What an iron golem actually gives you
An iron golem has 100 health and shows cracks at 75, 50 and 25 percent. On death it drops 3 to 5 iron ingots and has a two in three chance of dropping 0 to 2 poppies. Looting does not increase the ingot drops, so there is no reason to build a fancy killing setup with an enchanted sword. An iron ingot also heals a golem for 25 health, which is worth knowing if you keep a pet one around the base.
That is the whole economy. Three to five ingots per golem, generated indefinitely, is enough to fund hoppers, rails, anvils, pistons and armour for the rest of the world.
The five conditions in Java Edition
This is the part people get wrong. Villagers do not spawn golems because there are enough of them nearby. They spawn golems because a specific set of checks passes. All five of these must be true at the same moment:
- The villager has slept in the last 20 minutes. Not "has a bed". Actually slept in it.
- No iron golem within 16 blocks in the last 30 seconds. The villager scans for golems roughly once every 10 seconds, so a golem parked nearby silently blocks everything.
- No golem was summoned within 10 blocks in the last 30 seconds. This throttles the rate, and a golem that spawns and then sits in the wrong place can block the next attempt.
- Enough participants within 10 blocks. Five villagers gossiping, or three villagers panicking. Participants must themselves pass the first three checks.
- A valid spawn point exists. The game makes up to 10 random attempts inside a 17 by 13 by 17 box centred on the villager, which is plus or minus 8 blocks horizontally and plus or minus 6 vertically.
The spawn block and the two blocks above it must not be full blocks, must not be redstone powered, and must not be rails. The two blocks above must also not be water. This is why a carpet, a slab, a fence or a shallow puddle can quietly kill a design that looks perfect.
Gossip or panic
Gossip is what happens after you trade, cure a villager, or attack one. A group of five villagers with at least one gossiping is eligible. Panic is what happens when they see a hostile mob, and needs only three villagers. Panic is easier to control because you can park a zombie in a safe cell and the villagers will keep panicking without you doing anything.
That is why almost every small farm uses three villagers and one zombie rather than five villagers and a trade. The zombie has to be visible but unable to reach them, and it has to be named or in a spot where it cannot despawn.
Six reasons nothing is spawning
| Symptom | Likely cause | Fix |
|---|---|---|
| Never spawned once | Villagers never actually slept in their beds | Give them two full nights, or place beds where they can path to them and stay put |
| Stopped after working | A golem is stuck within 16 blocks | Remove every golem near the platform, including ones in walls or under the floor |
| Spawn area looks clear | Carpets, slabs, fences or water on the spawn block | Leave the spawn layer as plain full blocks with two blocks of air above |
| Powered block | A redstone line or button nearby | Move all redstone at least one block away from the spawn layer |
| Only spawns sometimes | Fewer participants than you think | Count villagers within 10 blocks. Extra villagers outside the radius do nothing |
| Worked, then died | Chunk unloaded or the zombie despawned | Keep the farm inside your simulation distance, name the zombie |
A small farm that works
Start with a five by five platform at head height, three villagers and three beds underneath, and three workstations so they have something to do. Put the zombie in a cell on one side where all three villagers can see it through a gap. Leave the middle of the platform completely clear for spawning.
Wall the villagers in so they cannot wander, and make sure each one can reach a bed and a workstation. Villagers equal beds equal workstations is the rule of thumb: a villager with no bed or no job is a villager that may not qualify.
The kill chamber
Golems are two blocks tall, so the lava goes in the upper half of the killing slot, at head height, with the block at their feet left empty and a hopper below it. A golem walking into that slot burns down to the hopper and the ingots are collected automatically. Putting lava at foot level just means the drops burn.
Leave a gap between the spawn platform and the kill chamber so golems walk rather than fall, or add a water stream to push them. A golem that takes fall damage is fine, but a golem that lands somewhere it cannot leave will block the farm until you go and remove it.
Player built golems are different
A golem you build yourself, four iron blocks in a T shape with a carved pumpkin placed last, does not attack you and does not count as a village golem for most purposes. It is a bodyguard, not a farm component. Do not expect it to help the farm, and do not kill it for iron, because it only drops what you put in.
Bedrock Edition is a different build
Bedrock does not use the gossip and panic checks. A village there needs at least 20 beds and 10 villagers, 75 percent of the villagers must have worked in the past day, all of them must be linked to a bed, and the whole thing has to sit inside your simulation distance. Designs do not transfer between editions, so follow a Bedrock specific tutorial rather than adapting a Java one.