Tales of the Shire is rife with things to do that befit the perfect life of a Hobbit. You can forage for mushrooms, fish in the Shire's idyllic streams and ponds, and establish a farm to get crops to sell or cook into meals.
Tales of the Shire: How to Get a Fishing Rod (& How To Fish)
To get a fishing rod and start fishing, Tales of the Shire players must follow the main quest until they meet Old Noakes.
Though you can only plant veggies at the start of Tales of the Shire, you aren't restricted to just planting seeds for crops – you can also unlock chickens which, when cared for, will produce eggs. This guide explains how to get chickens in Tales of the Shire, how to take care of chickens, and what you get by having chickens in your garden.
How to Get Chickens in Tales of the Shire
To get chickens, Tales of the Shire players must befriend Farmer Cotton. Every named NPC in Tales of the Shire who can be invited to Shared Meals has a friendship meter that caps out at 10 Friendship. At certain friendship level milestones, each resident of Bywater will give you gifts, new home and farm features, or other quality-of-life upgrades.
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Raise your Friendship Level with Farmer Cotton to lvl 3 by inviting him to a handful of Shared Meal events.
- To do this, you must go to your Writing Desk, then select Start Shared Meal and invite Farmer Cotton (and anyone else you want to raise your friendship level with).
- Depending on the quality of ingredients you use for Farmer Cotton's meal and whether you satisfy his daily craving, it will take anywhere from two to four Shared Meals to raise your friendship level high enough.
- The day after you successfully become lvl 3 friends with Farmer Cotton, check the mail to learn that he wants to give you something special.
- Find Farmer Cotton, talk to him, and play through the ensuing dialogue to get your very first chicken in Tales of the Shire!
The chicken will immediately appear in your garden along with a Trough to feed it. As you continue to raise your friendship level with Farmer Cotton (and his son, Young Tom), you can get up to a maximum of four chickens.
How To Change Appearance & Clothes in Tales of the Shire
To change your outfit and alter your character's appearance in Tales of the Shire, you must first find the Wardrobe.
How to Feed Chickens & Get Eggs in Tales of the Shire
Like many farming sim games, you must feed chickens to get them to produce eggs. Chickens can eat Grains, Seeds, and Nuts. You can use any Seed to feed your chicken, while only certain crops and foraged goods count as Grains or Nuts. Check the attributes of any items you plan to add to the trough to make sure they fall under one of these three categories.
To feed chickens in Tales of the Shire, you must interact with the Trough outside your window in the garden (though the Trough position can be moved). Select any Nut, Grain, or Seed item from your backpack to place it in the trough.
You can place up to four food items at once, but each chicken only needs one. If you only have one chicken, you only need to place a single piece of feed in here. If you overfeed a chicken, it will eat everything in the trough, but still produce only one egg.
The day after you feed a chicken, it will lay an egg somewhere in the garden. The more days in a row that you remember to feed the chicken, the higher-quality eggs it will produce.
However, if you are on a streak and miss a day, the chicken may become annoyed and refuse to eat or produce eggs for a few days. It will even chase you around the garden until it calms down in a few days.
Tales of the Shire: A The Lord of the Rings Game
- Released
- July 29, 2025
WHERE TO PLAY
- Developer(s)
- Wētā Workshop
- Publisher(s)
- Private Division
- Franchise
- The Lord of the Rings
- Number of Players
- 1
- Platform(s)
- PlayStation 5, PlayStation 4, Xbox Series X, Xbox Series S, Nintendo Switch, PC
