Sooner or later in the game a question will raise: how do I get animals on my Stardew Valley farm? While Marnie sells the animals, you won’t be able to buy any unless you have a coop or/and a barn.
Coop and barn-dwelling animals are different. Animals you can raise in a coop are: chicken, ducks, rabbits and dinosaurs (you won’t be able to buy these at Marnie’s, though). Animals to raise in a barn are: cows, goats, pigs and sheep.
Farm buildings can be bought at Robin’s Carpenter Shop. Once you decide which animals you are going to raise at your farm, you have to go to Robin’s and ask her to build a coop or a barn.
Coop
You will start with a Coop. Building a coop costs 4 000 g. You also have to provide Robin with materials she needs to build your coop: 300 wood and 100 stone. This coop can house up to 4 chickens.
Later on you can upgrade to Big Coop. This will cost you 10 000 g. The materials required are 400 wood and 150 stone. Big Coop can house up to 8 coop-dwelling animals (chickens, ducks and dinosaurs). Big Coop also comes with an Incubator which means you will now be able to hatch eggs.
Deluxe Coop is the last coop upgrade you can get on Stardew Valley. Deluxe Coop costs 20 000 g and requires 500 wood and 200 stone to build. It can house up to 12 coop-dwelling animals (chickens, ducks, dinosaurs and rabbits). Deluxe Coop comes with an Incubator so you can hatch eggs and an auto-feeding system so you won’t have to distribute hay everyday yourself.
Barn
Building a barn costs 6 000 g. It also requires 350 wood and 150 stone. The barn can hold up to 4 cows.
After building a barn you can upgrade it to Big Barn. to do this you will have to pay Robin 12 000 g and provide her with 450 wood and 200 stone. Big Barn can house up to 8 animals (cows and goats). Having a Big Barn enables animal pregnancy.
Big Barn can be upgraded into a Deluxe Barn. Building Deluxe Barn costs 25 000 g and requires 550 wood and 300 stone. Deluxe Barn can house up to 12 barn-dwelling animals (cows, goats, pigs and sheep). This barn comes with auto-feeding system that will automatically distribute hay every morning.
Any coop or barn has an animal door that you can open to let your animals out, this way they will feed on the grass outside and you will save hay (they will not go outside in winter or on rainy days, though). Animals shouldn’t be left outside at nighttime as they become grumpy the following morning. Animals can easily find their way back home as long as you leave animal door open so they can enter.
