallbird in Don't Starve

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Updated: March 31, 2017

So you’ve found yourself a Tallbird Egg, took it, and even managed to escape the enraged mama Tallbird’s wrath. This is good and all, but now you’re at a loss on what to do. While you can cook and eat the egg, it’s a bit of a waste of effort to do so. But you know another thing you can do with it? Hatch it into a Smallbird and gain an adorable and valuable, if temporary, ally!

Part One of Two:
Hatching a Smallbird

  1. 1
    Start the hatching process. Tallbird Eggs start hatching when warmed to a point, and what better way is there than to build a nice, warm fire? Simply drop it near a fire or any kind for about 10 seconds and you’ll see the egg starting to crack immediately. After the initial warming, the Tallbird Egg would become a Hatching Tallbird Egg, which means you’re one step closer to getting yourself a tiny, adorable minion.
    • A Fire Pit would be best used during winter since it’s a permanent, refuelable source of light and heat. Campfires are better during the other seasons, since they extinguish more quickly, which means you can just work or explore the night away and come back to a still-hatching egg.
  2. 2
    Keep it warm. Hatching Tallbird Eggs would stop hatching when they go cold, and tend to dissolve into Wet Goop if kept cold for too long. So before you go to sleep, once night falls, or all throughout winter, simply drop the egg close to the campfire when it’s lit. This will keep your egg warm enough to progress hatching.
  3. 3
    Keep it from cooking. Unless it’s winter, try not to keep it close to the campfire all day. The egg would overheat and cook your tiny friend before it’s even born, resulting in a Cooked Morsel. So place it away from the fire, or in your inventory, during the day.
    • Placing it in your inventory would pause the egg’s development, which means it will not continue hatching until placed back on the ground.
  4. 4
    Be patient. The egg takes about 3 in-game days to hatch, give or take the time the hatching egg spends in your inventory. As long as you wait long enough and keep up the care, a tiny, hungry Smallbird would emerge soon enough!

Part Two of Two:
Caring for the Smallbird

  1. 1
    Feed it regularly. Smallbirds are frequently hungry, so you’ll have to feed them lots of seeds and raw berries to keep it happy. Simply walk up to them with the said edibles selected, then click or press X to feed it!
    • Once they reach adolescence and transform into Smallish Tallbirds, they can eat just about every edible thing (all types of meat, fruit and vegetable, rot and rotten eggs) and will eat anything left on the ground.
    • Smallish Tallbirds tend to peck at you, dealing a small amount of damage each time when they are hungry. Consider this incentive to feed them often.
    • If you don’t feed your bird often enough, they die in a few minutes. Two minutes for Smallbirds, and four minutes for Smallish Tallbirds.
  2. 2
    Be careful with your Smallbird! Smallbirds are tiny and fragile, but also over-eager to help your player when you start a fight! Which means that your tiny little baby bird will be put at risk and will probably get itself killed if you don’t keep a good eye on it. You should try your best not to pick fights with the really dangerous mobs, no matter how experienced you are, while they’re still tiny chirping fluffballs. Once they reach adolescence, they’re a lot more sturdy.
    • Smallbirds and Smallish Tallbirds are fully healed with every meal you give them.
  3. 3
    Keep an eye on its growth. Smallbirds take 10 days to reach adolescence, and another 18 to become a full-grown Tallbird! Be warned, though: Tallbirds, even the ones you raise since hatching, are extremely hostile and territorial towards the player! So once you’re nearing the inevitable time and it starts pecking at you for reasons other than hunger, it’s best to keep your distance. But even so, this would only present a minor setback, since you could always get another Smallbird!

Community Q&A

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  • Question
    What's a Smallbird?
    Community Answer
    • A Smallbird is a passive mob that has been hatched from a Tallbird egg and can fly briefly.
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  • You can hatch several eggs at once, though you should only attempt this if you have a lot of spare edibles for your birds.
    1 Helpful?  0
  • During Dusk while not in Winter, the egg will neither be considered warm or cold when near a fire, making it a good time to set it down if you’re keeping it in your inventory.
    1 Helpful?  0
  • If you’re impatient or lack resources for a fire and have a lot of sleeping items, you can simply go to sleep before night progresses, and you’ll wake up the following morning with a still-hatching egg.
    1 Helpful?  0
  • Keep the egg away from Pigs! Since they’re edible, the Pigs will greedily gobble up your tiny friend as soon as they see the egg!
    2 Helpful?  0

  • Spiders will also eat your egg if it is left on the ground.
    2 Helpful?  0

About This Article

9 votes - 100%
Co-authors: 8
Updated: March 31, 2017
Views: 16,996

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