Minecraft wiki entry for Egg_farming, associated text: This farm will be surrounded on the surface by an 11×11 fence or wall, with doors or gates at or near the middle of a side. There is a pillar and (at least a) partial roof in the center, and an "egg room" dug 3 blocks deep beneath that. The egg room and its pillar can be adapted to other farm layouts. You will also want a tunnel leading to the egg room, with space to get at the chest and other devices to retrieve meat and feathers), and the switches to trigger or disable the hatcher. The chickens are contained primarily by water, so the farm partly resists any problems with chickens walking through walls and fences. The schematics are below. The gold and stone-brick blocks represent "any full block", but the blocks shown as gold must also be opaque, while stone-brick blocks can be opaque, transparent, or in some cases air.