What are Minecraft Spawn Chunks & How to Find Them [2024]

In Minecraft, everything freezes when you are far away. Like that furnace, you left in a random cave, and it still hasn’t smelt any iron, even though it’s been days.

But placing the furnace somewhere in a spawn chunk will continue smelting iron. Additionally, your crops and animals will keep producing resources in spawn chunks while you explore the Overworld or go on the quest to slay the Ender Dragon.

Here, I’ll explain how you can find the spawn chunks and utilize them.

Let’s begin!

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What are the Mechanics of Spawn Chunks in Minecraft?

The Spawn chunk is a 16×16 area surrounding the Minecraft World spawn point. These chunks are always loaded. It means entities like animals, mobs, and villagers will continue to operate, and water & lava will flow in the spawn chunk regardless of where you are in the Overworld.

Below I’ve provided the events that are and are not processed in spawn chunks.

Here are the mechanics of spawn chunks in Minecraft:

Fire will spread to close-by flammable items, and water & lava will flow as usual.
Water can move dropped items, or lava can destroy them. If you or any other players or hoppers don’t pick up the items, they’ll despawn after 5 minutes.
Sheep will eat and grow wool. Also, passive mobs like baby animals and villagers will grow into adults.
Redstone, dispensers, minecarts, and hoppers will work normally. Minecarts will trigger detectors and activator rails.
Sand and gravel will fall if you move or destroy the block below it.
Villagers will breed, assuming the conditions are met, and iron golems will spawn.
TNT will drop and blow up.
Crops, sugarcane, mushroom, cacti, and saplings will not grow.
Hostile mobs will despawn immediately if they spawn 128 blocks away from any player.
Passive mobs do not spawn more than 240 blocks away from a player.
Ice doesn’t develop or dissolve.

All the above events will happen as long as it is in a spawn chunk zone.

Now that you know what the spawn chunks are let’s see how you can discover them.

How to Find Spawn Chunks in Minecraft

To locate a spawn chunk region in the Overworld, you can craft a compass and use it. The compass will always point to the center block of the spawn chunk. Once you’ve found it, move 9 chunks from the center block in all directions, mark the edges, and you’ll get the spawn chunk area.

Different mods can also help you find spawn chunks.

Follow the instructions below to discover spawn chunks in an Overworld.

Here are the steps to find spawn chunks in Minecraft:

1. Use Compass to Locate Spawn Chunks

Collect 1 unit of Redstone dust and 4 iron ingots to make a compass in Minecraft. It will assist you in finding the center block of a spawn chunk, and once you’ve located it, you can easily calculate the spawn chunk region.

Here’s how to use a compass to locate spawn chunks:

Combine 4 iron ingots with 1 unit of Redstone dust to make a Compass.
Follow the compass needle. It’ll take you toward the spawn point.
Stop when the compass points in the reverse direction and mark the block that’s the compass pointing.
Face North, press F3, and note down the coordinates of the spawn chunk center block.
Press F3 + G to display the chunk borders.
Mark the chunk containing the block that the compass was spotting. That’s the center of your spawn chunk.
Go out 9 chunks from the center on the spawn chunk in all four directions and mark the edges with blocks.

The rectangular area you’ve just marked is your spawn chunk.

If you find this process too complicated, just use mods to determine the spawn chunks.

2. Use the MiniHUD Mod to Discover Spawn Chunks

The MiniHUD mod visualizes spawn chunk zones with green boxes.

Here’s the process to use the MiniHUD mod to discover spawn chunks:

Download the MiniHUD and MaLiLib .jar files.
Download the Fabric Installer file.
Save the .jar files and the Fabric Installer in the %appdata%\.minecraft\mods directory.
Open the Fabric Installer and click on Install.
Start the Minecraft Launcher, select fabric loader, and launch the game.
Press the H + C keys to open the MiniHUD configuration.
Go to the Renderers tab and set overlaySpawnChunkReal to True.
Press the H key to turn on MiniHUD Main Rendering, and you’ll see a green box which is a spawn chunk area.

Why are Spawn Chunks Important in Minecraft?

In spawn chunks, sheep will eat grass and produce wool; chickens will lay eggs, and villagers will breed, no matter where you are in the Overworld. That’s why building your farms, smelting & brewing stations in the spawn chunks is necessary to keep producing resources when you are away.

Here’s why spawn chunks are important in Minecraft:

Iron Auto-Farming

If you are making an iron farm, you must do it inside a spawn chunk because the iron golems you need for the farm will keep on generating even though you are far away from the farm.

Unlike the hostile and passive mobs, which don’t spawn if you are not within 128 blocks & 240 blocks, respectively, the iron golems mechanism is different.

The iron farm will continue to produce iron as long as it is in a spawn chunk zone and you are in the Overworld regardless of where you are.

Automating Crafting

Blast furnaces or smokers running in a spawn chunk region will continue to produce smelt items while you are far away exploring the Overworld or the Nether.

Automatic Brewing

Similar to the smelting setup, brewing stands in the spawn chunk will keep making potions while you are away on your own adventure.

Redstone Mechanism

Redstone also works as usual in spawn chunks. That means all the smelting arrays, brewing stands, and transport systems will operate automatically whether you are nearby or far away.