Chicken lives

[Mrs. K]

I have never come close to any of the above posters. I think a 4 year old hen is an old hen. They become arthritic and crabby. My oldest was 4.5. And she was the only one that got to that age.
I do have just hatchery mutts - but I am not surprised if they start slipping away around 3 - 3.5 years.

Mrs K

 

[Folly's place]

Dr. Fulton at MSU said, years ago, that most hens are sick/ dying by age three. Very sad.
Mary

 

[Painted Calls]

My bestie's Orps are both 12 years old.
View attachment 3340350

Forgot to mention that these old ladies came from Hoover's via TSC as chicks.

 

[SamLockwood]

Most of the old flock of 18 I lost to predation, which is why I re-did my chicken coop & run. A couple died from egg binding-related causes, and one from infection from a wound of an unknown source. A rooster we tried to integrate with the girls was over-aggressive and one day the hens ganged up & killed him.

Of the three birds from that flock I've got left, they're at least six years old: a production red, a speckled sussex, and (I think) a wellsummer. The sussex is probably 7 or 8 years old, as she was part of a pair that showed up on my doorstep one day from parts unknown. They're about active as the 15-week old birds from the new flock, minus the urge to run all the time and the fact they go to roost about an hour before the adolescents. Until the winter molt set in, even the ancient Sussex was a pretty regular layer (albeit somewhat small, brittle-shelled eggs).

 

[rosemarythyme]

My oldest three are 6 1/2. Haven't lost a bird yet to age, illness or unknown cause - of the ones that have gone, one died in an accident, one to a hawk, one had defects from birth.