A pigeon is a flying passive mob that lives in pigeonhole and interacts with mailbox to deliver mail.
When a pigeon stays in the Nether for 15 seconds, it will become a Charred Pigeon.
Variants
There are currently 4 natural pigeon variants in the mod:
And 2 special variants:
Common
Gray,
Brown and
White are common variants. They have following distribution respectively: 62.5% / 31.25% / 6.25%
The game will fallback to common variants if a specific variant fails to spawn.
Spawning
Natural
Natural variants spawn in groups from 3 to 6 pigeons. They spawn in the following biomes:
| Variant | Biome |
|---|---|
They also spawn in a village, similar to cat spawning.
Pigeons can also be found near dovecotes.
Special
Charred variant is created when a Charred Pigeon converts into regular pigeon.
Archimedes has 1 in 20 chance to spawn when player blows up a zombie, pillager, piglin or wandering trader, granting a hidden advancement.
Behavior
Pigeons roam the Overworld avoiding hazards. A pigeon flees for a short time when harmed.
Pigeons follow players holding seeds.
Cats, ocelots and foxes pursue and attack pigeons. Pigeons will also try to flee when predator is nearby.
Breeding
When pigeons are given seeds, they enter love mode. Breeding creates a baby pigeon, and the parents cannot breed again for 5 minutes.
Variant of the baby is chosen randomly from one of the parents with a 50/50 chance.
Info
If parent with a special variant is chosen - variant from common pool will be selected instead.
Eating
Pigeons look for seeds dropped on the ground and eat them. They can eat a lot of seeds, so be careful.
Nitwit villagers will occasionally throw some seeds for nearby pigeons.
Living in Pigeonholes
Pigeons live in pigeonholes like bees in beehives. They will enter the block occasionally and spend some time in it. They will also prefer to stay inside at night, in rain, or when tired after delivery.
Every time a pigeon leaves the pigeonhole, it remembers it as its home position.
Pigeon with a home will not wander more than 24 blocks from it and will pathfind back if brought outside this radius.
If a pigeon spends 3 in-game days without resting in any pigeonhole, it will forget its home position and will be free to wander off anywhere.
Info
Pigeonhole clears pigeon's tired status when it exits the block, unless exiting due to emergency.
Delivery
Main purpose of a pigeon is to deliver mail.
Pigeons nearby a mailbox will fly to it when the hatch is open, eat food and start a delivery process.
Warning
Pigeon cannot start a delivery when leashed, tired, at night or in rain or thunder.
- After delivery is started, however, it will continue to the end regardless of time of day or weather.
When delivering, pigeon's usual behavior will be overriden and it will follow a defined order of actions:
pick up mail -> fly to the destination -> drop off mail -> return home -> drop off reply (if any) -> finish
(delivery page explains this in more detail)
After finishing a delivery, pigeon will return to its usual behavior and will be tired for 5 minutes.
Tired pigeons cannot start another delivery, fly slightly slower and seek a pigeonhole to rest in.
Service
In addition to the regular pigeons (mobs found in the world), there is also a Service pigeon.
Service pigeons are the ones spawned by the game (service addresses, commands, etc.), for the delivery only.
They will despawn after delivery is finished.
Service pigeons can spawn in any natural variant.
Drops
Breeding
Upon successful breeding,
1–7
experience orbs are dropped.
On Death
An adult pigeon drops:
| Item | Default | Looting I | Looting II | Looting III |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-2 | 1-3 | 1-4 | 1-5 |
- When delivering, carried mail is dropped, but feathers are not.
1–3 experience
points are dropped when killed by a player or a tamed wolf.
Killing a baby pigeon yields no items nor experience.