Build an iron golem farm

An iron golem farm lets villagers summon golems for you, and each golem drops iron. A kill gives 3 to 5 iron ingots and 0 to 2 poppies. This guide explains the rules the game uses to spawn a golem, then turns them into a layout checklist and the settings that keep the farm cheap to run on your server.

Checked against Minecraft Java Edition 26.3, October 2026. Bedrock Edition spawns golems by different rules, and your server runs Java.

How villagers summon a golem

A villager can summon a golem in two ways. The villagers have to be within 10 blocks of one another in both.

• Gossiping. Five villagers close together can agree to summon one.
• Panicking. When villagers see a hostile mob, such as a zombie, or when one of them is hurt, three of them close together are enough. Panic is the usual choice for a farm, because it needs fewer villagers and no help from you.

On top of that, each villager has to pass these checks:

1. It slept in the last 20 minutes. This is why most farms start working after a night has passed.
2. It has not seen a golem recently. A villager that notices a golem nearby waits about 30 seconds before it can ask for another, and it looks around once every 10 seconds.
3. There is somewhere to put the golem. The game makes up to 10 attempts to find a spot inside a box that reaches 8 blocks either side of the villager and 6 blocks up and down. The golem appears on a solid block with open air above it. Glass, ice, leaves, cobweb and a few other blocks do not count as a surface.

Build checklist

1. Villagers and beds. Put at least three villagers, with beds, inside a space no wider than 10 blocks. Add more villagers if you want a margin. They do not need a profession.
2. A panic source. Keep a zombie in a spot where the villagers can see it but it cannot reach them. A zombie left alone can despawn, so name it or hold it in a boat. To place one by command, see Summon custom entities with /summon. Roof the cell, because zombies burn in direct sunlight.
3. A spawn platform. Make the platform the only valid surface inside the 17 by 13 by 17 box, or golems can also spawn on whatever else in the box is a valid surface, such as the ground around your build. The box reaches only 6 blocks below a villager, so ground more than 6 blocks below the villagers is outside it.
4. Remove golems quickly. While a golem stands near the villagers, they will not summon another. Funnel each new golem away from the village area as soon as it appears.
5. Collect the drops. The golem's loot table has no condition on who kills it, so one that dies to a fall still drops its iron. Put a hopper under the kill spot and feed it into a chest.

Keep it cheap on your server

A farm only works while its chunks are loaded and running. In the Config Editor, under Performance, Simulation distance (chunks) sets how far from a player mobs and redstone keep running. Lowering it saves CPU, but a farm outside that distance goes quiet. Stand near the farm while it works.

If the server starts to lag after you build a farm, see Why is my server lagging?.

If no golems appear

• The villagers did not sleep. Give each one a bed and wait for a night.
• A golem is already nearby. Move it out of the area, then wait a minute.
• There are too few villagers. Panic needs three within 10 blocks of each other, and gossip needs five.
• No valid surface. The golem needs a solid block with air above it inside the box around a villager. A platform of glass or ice will not work, so use stone or planks.
• Nobody is near. Move closer so the chunks load and run.