
Nest Egg
An Incubation add-on that lets eggs hatch from nests, among other features.
Screenshots

About this Mod
Overview
This mod adds a few features to Nests from Incubation, enhancing compatibility with non-Abnormals mods via new pathfinding-based goals.
Note: As this mod is focused on adding AI goals to mobs with more than a few per-tick timers involved, it may impact performance in ways I cannot adequately test. Player discretion is advised!
Config
Incubation Behavior
- Egg layers occasionally incubate their nests, causing an egg to hatch into a baby bird.
- This can be configured as an ambient behavior instead, such that birds only sit on nests every once in a while, with no cracking or hatching of eggs
- Egg layers must be fed specific foods (
short_feedorlong_feed) in order to incubate.- Incubation cooldown ticks and the amount of time spent on the nest are configurable.
- Incubators only hatch eggs if they're the only LivingEntity on the block.
- Note: this is not configurable, as it's meant to softly limit over-crowding. Over-eager chicks may get in the way of their parents' incubation attempts.
Raiding Nests
- Raccoons from Alex's Mobs occasionally raid non-emu bird nests.
- The ticks in between raid attempts is configurable.
- Turkeys from Autumnity aggro on raccoons or players that raid turkey nests.
- Emus from Alex's Mobs aggro on players that raid emu nests.
Experimental
Experimental features are disabled by default.
- Upon breeding, egg layers attempt to lay an egg instead of birthing live young. One parent attempts to lay an egg, while the other attempts to incubate.
- It's a cute idea, but the parents get in each others' way a bit
- Egg layers exclusively lay eggs in nests, preventing spontaneous egg item entity spawns.
- Crows from Alex's Mobs occasionally approach nests (without taking any eggs), watching for any loose egg item entities to nab.
- This one isn't visually clear yet--I might have them circle around nests instead in a later release.
Item Tags
- This mod includes two item tags,
nest_egg:short_feedandnest_egg:long_feed. - Feeding either item tag to an egg layer will allow it to incubate eggs on occasion if required feed is enabled--the duration of this ability depends on the config.
- Note: Including items that would ordinarily cause a bird to enter love mode may have unintended consequences, such as the itemstack decreasing by 2 or not having the mob enter love mode.
- In addition,
long_feeddoes not include any vanilla items by default. If none of the mods included in the tag are included, it will remain empty.
- Feeding the tag to a baby will allow it grow a little bit more quickly than usual.
The following changes automatically occur when relevant mods are installed:
- Emus from Alex's Mobs lay eggs in empty bird nests. Uniquely, the size of the eggs makes it such that only one egg can fit in the nest at a time.
- Ducks from Naturalist and Geologic Expansion lay eggs in nests as well.
- (Note: their respective duck egg twig/hay nests are different blocks!)
- Many egg items from outside of Alex's Mobs have been added to
alexsmobs:raccoon_foodstuffsandalexsmobs:crow_foodstuffs.
Requires Incubation and Blueprint. Lots of optional dependencies, though! (While I would love to add compat with other mods, that hinges on my ability to acquire the art for egg crates, nests, etc. and I don't like making sprites, haha.)
Thanks to Noodlescript for some block sprites!
Note: this mod is not affiliated with the Abnormals team. Any questions regarding this mod should be directed to my issue tracker, not theirs. Feel free to direct any suggestions (compat or otherwise) towards the tracker as well. Thank you!
Available Versions
How to Install Nest Egg on Your Server
Order Server
Order a Minecraft Java server with at least 3 GB RAM (4 GB recommended).
Set forge Loader
In the panel under "Egg", select the forge loader and matching Minecraft version (1.21.1).
Install Mod
Open the mod browser in the dashboard and search for "Nest Egg". Click "Install" – done! Alternatively, upload the .jar via SFTP to the /mods folder.
Compatibility
Mod Loaders
Minecraft Versions
1.21.1, 1.20.1
Server-side
✓ RequiredRecommended RAM
4 GB(min. 3 GB)Frequently Asked Questions
Nest Egg server crashes on startup – what to do?
Most common cause: wrong forge version or insufficient RAM. Check the server log (latest.log) for "OutOfMemoryError" or "Mixin" errors. With Mado Hosting: ensure at least 3 GB RAM is allocated and the loader matches the mod version (1.21.1). You can switch loaders with one click in the panel.
Is Nest Egg compatible with forge and neoforge?
Nest Egg officially supports forge, neoforge for Minecraft 1.21.1, 1.20.1. The Mado dashboard automatically detects incompatible loader combinations.
Server lagging with Nest Egg – how to optimize performance?
Recommended RAM: 4 GB (per 8 players). Use /spark profiler to check if Nest Egg consumes the most tick time. Common fixes: reduce server view-distance to 8-10, install "performant" or "starlight" as supplementary mods on Forge. With Mado Hosting, your server runs on NVMe SSDs with dedicated CPU cores for minimal latency.
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Rent Modded Server
Install Nest Egg with just one click on your server.