Topic of the Week - How long do chickens live?

[crealbilly]

It does seem a little inhumane to even engineer such a fragile crossbreed but in the 1950's there was an industry race to find the best chicken hybrid to use for supermarkets and restaurants because the known meat breeds grew too slow to keep prices down.  A chicken was needed that would grow fast and process young hence requiring less time to rear and feed them keeping costs down.  In the food industry's haste to reward the winning engineers they forgot to take the juvenile CCX bland taste into consideration.  As for humane animal care, it was unknown by the public how fragile the young skeletal structure was to hold the weight of the fast-growing muscles/organs of the CCX.  There's a bit of suffering going on as the juveniles grow as my friend found out from her experiment of raising a dozen.  She lost half before processing day and had to go back to the breeder to get more juveniles to get her full dozen processed birds at the end of 9 weeks.  She said the average processed carcass came to 5 pounds including giblets, neck, and feet.  She said it was alarming watching how fast the chicks were growing.  I'm not against processing chickens for the dinner table as my folks did it all the time on the farm but they used the Leghorn cockerels or older hens.  They were smaller birds but had flavor.  The younger were roasted, the older tougher birds were used for stews and soups.  A sick bird was never used for the table.  Campbell's company came around in the '50's to bid for ranchers' and my uncle's chicken carcasses that died in a severe heatwave.  Principles alone kept him from selling dead birds to the soup company.  I hope industry standards have improved since then because I haven't bought a meat soup off the supermarket shelf after that experience.  We aren't vegetarians but we haven't bought beef or chicken from the supermarket in decades.  It took decades of educating the public before non-GMO and organic foods started being offered as a choice in supermarkets and restaurants and it may take more public awareness before the plight of inhumane treatment of poultry is denounced.  The poultry industries are getting better but many practices are still not quite there -- especially the raising of fragile CCX hybrids. 

Very well stated... and thats why I raise my own for table fare. Atleast I know how they were raised, what went in them and what didn't go in them. Like I said before CCX Roos have more flavor than hens at least thats my experience.

I may try another breed (Freedom Rangers) next year but honestly im pretty happy with CCX on the table.

 

[Sylvester017]

Very well stated... and thats why I raise my own for table fare. Atleast I know how they were raised, what went in them and what didn't go in them. Like I said before CCX Roos have more flavor than hens at least thats my experience.

I may try another breed (Freedom Rangers) next year but honestly im pretty happy with CCX on the table.

If the CCX are raised old enough they'll start to get table flavor. It's the young 8 to 10 week olds processed in supermarkets and restaurants that have to get brined, sauced, breaded, or heavily seasoned to acquire any kind of taste. My friend liked the experience of raising CCX but won't do it again because of the easy mortality rate and bother about how and when and how much to feed daily. Some were too lazy to walk to the water and if the juvies leaned against the coop wire they didn't have the good sense to run when Crows pecked at them. Freedom Rangers sound like a good choice. I imagine any breed allowed to reach a good age should taste better than 8 or 10 week old juveniles. We had many a tasty meal from just Leghorns on our folks' farm. If company was over we just used an extra bird on the table. Eating a lot of meat is something that was rarer last century. This century every meal seems saturated with some kind of meat from huge roasts and steaks to sausage or bacon-wrapped on everything else. We've cut down on meats and eliminated beef altogether as a personal choice and are content to get most protein from our eggs these days. Like you said, at least we know where they come from and what was fed to the chickens that layed them LOL.

 

[everyonesmomtwo]

My oldest girl right now is 12 years old. She rules the roost. Lays an egg now and than is just a great chicken.

 

[azygous]

The grand matriarch of my flock is also the first chick I ever got. Here is Lady Di, a Light Brahma, aged eight years old this past June and still going strong. She is top chicken and brooks no foolishness from any of the other twenty-four members of her flock. She is holding court here with her two BFFs Irene the GLW and Lilith the SLW, both aged seven years, and still laying.

I attribute their good health and longevity to being fed fermented feed with an occasional treat of scratch grain very, very sparingly. They also get fresh, raw veggies years round.

These three do everything the rest of the flock do, free-ranging every day. However, they enjoy most kicking back on their chicken lounges, not working up too much of a sweat over too much.

Good health and good quality of life is critically important. When a flock member takes sick and there is no hope of ever getting better, they are "helped" out of this life. As long as my chickens are healthy and enjoying life, they get to live as long as they want.

 

[OlandskMama]

When my daughter was 7, our friends moved away and gave us a hen that happened to be the same age as our children.. 'Barbara' was the only Barred Rock in our flock, so stood out amongst my Black Australorps. She laid large odd shaped eggs, often double yolkers, about once a week and held her own in the flock with no problems.
When our friends moved back, our children were 13 and Barbara was still going strong. We told them that she had been waiting all those years for their return. They built a wonderful home for her and got other hens to keep her company. She only lasted a couple of months, but that would have made her 13 -1/2 years old! I've had Barred Rocks since but none lived beyond 7 or 8.

 

[Michelle29063]

I have Barred Rocks and Silver Laced Wyandottes. They are sturdy birds and good layers.

 

[chicksunderwing]

Cassia is 7 and the sole remaining chicken from our first flock. She's in great shape and lays as often as the 5-yr-olds.

 

[Sylvester017]

My oldest girl right now is 12 years old. She rules the roost. Lays an egg now and than is just a great chicken.

That is so cool! What kind/breed of chicken is she?

 

[chicksunderwing]

Irene is so gorgeous! Now GLW is next on our wish list! (We've had 2 SLW's, and the remaining one is 5.)

 

[rachel9947]

Don't know why, but none of my chucks has lived beyond 5 years. They are free range, so that might have something to do with it. Who can tell what they eat? Plus they pick up stuff off the wild birds. Plus they are rare breeds. I worm them regularly and medicate as soon as I see something is wrong.