How Long do Chickens Live

[Sylvialarry]

I was just curious as to how old hens get before they quit laying. How long do they live? I've had my girls for a year now and I just love their personalities. My Barred rock is about four years old and my two ameraucanas are one year old.

 

[gallusdomesticus]

Chickens will lay as long as they live although at a reduced rate. The Univ of Florida Ag Extension service has a graf that shows a hen decreases her egg production about 10%/yr after her first full year of laying...i.e. a five year old hen will lay about half the eggs she laid in her first year. A normal heavy breed of chicken will lay about 240 eggs her first year so a five year old will lay around 120 or about 2-3/week. Many things affect egg laying such as diet, molting, stress, access to water and light levels. Typically an older hen will stop laying during the winter with low light levels and resume in the spring whereas a one to two year old hen will lay through the winter.
Guiness World Records lists the oldest hen at 15 years old but the average full size hen is normally good for 6-8 years in my experience although there are members on this forum that can claim longer lived birds. Unfortunately, there are a lot of medical problems that can shorten our dear birds lives...just look at the disease/sickness forum. Hopefully your girls will be long lived.

 

[Sylvialarry]

Thanks so much. I really hope mine live a long time.

 

[chkinut]

i have a one year old Silver Cuckoo Marans who will always be with me! i love that girl and she loves me. she LOVES to sit on my lap! and if i keep her for her life span, then i've gotta keep her best friend too.....so it seems that Ginger (my EE) gets to live to old age too....i love her too, but she doesn't like to sit on my lap....but she is very quiet and sweet and doesn't mind if i hold her while standing up. Cricket (SCM) doesn't like it when i hold her standing up, she likes her feet to be on a solid surface. but when Cricket is on my lap, she talks to me and picks at my hair with her beak. sometimes she even gossips to me and tells me what she's irritated about that day...lol! funny girls, i just love the different personalities. and all my other chickens are so young that i haven't had a chance to see their personalities yet, but i'm starting to see. good thread, cuz i didn't REALLY know for sure...i figured 9 years was their life span. and it's interesting to read that by 5 yrs they'll lay half of what they lay at 1 year. thanks for the info Gallus!

 

[ramirezframing]

I had a silkie hen who was 2ish when I got her and she died after 8 years with me and the last 1 and a half to 2 years before that she quit laying, but she had a tumor under a wing so I don't know if that had anything to do with it.