How to Crochet a Chicken (Easy Amigurumi Pattern, Step by Step)

The chicken starts as a small flat disc. Make a magic ring in your bulky body color and work eight single crochet inside it, then pull the ring closed so there is no hole in the middle. This is round one, and it is the base the whole bird grows out of.

Drop a scrap of contrast yarn between two stitches to act as a marker. You are crocheting in a continuous spiral with no join, so that little marker is the only thing telling you where each new round begins.

Now turn that disc into a shallow bowl. Round two is an increase in every stitch, which takes you from eight up to sixteen. In the rounds that follow you space the increases out, one single crochet then an increase, then two single crochet then an increase, and so on, until you reach forty stitches around.

Pull each stitch snug as you go. Bulky chenille wants to stay loose, and tight stitches are what keep the fabric dense so the stuffing does not peek through later.

Once you are at forty stitches, work the next round into the back loops only. Look at the top of a stitch and you will see two loops. Skip the front one and hook into the back loop for the whole round. That leaves a neat ridge that marks where the flat base ends.

After the back-loop round, crochet five plain rounds of forty stitches straight up. No increasing, no decreasing. This is what builds the tall, rounded body your chicken sits in.

Now pinch the top in. Work three single crochet then an invisible decrease all the way around, which brings you down to thirty-two stitches, then crochet one plain round at thirty-two. Those decreases are what start to form the head and tail.

Stuff the body firmly with fiberfill, pushing it into the corners so the chicken holds its shape. Thread a long tail onto your tapestry needle and close the opening by stitching side to side across the gap. Cinch it up and you get that pointed head-and-tail hen shape.

Time to top the chicken off. Insert your hook into a stitch about three rows down from the tip of the head, join the red yarn, and chain two. Turn the chicken around, then work three double crochet into the next stitch beside the chains, add one single crochet, and slip stitch to close the little comb.

Pull the yarn tail through the slip stitch to lock it. Thread both tails onto your needle, run them through the base of the comb, tie a knot, and hide the ends inside the body.

The face brings your chicken to life. Start with the beak. Using yellow yarn on your tapestry needle, wrap the same spot just under the comb about three times, then make one turn across the wraps to give the beak a small point.

Switch to black yarn for the eyes. Stitch a small dot on each side of the beak, going around three or four times so it reads clearly. Bury both yarn tails inside the body, and your soft little chicken is finished.