How to Hatch a Dragon Egg

Guide Java Bedrock

Quick answer: You can't - in vanilla Minecraft the dragon egg is purely a decorative trophy and there is no way to hatch it. You can only collect it after beating the ender dragon: punch it once to make it teleport, then dig under it, place a torch and break the block so it falls and drops as an item. Hatching is only possible with mods.

What you need

Torch (for the pickup trick)
Pickaxe
Blocks to reach the exit portal top

Step by step

Know the truth first. The dragon egg cannot be hatched in vanilla Minecraft - it is a trophy item. Any video showing a hatching egg uses mods or datapacks.
Beat the ender dragon. The egg appears on top of the exit portal after your first dragon kill (in Bedrock, a second kill can drop another one due to a bug).
Don't mine it directly. Punching or mining the egg makes it teleport up to 15 blocks horizontally and 7 vertically. Chasing it around the exit portal is normal.
Use the torch trick. Hit the egg once, find where it landed, dig out the block beneath it, place a torch in the hole and break the block the egg sits on. It falls onto the torch and drops as an item.
Display your trophy. The egg is one of the rarest blocks in the game - only one exists per world in Java. Put it somewhere safe; if it falls into the void or lava, it is gone forever.

Java vs Bedrock

Identical in Java and Bedrock, except Bedrock can drop a second egg from a re-summoned dragon due to a long-standing bug. Neither edition can hatch the egg without mods.

Versions: The dragon egg was added in Beta 1.9 Prerelease 4 (2011) alongside the ender dragon as the proof of victory. Mojang has never added a hatching mechanic - it remains a trophy.

Frequently asked questions

Can you hatch the dragon egg in vanilla?

No. It is decorative only. Mods like Dragon Mounts add baby dragons, but the base game has no hatching mechanic.

The egg teleported and I lost it - what now?

It teleports within a 31x15x31 area around where you hit it. Search the exit portal area thoroughly; it often ends up inside the bedrock fountain or on the ground nearby.

How many dragon eggs can I get?

One per world in Java. In Bedrock, defeating the re-summoned dragon can drop a second egg.