How to Make a Fence in Minecraft: 3 Fences per Recipe
Four planks and 2 sticks make 3 fences. How to make a fence in Minecraft, why mobs can't jump it, how fences connect, and nether brick fences and leads.
Put 4 planks and 2 sticks on a crafting table: plank, stick, plank across the top row and the same across the middle row. That gives you 3 fences. The planks must be one wood type, and the type sets the color.
It’s easy to mix this up with the fence gate, which swaps the two items around (sticks on the outside, planks in the middle). If you get a gate when you wanted fences, check which item is in the center column.
Why fences work for pens
A fence looks one block tall but has a collision box 1.5 blocks high. Jumping only gets you about 1.25 blocks, so nothing that walks can hop over: cows, sheep, horses, villagers, zombies. That’s what makes fences the standard wall for a cow farm or any animal pen, and a cheap one too. A full 8x8 pen needs about 28 fences, which is 10 crafts.
Spiders are the exception. They climb fences like any other wall, so light your pens well.
How fences connect
Fences join to neighboring fences, gates and the sides of solid blocks automatically. A fence on its own is just a thin post, which is handy for builds: a post with a lantern on top, table legs under a pressure plate, or a railing along a balcony.
All wooden fences connect to each other regardless of wood, so a spruce pen can have an oak gate. The exception is the nether brick fence, crafted from 4 nether brick blocks and 2 loose nether brick items (the small brick you smelt from netherrack). It doesn’t connect to wooden fences and doesn’t burn, which makes it the better choice next to lava or fire. More on the brick items in our bricks guide.
Fences and leads
You can tie a lead to a fence post. Hold a leashed animal, use the fence, and it stays tied there. It’s the easiest way to park a horse outside a building or keep a single animal on display without a pen.
Small but useful
- Water can’t flow through a fence, so a fenced pen beside a river stays dry.
- Wooden fences burn and can be used as furnace fuel.
For a crop field to feed all those animals, see how to start a farm.
Common questions
How many fences do you get from one craft?
Three. The recipe uses 4 planks and 2 sticks, which is a little over 1.5 logs' worth of wood.
Why can't animals jump over fences?
A fence counts as 1.5 blocks tall for collision, even though it looks one block high. Mobs and players can only jump about 1.25 blocks.
Do different wood fences connect?
Yes. All wooden fences connect to each other and to fence gates of any wood. Nether brick fences only connect to other nether brick fences and solid blocks.
Sources & verification
Facts on this page are checked against these references and in-game behavior for the stated edition(s). how we verify.
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