In the successful The Sims 4: Cottage Living expansion, players have the ability to own a wide variety of animals. Players and their Sims can choose to follow a path of conservation, foraging or using the things that they grow as ingredients fr cooking.
For more information on expansions, feel free to read this following article by one of our trusted contributors. As of the writing of this article, there are six different types of animals available in The Sims 4: Cottage Living. The animals are the following specimens:
- Chickens
- Cows
- Llamas
- Rabbits
- Birds
- Foxes
Cows and llamas can be kept and taken care of inside of an Animal Shed. Chickens, as their name may imply, can be housed in a Chicken Coop. Rabbits and birds are not fans of the inside, so they wander in the wild and Sims can not keep them, or raise them. However, they can return to visit these animals, and if done correctly the Sim can build a relationship with either a rabbit or a bird for a wide variety of perks.
How to Purchase Animals
In order to purchase cows and llamas, players must first purchase an animal shed to provide housing to the animals. The animal shed has to be placed outside of a Sim’s property. If a player enters the Build/Buy mode, under the “Outdoor Activities” part of the user interfact, the player can purchase an Animal Shed for their Cows as well as their Llamas for the one-time price of §500.
Once it’s located on the property, and then select “Purchase Animal” in order to unlock the purchase menu. Upon opening the “Purchase Animal” menu, you have a few options of animals to select from. You can purchase a Beige Llama for §350, a White Llama for §350, Brown Cows can go up to §400 and Spotted Cows have a total cost of §400. It is worth highlighting that as of now, the expansion only allows players to house one animal per Animal Shed. If they wish to have more than one, which is understandable granted the diversity of animals present, players must purchase additional Animal Sheds.
Purchasing Chickens
In order to buy Chickens, you must first purchase a Chicken Coop by accessing the user interface of the Build/Buy Mode and select the “Outdoor Activities” section. In that section, the Chicken Coop is available for purchase and its cost is around §400 per unit.
Once you place the Chicken Coop outdoors within the boundaries of your Sims’s property, you can then click on it and select “Purchase Chickens.” Not all chickens are the same price. A Hen Chick is the cheapest chicken available, at only §75 per chick. Rooster Chicks can go for up to §100, while Black Hens, White Hens, and Brown Hens are all the same price at only §150. Black, White and Brown Roosters are roughly the same price at §200 per animal.
It is incredibly important that Sims keep their animals happy while participating in the content and features available on this expansion. Animals can maintain high levels of happiness depending on their age, hygiene, hunger as well as the attention provided. In order to detect whether animals are happy or sad, simply hover your cursos over them and all of the statistics will be provided.
Hygiene and Cleaning
In order for any animal in the expansion to maintain stable levels of happiness and joy, they need to have their housing needs met. For this to happen, players have to make sure that the housing of all of their animals is regularly clean, disinfected and maintained at least on a daily basis. For sheds to be cleaned, all the player has to do is select “Clean Animal Shed” after clicking on the building or “Clean Coop” depending on the structure they have selected.
Whether the player is cleaning a Coop or Animal Shed, Sims will encouter Fertilized and they can use it when growing Oversized Crops to accelerate growth.
On top of making sure that the enclosures are kept in a pristine condition, the Sims also need to make sure that the Animals themselves are tidy, clean and regularly washed. It is easy to tell if an Animal is dirty by simply hovering over them and then checking their statistics. The character models display some effects depending on how clean or dirty the animal is, so there are visual cues for you to take note of. Always check on your animals and make sure that you do not see a visual cue indicating that the animal is filthy, or else it could contribute to a decrease in joy.
To clean Cows and Llamas, simply click on them. Depending on the selected animal they can either choose “Clean Cow” or “Clean Llama.” When it comes to chickens, these birds are automatically cleaned after the rain or in any type of moist weather. Sprinklers also contribute to the hygiene of chickens, and can even teach them to preen themselves only if they have a good relationship that players must foster. Look for a “Teach How to Preen” conversation option that becomes unlockable and requires a positive relationship.
Feeding Habits
Sims have a responsibility of keeping all of their animals well-fed in this expansion to maintain keep them happy. They can either feed them directly for only §4 by hovering the cursor over the animals and then clicking on them, specifically on the “Feed Animal” option.
For a different option exclusive to Cows and Llamas, players can simply click on the Animal Shed and then on “Refill Feed” in order to fill their feeding box. Though the cost of this action is §10, it can last for several days so the cost evens out considering that it is not a daily §4 fee.
However, chickens are not the cheapest animals to maintain. Though taking into consideration the cost of the animal, their housing and feeding needs, chickens need to be hand fed on a daily basis. A chicken is cheaper than a cow, but their food comes at an expensive cost. If chickens are not fed regularly every single day, they can starve. To feed these birds, simply click on the Coop and then select on the “Scatter Feed Nearby” option in order to have your Sim place piles of chicken food on the ground that they can feed on for only §4. If there are a lot of chickens in the Coop, you may need to complete this task more than once.
Similar to real life, feeding is incredibly important. If animals go for an extended period of time without being fed, then their happiness levels will decrease significantly and this can have drastic consequences in the game. In the expansion, there are upgrades that can assist players with completing this task.
Socializing in The Sims 4
Remember that your Sim must pay very close attention to every single one of their animals. Animals must socialize with the animal on a daily basis. This is done so that the attention need of the animal is met and the Friendship level between the Sim and the animals increases.
An improved relationship indicates a higher quality of materials that can be harvested, collected and foraged. These materials can produce resources such as Wool or Eggs. In the same way that local farmers are proud of ther produce and bring it to the fair, your Sims can also bring wool, eggs and anything else to the iconic Finchwick Fair!
In order to socialize with an animal, you have to click on the animal and then select the “Socialize” option in the menu. The happiness level of an animal will decrease quickly if they are not socialized with on a regular basis.
Trick or Treat, But For Animals
Animsl Treats are edible items that can be fed to Cows, Llamas and Chickens. These treats can influence their behavior, encourage patterns, alter the produce type, and trigger a wide variety of other variables. The treats that are adored by the animals can be purchased from the Grocery Shop located inside of the Finchwick district in Henford-on-Bagley. Treats are also granted to any of the participants or winners in the Finchwick Fair. There are over 13 different types of animal treats, with different effects and ingredients.
That’s all of the information we have on this unique expansion, we hope you enjoyed our animal-friendly guide!