how long do chickens live

[cat1994]

hi, my 5 yr old roo died this mron

and i dont know what happend

. he was my frist chicken i had and my tamest,

i loved him so much. so anyway i dont know what happend,

my dad told me that he just died of old age ( i think he just told me this to make me feel better) but is 5 yrs old for a chicken, i hope it was just old age, that would make me feel better, i found him in the corner of the coop he looked like he had just fallen asleep

So is 5 yrs old for a roo?

how old can chickens live?

 

[CMV]

Chickens can live 15 years or longer depending on breed. Five years is a good run for a roo. Sorry about your loss.

 

[Chick_In_The_Burbs]

Chickens are considered old at about 6 years old.

This is the best site I've found for age stuff on chickens. There's other good stuff on there too but I love the timeline.
http://www.freewebs.com/professorchicken/timelineofachicken.htm

 

[justbugged]

I researched your question a little bit, and I found a couple of life span charts on the web. Two of the charts list average life expectancy as 8 years, and one other chart says 14 years. It all kind of depends on how on whether or not when figuring out average life span, do you include all chickens including battery cage birds, and meat birds. Or does the statistic only work for backyard egg laying hens and roos. If you include all the chicks that you hatch or buy, it will change a statistic. So it's kind how long does a chicken live is simply a question of, if your chicken lived for 5 years then that is how long it lived.

Chickens will often die without any warnings. There are a lot of things that can impact a chicken. Birds are rather fragile and can and do die very easily. Maybe a better question would be to ask or poll other members here about how old is their oldest chicken. At some point that would give a better answer as to how long does a chicken live. My sister has a GLPolish that is now over 10 and half years, and the hen is still laying nearly every day. I bought the hen in January of 2000 from Murray McMurray. I brooded the hen until we had to move across the state in March of that year. Then hen has lived with my sister every since.

 

[justbugged]

PS I am very sorry that you lost your roo.

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Sorry for the loss of your friend.

 

[SilverPhoenix]

In my experience, chickens usually live between eight and fifteen years depending on breed, care, and individual bird. Bantams and gamebirds tend to live longer than standards and production breeds. I have had chickens who passed away at six or seven of what seemed to just be old age, and then I have several hens who are twelve and still going strong. One of my twelve year old hens is one of the wiliest birds I have--it's nearly impossible to catch her and she throws a fit if you do!

It varies a lot, but generally I think between eight and fifteen is a good range to say for pet chickens.

I'm so sorry about your rooster, I am sure you gave him a very happy life.

It's possible he died of old age, or it could have been heart failure (sometimes there's a genetic problem and chickens die of heart failure fairly young) or a number of things, really. Try not to feel too bad, sometimes they just die and we don't know what causes it and can't prevent it. Just remember what a good life you gave him and take care of your remaining chickens.

 

[cat1994]

Quote:
thanks this makes me feel a lot better

 

[Mahonri]

It's like losing a member of the family.

At present my oldest chicken on the property is almost 18 months old.