Iron is basically the lifeblood of any decent survival world. You need it for hoppers, pistons, anvils, and about a thousand buckets. But let’s be real: building a Minecraft Bedrock iron farm is a total nightmare compared to the Java Edition. If you’ve ever followed a tutorial only to have nothing spawn but a single cat, or worse, absolutely nothing at all, you aren't alone. It’s frustrating. Bedrock’s mechanics are finicky, sensitive to "village" logic that feels like it was coded on a dare, and frankly, a bit buggy if you don't follow the rules to the letter.
You don't need a massive 400-villager mega-structure. You just need the game to recognize a valid village.
The Brutal Truth About Bedrock Iron Golem Mechanics
In Java, you just scare a villager with a zombie. Easy. In Bedrock? Fear means nothing. Iron golems spawn based on the number of villagers and, more importantly, the number of beds. To get even one golem to show up, you need at least 20 beds and 10 villagers. But there is a catch. At least 75% of those villagers must have worked at their workstations within the last day. If they can’t reach their brewing stand or fletching table, the farm dies.
🔗 Read more: Why Remaster Resident Evil 2 Still Terrifies Us Years Later
It’s about the "Village Leader." Bedrock assigns a leader to every group. If that leader dies or loses their bed, the entire village center can shift. This is usually why farms stop working. The "center" of your village moves from the middle of your kill pit to a random pillow in the corner, and suddenly golems are spawning in the caves below your feet or on the roof of your storage room.
Why 20 Villagers is the Magic Number
While you can start a Minecraft Bedrock iron farm with 10 villagers, you really shouldn't. Using 20 villagers doubles your spawn rate because it allows for two golems to exist simultaneously. It’s the cap. If you have 20 villagers and 20 beds, the game attempts to spawn a golem every 35 seconds or so, provided the previous ones have been cleared out.
Don't bother with more than 20 unless you are stacking separate villages 96 blocks apart. Stacking is a headache. Stick to the basics first.
Building the Foundation Without Losing Your Mind
First, location. Stay away from existing villages. If you build this within 100 blocks of a stray bed or a bell, your farm will merge with that village. It’s a mess. Find a flat spot or a clearing in the ocean. The ocean is actually better because it prevents golems from spawning on the ground outside your trap.
You’ll want a 17x17 or 19x19 platform. Some people go smaller, but why risk it? Give the golems room to breathe before you kill them.
The Bed Problem
Beds are the most important part of a Minecraft Bedrock iron farm. Use 20 beds. They must be placed in a way that the villagers can "link" to them. You’ll see those little green sparkles—that’s the game saying "okay, this is a house."
- Place them in a 5x4 grid under the spawning floor.
- Ensure there is at least a two-block gap above the beds.
- Do not let the villagers touch the beds. If they sleep in them, they might glitch through walls and suffocate, or worse, shift the village center when they wake up.
I usually put my beds in a little basement underneath the water floor. It keeps them tucked away and safe from lightning. Yes, lightning. If your villagers get hit by lightning, they turn into witches. Witches don't work jobs. No jobs, no iron. Farm broken.
Dealing with the Villagers (The Hard Part)
Villagers are the worst mobs in the game. They have the pathfinding skills of a toasted marshmallow. To make a Minecraft Bedrock iron farm work, you need to trap them in 1x1 pods.
I prefer the "Fletching Table" method. Fletching tables are cheap (just flint and wood) and they don't have a functional UI that's easy to accidentally trigger. Also, fletchers work during rain and most weather, unlike some other professions.
- Give each villager their own workstation.
- Watch for the green sparkles.
- If you see sparkles on a table, make sure the villager right in front of it is the one who got them.
- If a villager links to a table across the room, they won't be able to "work," and your iron rates will tank.
Pro tip: Do not use nitwits. Those guys in the green robes? They are useless. They can’t take jobs. If you have a nitwit in your 20-count, you effectively only have 19 working villagers. Kill the nitwit. Be ruthless. Also, babies don't count until they grow up.
The Spawning Floor and Kill Mechanism
Once your villagers are locked in and your 20 beds are placed, it’s time for the spawning floor. Use solid blocks like cobblestone or smooth stone. Water should flow from the corners toward a central 3x3 hole.
Use signs to hold up the lava. In Bedrock, signs don't burn. Place a lava blade at head-height for the golems (three blocks up from the bottom of the pit). This kills them fast while their iron ingots drop safely into the water below, which then pushes them into hoppers.
Why Are My Golems Spawning Outside?
This is the #1 complaint. If golems are spawning on the ground next to your farm, your spawning platform is either too high, too low, or you have "spawnable" blocks nearby.
Bedrock golems can spawn in a 17x13x17 area around the village center. If you have a leaf block, a glass block, or a path block, they can't spawn on it. Cover the area around your farm with leaves or buttons. Or, build the whole thing 20 blocks in the air. That’s the easiest fix.
Cats: The Unsung Annoyance
Iron farms are also cat farms. It’s weird, but it’s how the game works. Cats spawn in villages. To stop cats from taking up the "mob cap" (though they don't directly block iron golems, they are annoying), you can tame four or five cats and sit them around the farm. The game checks how many cats are nearby; if it sees enough, it stops spawning them.
Or, just let the lava take them. It’s dark, but it’s efficient.
Common Myths and Misconceptions
People will tell you that you need a bell. You don't. A bell helps define the village center more rigidly in some versions, but for a standard Minecraft Bedrock iron farm, 20 beds do the heavy lifting.
Another myth: You need a zombie. You absolutely do not need a zombie for Bedrock. That is a Java-only mechanic. If you put a zombie in your Bedrock farm, you're just making it harder for yourself and risking your villagers' lives.
Troubleshooting Your Farm
If you’ve built everything and it’s been ten minutes with no iron, check these things in order:
- Workstations: Can every single villager see and "touch" their specific workstation? If one villager is trying to reach a table they can't get to, the "75% working" rule might be failing.
- Beds: Are there 20? Did you accidentally break one?
- Village merging: Is there a stray bed within 100 blocks? Even a bed in your own house counts.
- The "Leader": Sometimes the village leader is a villager who can't work. Try breaking all the workstations and replacing them one by one, watching who links to what.
Real World Efficiency
A well-optimized Bedrock farm yields about 350 to 400 iron ingots per hour. It’s not "creative mode" levels of loot, but it’s enough to fill a double chest while you’re off mining or building something else.
Don't overcomplicate the design. Most of the fancy Redstone versions you see on YouTube are prone to breaking when the game updates. The "box of villagers under a pool of water" design has worked since the Village & Pillage update and likely isn't going anywhere.
Step-by-Step Maintenance
To keep your farm running forever, avoid changing the environment around it. If you need to add more villagers for a trading hall, do it far away.
👉 See also: STALKER 2 A Minor Incident: Why This Specific Mission Is Breaking Everyone’s Brain
Next Steps for Your Iron Empire:
- Clear the area: Ensure a 100-block radius is free of other beds, bells, or workstations to prevent village desync.
- Spawn-proof the perimeter: Use leaves or slabs on any surface within 10 blocks of the farm's outer walls.
- Trade up: Use the iron you produce to trade with toolsmiths and weaponsmiths; this turns your iron farm into an infinite emerald farm.
- Check the "Work" cycle: If rates drop, wait for a full in-game day-night cycle to allow villagers to reset their work cooldowns.