Iron Farm
Intermediate Different design per edition
Produces: Iron ingots (3-5 per golem) and poppies
Quick answer: An iron farm spawns iron golems on purpose, kills them with lava and collects the iron with hoppers. The designs are completely different per edition: Java uses 3 villagers scared by a zombie; Bedrock needs 10 villagers, 20 beds and a big spawning floor.
How it works
- Java Edition: a villager that has slept and worked recently can spawn an iron golem when it does not detect one nearby. Scared villagers (who can see a zombie) spawn golems much faster. Golems spawn in a 16x12x16 box around the village center.
- Bedrock Edition: iron golems spawn when a village has at least 10 villagers linked to 20 beds, and 75% of villagers have worked at their workstation that day. Golems spawn in a 16x6x16 area around the village center.
- In both editions the kill system is the same: water pushes the golem into lava blades that kill it without destroying the drops, and hoppers feed chests.
Materials
- 3 villagers + 3 beds + 3 workstations (Java) or 10 villagers + 20 beds (Bedrock)
- 1 zombie in a name-tagged boat or minecart (Java only)
- ~200 building blocks for the pods and platform
- Water buckets, 4-8 hoppers, 1-2 chests, lava bucket, signs or trapdoors to hold the lava
Build steps
- Java: build a spawning platform (at least 8x8) 6+ blocks above the villagers, with water channels flowing to a central lava kill hole.
- Java: place 3 villagers in pods below with their beds and workstations, and position the zombie so all three can see it but it cannot reach them. Nametag the zombie so it never despawns.
- Bedrock: build a 20x20-ish floor with 20 beds, bring 10 villagers with workstations, and make the spawning floor where golems appear a separate platform with the same lava-and-hopper kill setup.
- Both: golems spawn on the platform, water pushes them into lava, iron falls into hoppers. Check that no caves or ground near the platform can steal spawns.
- Both: build at least 8 blocks above ground and 80+ blocks from any real village so the centers do not merge.
Rates
Output depends heavily on the design and on how many golems it can spawn. Count your own hourly yield for a few minutes before you trust any number you see online. Java and Bedrock designs are not interchangeable.
Tips
- Keep every spawnable block outside the platform slabs or leaf-covered so golems can only spawn in the water.
- The zombie must see the villagers through a gap - trapdoors work well as a sightline.
- If rates drop to zero in Java, a golem is probably stuck somewhere: villagers stop spawning while one is detected nearby.