🐔 Hens 8+ Years Old - What Contributed to Their Longevity?

[Firsttimehens1234]

This thread is a spinoff of this discussion: In your flock, what is the average lifespan of your hens?

If you have (or have had) a senior hen eight years or older, what do you think contributed to her long life?

Please share anything you think made a difference; diet, housing, breed, how often they laid, how you managed predators, or anything else you believe helped.

Here are a few helpful prompts to guide your post:

• How old is she now (or how old was she when she passed)
• What breed(s) is she?
• Where was she purchased or sourced (self-hatched, hatchery, breeder, feed store, rescue, etc.)? If self-hatched, was she raised by a broody hen or incubator/hand-raised?
• Is she still laying? If not, when did she stop?
• What was her egg-laying frequency like during her prime years?
• Has she ever been seriously ill or injured?
• What’s her diet like (commercial feed, kitchen scraps, supplements, etc.)?
• What is her water setup like (type of waterer, how often it’s cleaned or changed)?
• Does she free-range or stay in a run? Is the run enclosed, partially covered, or fully open?
• How often do you deworm or treat for parasites? What treatment do you use?
• What’s your climate like?
• Do you provide heat in the winter or any other special accommodations?
• What are the coop conditions like (space, ventilation, cleanliness, etc.)?
• What has her flock size been like over the years?
• Has there ever been a breeding rooster in the flock?
• Where is she in the pecking order?
• What is her general behavior or personality like (e.g., calm, dominant, friendly, skittish)?

Photos welcome! Let’s celebrate your older gals and learn what might help other keepers give their flocks long, healthy lives.

I recently lost my oldest hen,who I got by accident when I was scammed and I ended up with her, she was already old when I got her three years ago. She had lived in horrible conditions in her first home, but when she came to me she started getting to free roam for most of the day,got organic chicken food,with no soy,and lots of greens,and a great flock where everyone respects everyone, she had always been sleeping outside,so maybe it was also the fresh air that contributed to her getting old. When I got her she was definitely a little over her prime,the first five months after I got her she layed an egg every single day, but after that she was done, sometimes she would start laying again and she would lay for a couple weeks and then stop again, she layed her last and only egg of the season in march. She was never sick or ill in any way surprisingly, she did have a suspected brain injury,and she would also get episodes where she would collapse on the ground, but after her episode she would get right back up again.
When I got her, it wasn’t so much of making sure she would lay eggs and keeping her as a laying hen,but more or less just to give her a good end to her life, in her last couple of months, her funny personality was shining through,she was the second last in the hierarchy,but never bickered with anyone,and she was mostly always calm, she was thriving, and two days ago she died peacefully in her sleep with no further health complications

 

[Seaslug]

Our oldest hen is only six years old, but I have to say that predator protection is a big part of how she has lived this long. Her ability to evade predators is 50% her and 50% me. I feel sure that the hardware cloth enclosed run has protected my girls, but on the occasions that it did not, Ann's ability to fly and roost in bushes overnight -- she is a California White -- have likely saved her life. She is also the top of the pecking order. She does not get involved in much and seems the healthier for it.

 

[BurbCoop]

Our oldest hen is only six years old, but I have to say that predator protection is a big part of how she has lived this long. Her ability to evade predators is 50% her and 50% me. I feel sure that the hardware cloth enclosed run has protected my girls, but on the occasions that it did not, Ann's ability to fly and roost in bushes overnight -- she is a California White -- have likely saved her life. She is also the top of the pecking order. She does not get involved in much and seems the healthier for it.

Good point. I definitely agree that the ability, and space w/ obstacles, for a hen to move around and evade predators more naturally gives them a chance. Ann having Leghorn in her makes her even more agile. Our Prairie Bluebell is lean, alert and agile.

 

[Mrs. K]

I think you should add climate, day length, high and low temperatures, humidity, and severe weather.

 

[BurbCoop]

I think you should add climate, day length, high and low temperatures, humidity, and severe weather.

Those are definitely good additions. Unfortunately, I’m no longer able to edit the original post since a few days have passed. Perhaps a moderator or admin can reopen it for editing or apply the updates directly?

 

[BDutch]

Those are definitely good additions. Unfortunately, I’m no longer able to edit the original post since a few days have passed. Perhaps a moderator or admin can reopen it for editing or apply the updates directly?

Probably the moderators only do this if you are a member. But don’t worry, lots of people make posts that are not complete or even contain wrong info. Reacting is a way to improve the former posted info. Reading along in a thread is recommended.

 

[fat brown hen]

I have 3 hatchery hens over the age of 8. The one thing they have in common is that they go broody a lot. My other hatchery hens burned out quickly from reproductive problems.

 

[WhiskeyTheRedd]

i feel like most of the time chickens die from something simple like a predator or an illness they couldnt recover from fast enough rather than age. ive had plenty make it beyond 6-8 years. Ive had WAYYYY more die from predators than ANYTHING else.

