Official BYC Poll: How Old Is / Was Your Oldest Chicken?

[FreckledEggs]

My parents’ big yellow rooster, KFC, lived over 20 years. Crowed under my bedroom window every single morning til I was out of the house. Then he moved to my little sister’s window til she graduated and moved out. Then on to the youngest one. But he would come crow outside whatever room I slept in whenever I visited. In the end his bright yellow feathers had faded quite a bit, but that predawn crow stayed ear-splitting to the very end.

20 YEARS?! The oldest recorded was 16!

 

[FreckledEggs]

I've only had chickens for 4 years so the oldest chickens I've have are 5 years in march (got them as pullets). All laying. Brown leghorn (Dana) Bluebell (Bluebell) Light Sussex ( Eggy).

 

[Quailobsessed]

My oldest chicken, Maryhannah, was twelve and a half. She lived a long happy life and raised a lot of chicks. She was a good grandmother to her daughter's chicks too. She was a great layer in her prime and laid every now and then until she was 10. She even laid an egg randomly when she was 12! She was really close to one of her daughters who passed two weeks after her (she was almost 8). Maryhannah hatched on 4th Jan 2006 and sadly passed on 18th Aug 2018. I do really miss her

My current oldest, Gertrude, is turning 10 in April.

 

[Xouie]

20 YEARS?! The oldest recorded was 16!

Wow— at first I thought 16 was a really low number. Then it occurred to me that most chickens simply don’t die of old age. And on top of that, most people won’t track the birth and death dates of individual chickens.

 

[Birdsonghill]

I read before,I don't remember where, that chickens have been recorded over 25 years old and said to have been older by Japanese Chicken lovers.

 

[coach723]

Lost a 9 year old wellsummer mix, just shy of 10 years old (? -mystery bird, she came in a batch of australorps) last summer. I have a Barred Rock and a Light Brahma that will both be 9 this April (hatched 2012). I have two EE's and a Gold laced Wyandotte that just turned 6 this month.

 

[Fishychix]

I just started, so mine are just 10(?) months old. We bought them on April 15th, 2020 as day-olds.

 

[Jajika]

While my oldest several years ago was a 12 YO mix breed, Hannah Banana. Now I have a couple that are about eight and still going strong. I have a rescue blind in one eye who was terribly traumatized and has never laid. She is a Silver Laced Wyandotte, absolutely gorgeous, but age is unknown.

 

[Malamute1]

We have an EE mix that turned 9 this month. She belonged to 1 of my friends. Almost 2 yrs ago something got in their coop. She was the only survivor. She refused to go in the coop anymore. Every night she would go to their sliding glass door and jump up and peck the door handle and they would let her in. She came to visit when they went on a short trip and has been here ever since. Our peeps were only 6 mos old at the time. She appointed herself flock guardian and is better than any roo! She's a champion runner and fast. Lol. She even started laying again and was my best layer last spring.

 

[natashapevey]

I am unable to answer that question with anything close to an actual number.
We started our flock with a foundling cockerel. Once he had a safe abode for himself and a number of hens, we went out to buy 3 hens for him. Although I had done a ton of reading on what to do and what not to do in order to keep chickens properly, I knew nothing about guessing the age of a hen. And, Man did the seller see me coming. We bought 3 hens, 1 was a Mille flore something, that was a full size hen. She was beautiful and friendly and I named her Ursula. I will never know how old she was when we got her, but she was my pride and joy. She never laid an egg, ever. So she was past laying age when we got her and we have had at least one hen who laid fewer and fewer eggs until she was 7 years old.
We had Ursula for about 8 years, I guess. So she would have been at least 10 years old and probably 15 or more. She was and always has been missed. One day perhaps I will tell a few Ursula stories, she was rather bossy, even with the Rooster.