How to use Scarecrows in Stardew Valley

Once you’ve started planting crops in Stardew Valley, you’re going to need to protect them from the birds, lest you lose your crops to their beaks. Thankfully, Scarecrows exist for just this purpose. 

There are, technically, three kinds of Scarecrows in Stardew Valley

• Scarecrows
• Rarecrows
• Deluxe Scarecrows

This guide will take you through how much land each type will cover, and how to get the recipes to make them. To place a Scarecrow, just select it from your inventory and place it down in your chosen spot.

How to get and use Scarecrows in Stardew Valley

Basic Scarecrows cover a circle which stretches out eight squares from where you place them, protecting a total of 249 spaces. These are the first type of Scarecrow you’ll be able to unlock, and you get the crafting recipe once you hit Farming level 1. 

The recipe for regular scarecrows is as follows:

• 50 Wood
• 1 Coal
• 20 Fiber

Rarecrows work in exactly the same way as normal Scarecrows, but they cannot be crafted. There are a total of eight Rarecrows with a corresponding number for each, and they can be purchased or earned in various ways:

How to get and use Deluxe Scarecrows in Stardew Valley

Deluxe Scarecrows have double the radius of regular Scarecrows, covering an area that stretches 16 squares from where you put it, protecting a total of 888 Tiles. 

You’ll unlock the recipe for Deluxe Scarecrows once you’ve collected all eight Rarecrows. After doing that, you’ll receive a letter at some point in the mail with the recipe attached. There is a 90.5% chance of the letter appearing on any night following the day in which you completed the collection. 

The recipe for a Deluxe Scarecrow is as follows:

• 50 Wood
• 1 Iridium Ore
• 40 Fiber