Stardew Valley Scarecrows and Rarecrows: Crafting, Range, and Full Collection Guide

Crows are persistent freeloaders. Leave your fields unattended and they will happily devour the harvest you spent days irrigating. The fix is a scarecrow, and Stardew Valley hands you the recipe almost immediately. This guide covers the standard craft, how far a scarecrow actually reaches, and every Rarecrow variant you can collect across the map.

Crafting the Standard Scarecrow

The basic scarecrow appears in your crafting menu from Farming Level 1, so you can build one before you fully understand soil quality. The recipe is short:

• Wood: 50
• Fiber: 20
• Coal: 1

Drop it on any empty tile near your crops and it does its job without further input. Two things worth remembering:

• Plants grown from Wild Seeds do not need scarecrow protection.
• Everything else is fair game for crows, and unprotected plots can lose harvests overnight.

Scarecrow Coverage Range

A single scarecrow guards 249 surrounding tiles. The protected zone is roughly circular, reaching eight tiles in each cardinal direction (north, south, east, west) and about six tiles diagonally. At the cardinal midpoints the field hits its widest point of nine tiles across. In practice, three or four scarecrows can blanket a sizable farm if you place them with some thought.

All Rarecrows in Stardew Valley

Rarecrows are cosmetic variants that behave exactly like the standard scarecrow. Each one has its own appearance and its own acquisition method, and collecting the full set earns you a mailed letter unlocking the recipe for the Deluxe Scarecrow. Only the Alien Rarecrow has a unique feature: it accepts hats, in case you wanted your crop guardian to follow fashion trends.

Rarecrow 1: Stardew Valley Fair

Available during the fall Stardew Valley Fair for 800 Star Tokens. Save your tokens from the mini-games and it pays for itself.

Rarecrow 2: Flower Dance

Sold during the Flower Dance festival in spring for 2,500 Gold.

Rarecrow 3: Traveling Cart and Festival of Ice

This one has two paths:

• The Traveling Cart stocks it randomly during autumn or winter for 4,000 Gold.
• The Festival of Ice sells it for 5,000 Gold.

Rarecrow 4: The Dwarf

Once you can read Dwarvish, the Dwarf inside the mines sells one for 2,500 Gold.

Rarecrow 5: Casino (Alien Scarecrow)

The hat-wearing oddball. Buy it at the Casino for 10,000 Qi Coins once you have access.

Rarecrow 6: Spirit's Eve

Picked up at the Spirit's Eve festival in fall for 5,000 Gold.

Rarecrow 7: Museum (20 Artifacts Donated)

Donate 20 artifacts to the Museum. After unlocking, extra copies sell at the Night Market.

Rarecrow 8: Museum (40 Items Donated)

Donate 40 items total to the Museum, artifacts and minerals combined. Like the previous one, additional copies appear at the Night Market afterward.

Deluxe Scarecrow

Once all eight Rarecrows above are placed somewhere on your farm, Pierre mails you the crafting recipe for the Deluxe Scarecrow. It works on the same principle but covers a noticeably larger area, making it the long-term pick for anyone running a serious operation.