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To breed donkeys in Minecraft, tame two adult donkeys, then feed each one a golden carrot or a golden apple. Once both enter love mode, they produce a donkey foal. Both parents must be tamed first, because feeding an untamed donkey does not start breeding.
Step-by-step breeding process
- Find two adult donkeys and tame both. The community-maintained Minecraft Wiki entry for Donkey states that both donkeys must be tamed before they can breed. Breeding is not possible with a wild or untamed donkey.
- Prepare one breeding food for each donkey. You need one golden carrot or one golden apple per donkey, so two items in total. Mixing them is allowed; you do not need two of the same food. The Minecraft wiki identifies both items as triggers for love mode in tamed donkeys.
- Feed each donkey. Offer one food item to each donkey. Once both have entered love mode, the pair breeds and a donkey foal appears.
Breeding foods: golden carrot or golden apple
Either food works, so the choice comes down to what you have or can make most easily. Minecraft’s official articles describe how each item is obtained.
| Breeding food | How to obtain it | Donkey breeding use |
|---|---|---|
| Golden carrot | Craft by surrounding a regular carrot with gold nuggets in the crafting grid. Alternatively, trade three emeralds for three golden carrots with a master-level farmer villager. (Source: Minecraft, “Taking Inventory: Golden Carrot” (published June 9, 2022)) | Can be fed to donkeys (same source) |
| Golden apple | Craft by placing an apple in the center of the crafting grid and surrounding it with gold ingots. (Source: Minecraft, “Taking Inventory: Golden apple” (published January 22, 2026)) | Can be used for equine breeding (same source) |
The official sources do not compare the total resource cost or the breeding results of the two foods, so this guide does not rank one as better. If you already have a regular carrot and gold nuggets, the golden carrot route is the shorter path; if you have gold ingots and an apple, the golden apple route is the one to use. Trade availability depends on the villager profession and the world you are playing in.
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A donkey bred with another donkey produces a donkey foal. A donkey bred with a horse produces a mule foal instead, not a donkey. Mules cannot breed, according to the Minecraft Wiki’s Donkey entry, so a mule cannot be used to start the next generation.
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Common breeding problems
- Nothing happens after feeding: Check that both donkeys are tamed. Feeding an untamed donkey does not start love mode.
- The pair produced a mule: One parent was a horse. Breed only donkeys with donkeys to get a donkey foal.
- You want a donkey from a mule pairing: This is not possible, because mules cannot breed.
Version notes
The breeding steps above come from the Minecraft Wiki’s Donkey entry and Minecraft’s official item articles. Those sources do not give reliable donkey-specific details on breeding cooldowns, foal growth time, or differences between Java and Bedrock editions, so check the exact edition and release you play before relying on those details. Minecraft’s Java Edition snapshot 23w07a notes describe a change to how baby horses inherit speed, jump height, and health; those notes concern horses only and do not describe how donkey stats are passed on.
Source for the snapshot note: Mojang / Minecraft Feedback, “Minecraft: Java Edition – Snapshot 23w07a”.
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