 

[MROO]

• Beauty is an eight-year-old rose comber Nankin bantam and she's still going strong.
• We got her from a breeder in Culpepper, Va. She was hatched by a broody. We got her and her siblings when they were eight days old and raised them under a heat-plate in the house.
• She stopped laying after a bout with coccidiosis at just over two years old.
• Until everyone stopped for the duration of the illness, then their late-summer molt, she was laying pretty much every day.
• Just the coccidiosis.
• My birds get commercial feed - mostly DuMor layer feed. The only supplements are garden surplus, short-cut grass clippings and as much garlic mustard as I can pull out of my gardens.
• My birds have a large, commercial gravity waterer all year (on a heat plate during the worst of the winter. When the danger of freezing is gone, I add a five-gallon nipple-waterer at the other end of their run. Both get dumped every other day and scrubbed whenever needed - usually every week in the hot months, less frequently in the winter.
• I can't free-range ... eagles/hawks/raccoons, all sorts of nasties! The run is fully covered, but gets wet from seepage with prolonged rain.
• I've never dewormed, but my yard has a heavy coccidia load, so I generally have to retreat every few years. I use Corid (amprolium) followed up immediately with three days of a poultry multi-vitamin to rebalance their systems.
• We're Coastal Mid-Atlantic, US. Summers get hot (to F-90s.) Winters can get very cold - below freezing for a good month, often to the teens. Springs are very wet - especially this year. I know I'll be grateful for it later, but I am SO tired of the mud!
• No heat in the winter, other than the heat plate for the main waterer. I'm a little embarrassed to admit that it's more for MY comfort and convenience than theirs! I do close off the northern-facing vent window in the fall, to keep out the worst of the cold winds.
• The coop is a converted wooden playhouse over a sandbox, with a small deck and sandbox attached. The cabin is 8X7 with an 8" gabled ceiling - LOTS of space. Ventilation is a roofline vent, 12" HW cloth "windows" in two sides and in the top of the dutch door and a 2X3' opening where the slide used to be. That opening is HW cloth covered, but has barn doors that can be closed in bad weather.
• The coop stays pretty clean. There is vinyl on the floor and pine shavings (and occasionally pine needles) under the main roost. The run has a natural dirt floor. Coop litter goes straight into the run for composting, which helps keep it dry during rains.
• We started out with 8 and generally maintain 10-15, including roosters.
• There is always a breeding rooster in the flock, generally two. When we get too many, I close off the side sandbox and run a bachelor flock - my absolute favorite birds!
• Beauty's "spot" in the flock is hard to describe. She's kinda like the Crazy Aunt everybody loves and respects ... and doesn't dare rile! She's top hen, as in nobody messes with her, but she doesn't really assert herself unless somebody bothers her. She totally "owns" the highest roost - an 8' long, 4" wide shelf near the very top of the coop. One other hen (the active top-hen) will occasionally use the other end of it, but stays far away from the real boss. Youngsters get their first lessons in manners from Beauty and I've seen her put the flockmaster in his place, on occasion.
• Beauty is a low-profile, tolerant lady. She's calm and doesn't spook easily - not much ruffles her feathers. She likes gentle attention and "purrs" when stroked. She knows her name and comes when called. She's also the only one of a dozen nearly identical hens that my son can identify on sight - it's pretty neat!

I don't have any good, recent photos - three months of rain have left everyone pretty bedraggled looking (even the people!) The sunshine is trying very hard to stay active right now, so maybe soon!

 

[Dandelion and Clover]

Miss Mae is one of the best chickens who have chicken'd. I think her success has mostly been genetic but I'll pretend that love keeps her going too.

Picture from Today 6.12.25.

I think she is a "Belgian Bearded D’Uccle Bantam Chicken" from Google searches, some kind of D'Uccle anyway. She is my Mother in laws hen and she thinks Miss Mae is 9-10 years old. She was purchased from our local zoo. My MIL is a keeper and was able to purchase from there when they got a big order in. She thinks she came from Ideal Hatchery. MIL lost the porcelain D'Uccle that she got at the same time a couple years ago in a drowning accident (duck pond) and thinks she would have lived for a couple more years too.

Since she doesn't hate to be handled, she may get some Unconscious bias favoritism. But really she's been treated like most the other chickens: free range as often as possible, standard store bought feed & scratch, kitchen scraps, only treated for illness after the fact (don't know of any issues Miss Mae has had), and loved as the pets they are.

My MIL would love to breed her one last time with my Millie Fleur Roo, but we haven't seen her lay any eggs since moving to my house. (Temporary as my in-laws are moving.) She still sits in the nest box, so we hope just maybe she's give us a few more. (Not going to happen )

Miss Mae in 2019. She's always let the kids hold her.