How old do your hens REALLY get?

[MROO]

Chickens are only a half-step above grass on the food chain. As a result, they are pre-programmed to hide illness from everyone and anything in their world. By the time an illness or injury shows itself, it's often too late for us to "fix" the issue easily. Those are the birds we lose early. If they stay healthy (much of which is completely reliant on how well we care for them and their lodgings,) they can live much longer lives.

I have definitely found that hatchery mixes, intentionally bred for egg or meat production, tend to have much shorter natural lives than my purebreds. The "barnyard mixes" that pop up on their own in my flock tend to be the healthiest. There's a lot to said for natural selection. I have a Silkie/BJG mix that is still laying a huge brown egg every two-to-three days at almost five. We were also told that our Nankin bantams would only live four-to-five years, but my oldest hens are going on eight, as is my flockmaster and he's still ... ummm ... productive!

 

[Possum-Pie]

I think people are misusing "purebred" as a term. The modern chicken breeds did not exist in nature. About 4000-8000 years ago people in Southeast Asia began domesticating the wild ancestor of a chicken for the eggs and meat. This practice spread, and other cultures also brought chickens to their lands. By selectively breeding chickens that had the traits they wanted (egg production, large for meat), the genetic tree began to branch into separate varieties.
As people began only breeding chickens that carried similar traits, a "bloodline" we call "purebred" developed. As I've mentioned in earlier posts, this also caused recessive genes that were harmful to pop up more often. This is why inbreeding is discouraged in most living things. When the royal families married cousins to keep the bloodline "pure" they ended up with many recessive genes like hemophilia (a bleeding disorder).

Humans have tried making "pure races" in the past by encouraging marriages between people with similar "sought-after" traits, (Eugenics) but of course in the end the world saw that this was horrible.
We do however still practice this on our domestic animals and this makes me a bit uneasy. Overall, any living thing that chooses for itself who to mate with ends up with healthier offspring than ones forced to only mate with others that carry the traits humans want to see.

 

[seacrow13]

I see you already have a lot of replies but just wanted to add on: certain breeds can also be more susceptible to having health problems or shorter life spans. And if I’m ever buying chicks instead of hatching them myself I always keep track of the group for this reason (recently I had a couple chicken deaths that came from the same hatchling group that I bought together as chicks, so I think it may have been something genetically wrong with that group). It might not be anything you’re doing or not doing, it sounds like you’re taking great care of your hens! It is so devastating when they’re so sweet and you’ve named them. The breed I’ve found lives the longest for me personally is Rhode island reds. My oldest is now nine years old! She no longer lays, but she gets to be a retired, spoiled lady.

 

[plumtheserma]

For what's its worth my 2 cents, Upon Covid we decided to raise chickens to keep our sanity and give the 4 kids something fun to do. We did not know much about raising them, we got on market place and aquriued may differnt kinds (we did not realy know all the differenaces) they were all young babies (13 or so). We also raised quales some my hand, some eggs and some bought. 4 years later we have lost a few hens, had to rehouse the roos due to my nasty nabor threating to report us (and we live in a rual area). They all got along with and with out the rooser. With out the roo 2 hens took charge and ran the rooste. My hens are now down to 7 hens, 2 died from a possim attack, the other 4 died from not sure. the other 7 we have are very healthy. They are about 5 years old or so from what i can tell. They live in 2 coops, insulated. we live in northern cal so the temp here ranges from low 30's to 110's. We have misters if needed during the summer and heat lamp for the winter but they have all be just fine in both environments. We eat alot of veggies and fruits so they get all the clipping and left overs as well as crumble and grains.

about 3 years ago we got our first serama and it was the best one chicken we ever had due to the friendly nature of him. he was a roo but we kept him indoors at night and early Am so he would not crow out side. We put him out in the main coop during the day. But we lost him this weekend and it was the most devastating loss we had. He was my daughters pet. We still don't know what caused him to die.

Reading the internet I also see the 10 years but in reality so far ours have been 3-6 years at most. Maybe its us or maybe its them not sure but you do get attached to some more than others depending on the temperament and its usually the ones you get attached to the first to die and its sucks and its sad.

 

[ChickenGirl300]

To me it sounds like you just have really rotten luck. A few weeks ago one of my girls died at 7, we’re calling it old age as she’s been slowly declining for a while. Last summer another died, she had crop issues a few months prior and never fully recovered, and never did very well in the heat. But as for sickness, I know I’ve been lucky. Old age has been the primary cause. I’ve heard some breeds- especially those bred for high egg production- are more prone to illness, mainly egg binding and that sort of thing, could that have played a role? Either way, I’m sorry for your loss

 

[KyloChicken]

To me it sounds like you just have really rotten luck. A few weeks ago one of my girls died at 7, we’re calling it old age as she’s been slowly declining for a while. Last summer another died, she had crop issues a few months prior and never fully recovered, and never did very well in the heat. But as for sickness, I know I’ve been lucky. Old age has been the primary cause. I’ve heard some breeds- especially those bred for high egg production- are more prone to illness, mainly egg binding and that sort of thing, could that have played a role? Either way, I’m sorry for your loss

I think a mixture of breeds that have been bred for high production and just very inbred strains contributed to our issues we’ve started adding breeds with lower egg production and from a different hatchery in hopes that our bad luck ends now