How long do chickens live?

[pretend farmer]

I have 2 mixed breeds but i was told that they'd only live for 5-6 years. I keep them as pets and was hoping they'd live a bit longer

 

[americana-lover]

Hello, I am new to this site as well, and have a question I hope someone can help me with. At the beginning of this week , I had 3 happy and I thought healthy backyard chickens.They were laying great and looked very happy. I had one die in the coop on Mon. and another one last night. No predator signs. But there is a broken egg laying next to the one I lost last night. Can anyone give me clues? Could I have fed them too much? I have one lonely chicken left and she seems sad.

it was probably the heat. ik its been ovr 100 at my house n ive been worried sick. with your one chicken left, try to baby-it more. visit it more often, and if its clan bird, maybe take it inside with you.

sorry for your loss, my americanas are only a 11/2 too!

 

[americana-lover]

Hello, I am new to this site as well, and have a question I hope someone can help me with. At the beginning of this week , I had 3 happy and I thought healthy backyard chickens.They were laying great and looked very happy. I had one die in the coop on Mon. and another one last night. No predator signs. But there is a broken egg laying next to the one I lost last night. Can anyone give me clues? Could I have fed them too much? I have one lonely chicken left and she seems sad.

it was probably the heat. ik its been ovr 100 at my house n ive been worried sick. with your one chicken left, try to baby-it more. visit it more often, and if its clan bird, maybe take it inside with you.

sorry for your loss, my americanas are only a 11/2 too!

 

[eholding]

Good on you Allen!
My chook population had got way out of hand so I put an advertisement on line to sell the chicks with their mothers and I was killed in the rush. Apart from making a bit of money to pay for feed I reduced my flock number considerably and made some people very happy for their first venture into chicken ownership.

 

[COOl1234]

I think chickens live 3 years but do you know how long colored chicks live for?

 

[Zrcalo]

I think chickens live 3 years but do you know how long colored chicks live for?

I'm sorry. I couldnt stop laughing.
Define "colored chicks" LOL. Also dont mean to gravedig but I have some interesting information for anyone.

"Does anyone here who's had their flock for, say, 15-20+ years by any chance happen to have records of what age each chicken that died, died *at*? That would be really interesting to see."


I have had...

bantam brahma hen - ~12 years. laying 3 times a week up until her death. got her when she was about 3.
bantam brahma x araucana - 11 years still going strong. 2 eggs a week. no signs of being elderly.
oeg silver duckwing bantam rooster - 7 years old, succumb to illness.
oeg black bantam - 9 years lays a few times a month still going strong.
oeg silver duckwing bantam hen - 5 years old succumb to illness
oeg black splash bantam - 5 years succumb to illness
oeg black rooster bantam - 7 years, died of MURDER BY OTHER CHICKENS FROM THE NEIGHBOURS YARD

I've never had any problems with my elderly hens and laying. Then again I feed them scratch and I live in arizona where it's warm all the time. they have free range in my backyard and I've never lost a chicken to predators (we just dont have them downtown). We also give them eggshells every morning and all table scraps. happy happy chickens.

 

[may momma]

we have 1 rhode island hen left of a batch of 25,,,we got them as day old chicks in 2005,,,in the summer and fall of 2010,,the owls,,,the coyotes,,,and the foxes desimated our flock and Red was the only one left,,,she spent the entire winter alone in the chicken house ,,,,we don't have a heated barn and no electricity out there at the time,,,she slept with the goats and occasionally with the geese,,,,every morning she would make her way over the snow drifts ,,which that year were about 4 ft high,,,and come up to the house to let us know it was food time,,,then she would sit in the sun,,,huddled against the warm backdrop of the dark siding of the porch,,,,she made it thru that long lonely winter,,,and in the spring we got a new patch of white leghorns,,,she taught them everything she knew and when the roosters got big enough to crow she kicked their asses and let them know who was boss,,,,she is 8 years old now ,,,she has never had any disease,,,she is a free range chicken who eats bugs and seeds and has never had an antibiotic ,,,,,she is an inspiration to me,,,I keep every feather she drops for she is my hero!

 

[BatonRougeChick]

It can be any breed.  I have had four hens die of cancer.  They were Marans, frizzle cochin and Spitzhaubens.


The percentage of hens over four years old that will develop ovarian cancer is 45%.  This is pretty high, but when you consider all the eggs a hen lays, it makes sense. This percentage was quoted by my vet and the vet that does poultry necropsies for the state.


Because of the high incidence of ovarian cancer in chickens, they are used in research of human ovarian cancer.

Wow, I had no idea!

 

[suebee]

RIP - Beloved Silkie Rooster ~ Morticai ~ May 1st, 2003 - May 1st, 2013. Died ten years to the day he was born. Obit to come soon.

 

[Avas]

Guys - I have a problem. Regarding aging chickens. I won't eat them, I don't eat meat BUT my husband does and he wants to "retire" them when they stop laying. I take care of our chickens and I don't want to lose them, especially by human hands. My husband says he wont support chickens that are not producing. This makes me sick. I have argued and argued. My 9 chickens are going on 2 years old and laying great but I dread the day they stop. Aside from going to the store and planting eggs in the coop for the next 15 - 20 years (which is what I had planned, LOL), is there such thing as a real sancuary for chickens to go? I have no problem keeping mine but I'm worried about what my husband might do.