My iron farm stopped producing — what’s wrong?

Check these in order — one of them is almost always the cause.

1. Villagers aren’t sleeping

Golems only spawn after villagers sleep and gossip. Make sure every villager has a claimed bed with 2 blocks of air above it. A villager that can’t sleep stops the whole cycle.

Fix: break and re-place beds, or add a third cell. Verify at night — all villagers must lie down.

2. Cats are eating the mob cap

Each village caps at ~10 cats before any golems. If you see more than 4–5 cats, they’re stealing spawns.

Fix: kill the extras, or raise your golem platform so cats can’t path up.

3. Spawn platform is too high

Golems spawn on the highest solid surface in range. If your roof is 5+ blocks above the platform, golems spawn on the roof instead and never fall into the kill chamber.

Fix: keep the roof within 3 blocks of the platform, or light up the roof.

4. Simulation distance too low

On Bedrock, farms need simulation distance 6+; Java needs the chunks loaded. If you AFK too far away, the farm freezes.

Fix: AFK within 32 blocks, and check your server’s simulation distance setting.

5. Workstations broke

Villagers must claim a workstation to count as workers. A broken barrel or lectern resets them to unemployed — and the village population math drops.

Fix: place 4–6 spare workstations around the cells and never trade with farm villagers.

Still stuck? Our Iron Farm guide walks the full build, and the Farm Output Calculator tells you the rates you should be seeing.