How to breed villagers in Minecraft with a simple breeder

Two villagers, three beds and a small carrot field are enough for a breeder that runs on its own. This guide follows the rules of Java Edition 26.3; Bedrock Edition counts beds per village and behaves differently.

• Food: each villager needs 12 food points in its inventory. Bread counts 4, a Carrot, Potato or Beetroot counts 1, so 3 Bread or 12 Carrots per villager. You can't feed villagers by hand: throw the food so they pick it up.
• A free bed: the parent must be able to walk to an unclaimed bed with two empty blocks above it. Each baby claims a bed when it is born, so you always need more beds than villagers.
• Time: after breeding, a villager waits 5 minutes before it can breed again. Employed villagers do not breed during their working hours; unemployed villagers and nitwits can breed at any time.

A farmer villager harvests ripe crops and throws food to other villagers once it holds 24 food points or more, so a field next to it makes the breeder feed itself. Breeding itself needs no workstation; the Composter here only creates the farmer.

Pick flat grass or dirt; on stone, put down 10 Dirt for the field first. The pen is 5×5 inside. Seen from above, north at the top:

G G G G G G G
G B B B . C G
G B B B . . G
G . . . . . X
G F F F F F G
G F F F F F G
G G G W G G G

G = glass wall, B = bed, C = Composter, F = Farmland with carrots, X = baby exit, W = water under the wall.

1. Dig out the ground block under the middle of the south wall (W) and empty a Water Bucket into it.
2. Till the 10 blocks of the two southern rows with a hoe. All of them are within 4 blocks of the water, so the Farmland stays hydrated and the carrots grow faster.
3. Plant 10 Carrots. A carrot is food and seed at the same time: the farmer replants from its own harvest and every surplus carrot becomes food.

Put 3 beds side by side against the north wall and the Composter in the north-east corner. The two adults claim two beds, the third stays free for the first baby. There is room for a fourth bed in the gap if you want more babies between collections.

Use only one composter. The villager that claims it becomes the farmer; the other stays unemployed, and unemployed villagers breed at any time of day.

1. Build glass walls 3 blocks high around the floor (outer ring 7×7). Leave a 1×2 opening in the west wall as an entrance.
2. Cover everything with a 7×7 glass roof on top of the walls. The inside must stay 3 blocks high: a bed needs two empty blocks above it.
3. For the exit X, leave out the bottom block of the east wall in the middle row and keep the two glass blocks above it. The gap is 1 block high: adults are almost 2 blocks tall and can't pass, babies can.
4. Dig the ground under X 3 blocks deep, then dig a 3×3 room, 2 blocks high, at the bottom of that shaft on the outer side. A baby that runs through X falls 3 blocks, takes no damage and can't jump back.
5. Place a Torch in the room and 2 torches on the free floor blocks of the pen, so no mobs spawn there at night.

The exit keeps the breeder running: a baby that can no longer reach its bed loses its claim, and the bed becomes free for the next baby.

Get two adult villagers through the entrance: push them in a boat or a Minecart, or build the pen around two villagers in a village. Two unemployed villagers are ideal, because one of them takes the Composter and becomes a farmer within seconds. Don't close the entrance yet.

Throw 12 Carrots (or 3 Bread) to each villager through the entrance, from 2 or 3 blocks away: if you stand too close, you pick the items up yourself. Then close the entrance with glass.

Red hearts mean the pair is willing, and a baby appears a few seconds later. Angry particles mean that no free bed can be reached: check that every bed has two empty blocks above it and that there are more beds than villagers. From now on the farmer keeps the food coming.

Babies run around all the time, so sooner or later they drop through the exit. They grow up after 20 minutes. Dig a staircase into the room when you need villagers and move them to your trading hall by boat or minecart. If babies stay in the pen and block all beds, add a bed or move them out yourself.