CS2 Chicken Eggs and Pets: Everything We Know

For years, Counter-Strike players have joked about getting pets in CS2, and it looks like Valve has finally taken the joke seriously. 

The latest Rush Hour update quietly added chicken eggs to weekly drops, giving players a way to hatch and raise their own chicken.

Valve has not officially announced a full pet system in the Rush Hour patch notes. However, players have already received eggs from their weekly drops, while data miners have found a large amount of chicken-related content in the game files. 

At the time of writing, though, some of the dropped eggs have hatched, revealing new information about the pet system.

How to Get an Egg In CS2?

The new chicken eggs can appear as part of the Weekly Care Package. If you receive one, you have to choose the egg instead of the other rewards. 

But keep in mind that choosing the egg consumes both reward slots from your weekly drop. The egg is also untradeable, meaning you cannot sell or trade it like a regular CS2 item.

Once claimed, the egg doesn't behave like a normal skin sitting in your inventory. Instead, it appears next to your agent in the lobby, getting ready to hatch.

When Will CS2 Eggs Hatch?

It took 7 days for the first dropped eggs to hatch, with their chicks being present next to the them in the lobby. Now the players who got eggs on the first day can confirm or deny the speculations and questions regarding how the system works.

So, the egg needs 7 days to hatch, but what happens next? After successfully feeding our chick for the next 22 days, it becomes a Pullet. During this stage, as the game currently says, we have to try to get weekly care drops to get food for our pet.

The Pullet needs 28 days to transform into a Hen, and the final stage, the Hen, needs 90 days to reach its final version.

However, not that if you forget to feed your pet, it will eventually leave you. But even in case of feeding it, it will still leave you after around 140 days after hatching, with a "A Life Well Lived" message. It will say "you raised it well enough that it doesn't need you anymore". But you can revisit your times together by looking at the images in "The Hatchbook".

What Will CS2 Pets Look Like?

This is where the leaked information becomes particularly interesting. Data miners have found three different chicken breeds in the current game files:

• Chicken
• Chicken Polish
• Chicken Silkie

There are also dozens of different color variations. Current data-mined information points to 34 different chicken colors across the three breeds, although other reports have counted 35 variations. Since the system has not been fully revealed by Valve, the final number could still change.

The leaked chickens include unusual colors and patterns that look very different from the standard chickens players are used to seeing on maps.

Chicken Accessories and Pet Tricks in CS2

According to the game files, your pet can have different accessories. The dev tools showed 10 different accessories, including hats and glasses, for the Chicken in CS2.

The files also point to different animations and tricks that chickens can perform. This includes various movements, dances, and other playful animations that can be used while interacting with your pet.

These features could also make the Hatchbook more interesting, as players will be able to capture and keep memories of their chickens. With different breeds, colors, accessories, and animations, the pet system appears to be designed more around collecting and personalizing chickens than simply having one follow your account.

Rarity and Trading

Chicken colors do appear to have different rarities. Current game files contain rarity information and weights for some variants, but Valve has not published official hatch odds.

Datamined estimates suggest certain colors may be considerably rarer than others, although the odds of getting each of the three breeds are still unknown at this moment.

Chicken Eggs and the pets they hatch into are currently untradeable and cannot be sold on the Steam Community Market. That means even a rare chicken has no normal Steam market price at the moment.

CS2 Chicken Hatchbook

The current information suggests that these chickens are more like personal pets and collectibles than something you take into a competitive match.

As mentioned, data miners have also discovered animations that reportedly allow chickens to perform different tricks, while other information points to a photo album, called "The Hatchbook," for keeping track of your pets.

Players can also use the Photo Booth to give their pet a name, inspect it, or take a closer look.

When you open the HatchBook, you’ll see the note “The Life and Times of Pet Chick.” The Photo Booth lets you take snapshots of your pet and save them as memories in your album. Inside the Photo Booth, you can make your chick sit or panic and add special effects such as Feathers, Bubbles, and Confetti to your photos.

For now, CS2 has the beginning of a pet system, and if the game files are anything to go by, your next inventory flex might not be a knife or gloves. It could be a very expensive-looking chicken.

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