Topic of the Week - How long do chickens live?

We've lived the age range of chicken lifespans from 21 days old to over11 yrs old. We noticed the prolific egg layers often died at 1 to 3 years while poor layers lived longer. Broody birds seemed to live longer too (not necessarily broody raising chicks -- just broody on empty nests as bantams are notorious for that).

Our Bantams (Silkies) seemed to live longer lifespans than our Standard Size breeds. Prolific Standard Size egg-layers died earliest so we never purchase Hybrid or Leghorn varieties now. My early mistake was not obtaining Marek's vaccinated chicks. A few years ago we lost 2 beautiful unvaccinated hens to Marek's that were bought as unvaccinated chicks - NEVER AGAIN! We insist on vaccinated birds before adding to our tiny backyard flock (5 hens/no roos is our ordinance code).

Our oldest Partridge Silkie girl "Violet" lived to 11 yrs 1 month & 3 days before her wee heart gave out. We brought her into the house for the night when I saw her slowed down movements. She cooed & talked with me as I spent time w/her and made her comfortable in a toweled box for the night. DH & I went to bed but an hour later we heard her thrashing w/ that familiar gasping death rattle and rushed to her but she was gone:


God knows when every living thing dies so it must hurt Him as much as it hurts us to lose one of His sweet creations.

Sylvester017 said:

Our Bantams (Silkies) seemed to live longer lifespans than our Standard Size breeds.

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I find this a very interesting statement.

The small Dutch seem to live longer than many other breeds too. (In general) I had been reading because they cone from a very large gene-pool and are not laying an overwhelming amount of eggs and they take a break when the are moulting/in winter.

Does anyone know if the size matters too? Is there any research report on this topic?

Of is it just a hunch? I know that in general the smaller dogs live several years longer than large size dogs. So it’s not weird to think it’s the same with chickens.

BDutch said:

I find this a very interesting statement.

The small Dutch seem to live longer than many other breeds too. (In general) I had been reading because they cone from a very large gene-pool and are not laying an overwhelming amount of eggs and they take a break when the are moulting/in winter.

Does anyone know if the size matters too? Is there any research report on this topic?

Of is it just a hunch? I know that in general the smaller dogs live several years longer than large size dogs. So it’s not weird to think it’s the same with chickens.

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I found smaller domesticated dogs, cats, & birds have lived longer than larger breeds. As one BYCer noted -- genetics are a strong factor too in general.

BDutch said:

I find this a very interesting statement.

The small Dutch seem to live longer than many other breeds too. (In general) I had been reading because they cone from a very large gene-pool and are not laying an overwhelming amount of eggs and they take a break when the are moulting/in winter.

Does anyone know if the size matters too? Is there any research report on this topic?

Of is it just a hunch? I know that in general the smaller dogs live several years longer than large size dogs. So it’s not weird to think it’s the same with chickens.

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It seems that all smaller domestic animals live longer than their large counterparts.

Meri Maura said:

In my flock 4 or 5 years was average, while I had many 6-8 year olds and several 8-11. I believe I had four 9 year Olds, and two 10 year Olds, and one 11 year old.

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Hi Meri Maura, What breeds made it to what ages?
I have a mixed flock and some of my girls are 6 this year. I'm trying to figure out lifespan so I can plan if I should get chicks this year or not.

@SpringsChick -- noticed your question about breed longevity. We've had both standard and bantam hens and our experience is that our longest-lived AND shortest-lived breeds were both Silkies and Dominiques. Although smaller breeds of any animal species seem to report longer lifespans I've discovered it's up to the individual bird for how long it lives. Things like prolific egg-laying, injury, illness, disease, predators, owner care, all factor into bird longevity. Breeds known as prolific egg-layers (Leghorns, Hybrids, etc) or meat birds (Cornish Cross) usually have much shorter lifespans.

We've had one Silkie live over 11 years and one deformed Silkie chick only lived to 3 months while another 6-year-old Silkie died from a bleeding ovarian tumor. I've had a Dominique chick die suddenly at 21 days old while my current Dominique hen is 6-1/2 years old now (her 2 Dominique sisters passed at one-year-old and another sister at 3-years). I'd love to say there is one particular sturdy breed but it boils down to many contributing factors for bird longevity.

Chickeneering is addictive and wonderful. Just pick a breed that you like & go for it

SpringsChick said:

Hi Meri Maura, What breeds made it to what ages?
I have a mixed flock and some of my girls are 6 this year. I'm trying to figure out lifespan so I can plan if I should get chicks this year or not.

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Hi! It's been some time since I posted that, but recall that some of my oldest have been:
Easter egger - 5, 6, 10 years
Rhode island red - 6, 8
Buff orpington - 5, 5, 5, 8, 8, 11

I have found that the classic breeds (RIR, BO, EE, Plymouth rocks, ect) live the longest. Leghorns tend to die the quickest, they get caught as free rangers very easily. I have had 20 leghorn over the span of 10 years and my oldest was only 3.

Maggie is probably 14. I was told she was an Old English/phoenix cross, although she could be anything. When I got her in 2013, I noticed that unlike most hens, Maggie had two sizable spurs, which were already fully developed. Since it takes most roosters several years before their spurs are full size, I guessed she was already around 3 years old at that time, but she may have been older. She remains healthy and strong despite her limp (she got hung up on a fence by her spur once) and one semi-blind eye.

Other than Maggie, my flock of Thai Asil/Phoenix/Old English/??? cross chickens have been largely caring for themselves for the last decade. They free range and I lose a few due to predation every year. Otherwise they seem incredibly resistant to dying. They hatch their own chicks very successfully, more than making up for the losses. My next oldest hen is 11. I also have several 8-9 year olds, plus birds from all other years down the line. There is definitely something to be said for hybrid vigor, and for the role of natural selection in free range flocks. The birds are alert, intelligent, and wary. I'm very fond of them.

SpringsChick said:

Hi Meri Maura, What breeds made it to what ages?
I have a mixed flock and some of my girls are 6 this year. I'm trying to figure out lifespan so I can plan if I should get chicks this year or not.

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Hard to say how old the chickens will get. I have 3 who are over 8 years old. Some even become 15 and 20 is possible too.

Don't buy chicks unless you can separate them (see don’t touch method) for many weeks. If you have a broody its easier to buy hatching eggs. Unless you see cockerels a problem.

@tinychicky -- Great flock! We let our hens free-range the backyard too. It's amazing how well chickens develop survival skills. Even though we live in the city suburbs we still get 'possums, stray cats, Cooper's hawks (chicken hawks), and once even a coyote jumped over our block wall! We've had a couple dozen birds but so far we haven't lost one girl to predation.

Maggie is so sweet! Those are long spurs! There are ways to remove spurs but don't know myself how it's done. However we have a Dominique hen that gets Bumblefoot sometimes and it seems when we treated her with warm Epsom salts foot baths and vet-wrapped her foot with triple antibiotic ointment that it caused not only the bumblefoot scab to eventually come off but also the scales on her leg spur flaked/peeled away also on that treated foot. Strange cuz I didn't know spurs could melt away like that!? She looks funny now with one short spur on one foot and one long spur on the other!

Vet-wrapped feet for Bumblefoot treatment. This hen was young and hadn't developed spurs yet:


Bumblefoot scab removed:



Scab crater required a couple more days of vet-wrapped antibiotic treatment: