How long do chickens live?

[Pump Hill Peeps]

I know this is a pretty open ended ?, but we have 9 golden comets. 2 in the last week seem to be noticeably weaker than the rest. we separated them and started antibiotics. the other girls were harrassing them, pecking at them, one had its comb torn or at least damaged by this.they aren't laying eggs either. in fact we are getting only 4-5 eggs a day from 14 total. the other 5 are BSL, and 1 BSL roo. The GCs are 3 1/2 yrs. is this a sign that they are getting near the end of their life span?

 

[wekiva bird]

Hatchery chickens don't live as long as some heritage breeds. What I have seen is 3 to 13 yrs.

 

[silkiechicken]

It can really vary. Most of the time, they die of internal maladies (like internal laying) or being eaten by a predator.

In my experience, 3-5 for a commercial layer is about it due to egg laying problems. A few lucky ones made it to 6-7, but were then killed by predators.

 

[chickenzoo]

I have a SLW hen that is eight...have heard of chickens as old as 18 but normally they are roosters...they don't get internal laying issues. Comets and early fast laying breeds normally have a shorter life..but with.care can live longer than expected. I've found that your favorite chicken normally has a shorter life span for some reason...seems like something always happens to the favorites.
Have yours ever been wormed? Parasites can often be a cause of chicken death.

 

[silkiechicken]

I forgot to add, in my flock, because I don't keep them as pets, I will usually cull all my layers at the end of their 2nd year laying. So 3 year old birds = stew. Only a handful are promoted to "untouchable" and live out their lives. And it really is something about how favorite birds are targeted by bad luck. I had a black sexlink who was an untouchable and going on 7, but then was the only one who was killed in a freak dog attack.... it was the first dog attack in over 15 years of raising chickens!