Average Life Span of a Chicken/Rooster?

[Den in Penn]

My nephew got a goldfish as a prize at a fair when he was about 8. It was just a run of the mill fish. They had a tank with other fish that lived and died while that goldfish lived on. It out lived all the other fish and became the only fish in the tank. Standard holiday conversation starter, was to ask if that fish was dead yet. It lived till just shy of the nephew's 30th birthday.

 

[Pinky]

Properly cared for goldfish can live to a ripe old age. I had several goldfish that were 8 yrs old, until something ate most of them from my pond. I still have two that are now 9 yrs, I bought them as feeder goldfish and this year they spawned, giving me eight new fish.

My oldest hens are 7 years old and they are just as lively as the younger chickens I have.

 

[cgmccary]

There is a woman in PEI, canada who had some landrace chickens that were over 20 years old (breeds like Rapnui & such).

 

[CluckCluck18]

The lady I got my chickens from had a hen that was 10 years old and she laid eggs several times a week. I hope I have some
hens like that. My oldest is only 2 1/2 so I have a way to go.

 

[mattldouglas]

Geebs, can you tell me what you attribute this to? I would love to know how you care for your chickens!

Well I have my chickens to my neighbor thy have two still. And one in pretty sure still lays. They are going in 5 years. But we let our chickens out everyday to run and around and scratch. We fed them a little scratch everyday. Also we gave them lots of left overs. Vegetables, fruits. Pretty much anything. Except limited things like crackers or breads.

 

[speckledhen]

If you are talking about the most common breeds sold in feed stores, you can almost expect the hens to die from internal laying and/or egg yolk peritonitis or reproductive cancer and sooner rather than later. It's not absolute, of course, but I've lost about 15 hatchery hens or daughters of hatchery hens to those ailments. If you are talking about hens from good breeders who are not just propagators of hatchery stock themselves, you might expect better longevity.

A rooster has a high stress job no matter where he comes from so it's anybody's guess what happens to him. Roosters often drop dead of heart attacks out of the blue. I would expect that bantams might live longer than the extra large LF breeds, just like in dogs. My longest lived rooster so far was a Blue Orpington, surprisingly, who survived almost until his 6th hatchday. My current oldest is my Delaware who is 5, but he is suffering from serious leg and foot issues now.

I have some hens who are 6-7 years old and still laying, but they are not hatchery stock. I've only had my own flocks for 8 years now. The originals all are gone and most of the next year's stock are also gone. A couple have bad arthritis and of course, I have no idea if they'll be alive by summer. Could be alive two years from now, anybody's guess. A couple of those are daughters of hatchery hens, most are breeder stock of various breeds.They have lived longer than any other hens I've owned so far. All my hatchery hens began dying at just over 2 years of age and one by one, they all went pretty much as I mentioned they tend to do.

My longest lived hatchery hen so far is the only one I have left, a Buff Brahma. She is 7 years old this month. She hasn't laid in almost 2 years, though, and has a sluggish, pendulous crop that needs daily attention to keep it from stagnating and souring.

 

[crazyaboutchickens]

If you've got a good predator-free environment, it's not hard to keep birds to ripe old age. My oldest hen was 12 years old, the rest of her flock lasting until they were 8. This was without any special care. Roosters burn out much quicker though, and I've never been able to keep one in old age alive longer than the hens. :/

 

[speckledhen]

If you've got a good predator-free environment, it's not hard to keep birds to ripe old age. My oldest hen was 12 years old, the rest of her flock lasting until they were 8. This was without any special care. Roosters burn out much quicker though, and I've never been able to keep one in old age alive longer than the hens.

....unless you have hatchery hens with that "kill switch", that is. Then, no amount of fabulous care will keep them going. Their sucky genetics will win out over your best efforts. I've learned my lesson about that now. The ones I breed here or that came from good breeder stock have fared much better, but I've only kept my own flocks for about 8 years now, so longevity of the breeder stock that I began acquiring the following year after I began hasn't been well tested yet. My RIR x Buff Orp hen, Meg, who is out of exhibition stock, is 7 years old and still laying. Gave me an egg today, actually. She doesn't seem to have any real issues other than chronic bumblefoot on one foot.

I hope to have hens live as long as 12 like yours! That would be awesome.

 

[crazyaboutchickens]

If you've got a good predator-free environment, it's not hard to keep birds to ripe old age. My oldest hen was 12 years old, the rest of her flock lasting until they were 8. This was without any special care. Roosters burn out much quicker though, and I've never been able to keep one in old age alive longer than the hens. :/

....unless you have hatchery hens with that "kill switch", that is. Then, no amount of fabulous care will keep them going. Their sucky genetics will win out over your best efforts. I've learned my lesson about that now. The ones I breed here or that came from good breeder stock have fared much better, but I've only kept my own flocks for about 8 years now, so longevity of the breeder stock that I began acquiring the following year after I began hasn't been well tested yet. My RIR x Buff Orp hen, Meg, who is out of exhibition stock, is 7 years old and still laying. Gave me an egg today, actually. She doesn't seem to have any real issues other than chronic bumblefoot on one foot.

I hope to have hens live as long as 12 like yours! That would be awesome.

Um, she was a red star from the local feed store. I don't know any breeders here and don't have such stock around. Then again, chicken breeding and feeds evolve quickly in time, so unless you breed your own and grow your own healthiest of feeds, it's a game of chances. At 7, your hen definitely has the genes for a long life. Perhaps crosses fare better than pure breeds?

 

[tadaen sylverma]

Quote:

Don't need to sound so condescending about it. It's called google. One doesn't need to actually do science for it to be called research.