How long do chickens live?

[Chaneys Ranch]

Good question! LOL its probably been said but many of my "hatchery" birds rarely make 3 years. I have some that are 4 and older. If cooped and safe, well cared for they should be with you a decade or more. Good breeder stock are slower layers but lay longer. Its all in what you want in keeping a flock. Myself, I commit to who I have and hope they are with us a long time. I try to keep a good breeder stock birds so they become family and have a long life with us.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I'm seriously not interested in keeping my chickens forever, and honestly the 20 some years quoted in the original posts would be incredibly unusual. 10 years would be a rare bird.

While I enjoy my chickens, and take very good care of them, talk with them, laugh at their antics, and name them, I also need their eggs for the family and must live on a budget. I can't afford to pay for birds that are not producing well as grain is expensive and my field rotation and space limited. There are a couple that will be kept until they expire of old age, as they have become endeared pets, and my brooding bantams will be treasured until their demise (and mourned at their loss), but most I sell or give away at 2 1/2 to 3 years of age, the time when most substantially slow laying.

In my experience, my commercial RSL play out by year 3 and are spent, even with high quality feed and care allowing for natural molts and rest cycles. Few have made it to year 4 or 5 as strong layers. Barred Rocks are better. My barnyard mixes are the best for overall longevity and productivity. But having said so, most of my birds have succumb to something by age 6 (usually predators or the slow wasting away of cancer).

And honestly, I am not interested in keeping older hens as they are much more susceptible to illnesses as their immune systems slow, which they can pass on to the flock. I value the flock and it is my duty to protect them. In nature, the older, slower birds are picked off by the predators keeping the flock younger and healthier.

I have learned there are many people who will gladly pay a reasonable price for a 2 year old bird, or take a 3 or 4 year old bird for free. I have a friend who likes the larger eggs of the older bird and has a large farm, so a majority of my birds are given to her when they turn 3 or 4 for a lifetime of leisure on her farm. We call it the Happy Hen Retirement Farm.

It has been a good solution for me so that I can keep egg production up, maintain a healthier younger flock, while yet letting someone who enjoys a flock of established birds do so.

But yes, I've also retired a few to the soup pot too (usually young roosters). To my thinking there is nothing wrong with homegrown chicken and dumplings. Since I am not a vegan, I much prefer to eat a bird I know has been humanely cared for and had a brief but happy life (they have no idea it was short) than feast on poor commercial birds that have lived in cramped, unsanitary conditions and never seen the light of day. Better food for me; better life for them.

My choices.

LofMc

 

[sjturner79]

I'm seriously not interested in keeping my chickens forever, and honestly the 20 some years quoted in the original posts would be incredibly unusual. 10 years would be a rare bird.

While I enjoy my chickens, and take very good care of them, talk with them, laugh at their antics, and name them, I also need their eggs for the family and must live on a budget. I can't afford to pay for birds that are not producing well as grain is expensive and my field rotation and space limited. There are a couple that will be kept until they expire of old age, as they have become endeared pets, and my brooding bantams will be treasured until their demise (and mourned at their loss), but most I sell or give away at 2 1/2 to 3 years of age, the time when most substantially slow laying.

In my experience, my commercial RSL play out by year 3 and are spent, even with high quality feed and care allowing for natural molts and rest cycles. Few have made it to year 4 or 5 as strong layers. Barred Rocks are better. My barnyard mixes are the best for overall longevity and productivity.  But having said so, most of my birds have succumb to something by age 6 (usually predators or the slow wasting away of cancer).

And honestly, I am not interested in keeping older hens as they are much more susceptible to illnesses as their immune systems slow, which they can pass on to the flock. I value the flock and it is my duty to protect them. In nature, the older, slower birds are picked off by the predators keeping the flock younger and healthier.

I have learned there are many people who will gladly pay a reasonable price for a 2 year old bird, or take a 3 or 4 year old bird for free. I have a friend who likes the larger eggs of the older bird and has a large farm, so a majority of my birds are given to her when they turn 3 or 4 for a lifetime of leisure on her farm. We call it the Happy Hen Retirement Farm.

It has been a good solution for me so that I can keep egg production up, maintain a healthier younger flock, while yet letting someone who enjoys a flock of established birds do so.

But yes, I've also retired a few to the soup pot too (usually young roosters). To my thinking there is nothing wrong with homegrown chicken and dumplings. Since I am not a vegan, I much prefer to eat a bird I know has been humanely cared for and had a brief but happy life (they have no idea it was short) than feast on poor commercial birds that have lived in cramped, unsanitary conditions and never seen the light of day. Better food for me; better life for them.

My choices.

LofMc

I always found our store brought chooks lived on average 6-8 years with 4-5 years production but our broody hatched chicks lived 12-15 years with 10-12 years production, I think it's to do with nutrition of the laying hens and how the chicks are managed in thier first week of live.

 

[Free Feather]

I always found our store brought chooks lived on average 6-8 years with 4-5 years production but our broody hatched chicks lived 12-15 years with 10-12 years production, I think it's to do with nutrition of the laying hens and how the chicks are managed in thier first week of live.

That is an interesting theory...

 

[Shadow920]

how long do roosters stay fertile?

 

[Free Feather]

how long do roosters stay fertile?

This varies on breed, and things like frostbite and other bodily stress, and diet can shorten the length of fertility. My neighbor's RIR rooster was nearly ten and I still hatched out chicks from their eggs for them. The "count" goes down as they age, but they will retain fertility for a long time. I am not sure when they are completely infertile.

 

[Ballerina Bird]

I always found our store brought chooks lived on average 6-8 years with 4-5 years production but our broody hatched chicks lived 12-15 years with 10-12 years production, I think it's to do with nutrition of the laying hens and how the chicks are managed in thier first week of live.

That is an interesting theory...

I agree; that is a very interesting theory!

 

[21hens-incharge]

I have a group of older hens (nearly 6 years old now) that are doing well. They take the winter off of course but laid last summer just fine for us. Yes production is down from them. Ones that used to lay 5 eggs a week give us 3 or so while one that laid 6 a week continued to do so last summer. They are all hatchery stock. One in the group has not laid an egg in a long long while. I doubt she will ever lay again.

I have had a couple young pullets just drop over dead for no clear reason at about 8 months of age. I lost one hatchery bird to egg binding at 8 months old as well.
I would agree parent stock is important in determining longevity of the birds.

I was asked recently how long chickens live. Interesting to find this on the home page.

 

[Diannastarr]

i wounder if roos dont live as long because they die in the line of duity..? or what..? i never had many roos , but my old guy ,Big Chicky boy was the best rooster ever, very sweet & very smart & he was as old as my hens & went along with his girls to their new home on the horse farm to live happily ever after , so he was pretty long lived.

 

[Diannastarr]

my old roo & hens to they were still hatching out chicks up to about 10 years old