Oldest chicken?

[emgrider]

@citychknraising I don’t really know why I named her that! Maybe because I thought it would be funny to have a chicken named duck? I’m not sure

 

[driver]

My oldest will be 7 this spring. She is definitely not as healthy as she once was, but seems happy enough. She laid her last egg in 2016. Her comb has shrunk from its former glory. She tends to get a messy butt now, and I found her with an early case of flystrike last summer, that luckily cleared up very quickly.

 

[texsuze]

Jolene will turn 8 this coming May (fingers crossed!!) She is the remaining black australorp from my original flock of day-old chicks. Her sister passed away last July at age 7. Jolene layed once this winter and lays intermittently, not regularly. She is Flock Boss and a very hardy girl---she loves to take walks in the rain! Near and dear to my heart.

Bertha, my Little Brown Hen is an easter egger, age 4 1/2 and still laying, very healthy. My Dominiques are 3 1/2 years old, but are probably the least robust hens I've had in terms of confirmation and general health.

 

[Teila]

My oldest are a bantam Cochin and a bantam Langshan; both 5 years old and both still acting like spring chickens, laying reasonably well; for a bantam anyway

I have just finished breaking the bantam Cochin from yet another bout of broodiness as she is still dead set keen on being a mumma again

 

[Dawnclucks22]

I've seen all sorts of answers for that question but I think the general consensus is that 8-10 years is average and they stop laying about 6. The laying production begins to slow down after about age 3. Hope that helps!

 

[Dawnclucks22]

My oldest are a bantam Cochin and a bantam Langshan; both 5 years old and both still acting like spring chickens, laying reasonably well; for a bantam anyway

I have just finished breaking the bantam Cochin from yet another bout of broodiness as she is still dead set keen on being a mumma again

I've heard hybrid breeds rarely go broody but my serama-millefleur insists on being a puffball with a beak now and then. It is adorable though!

 

[Teila]

I've heard hybrid breeds rarely go broody but my serama-millefleur insists on being a puffball with a beak now and then. It is adorable though!

I do not want to take the thread off topic but will just share one picture of my broody puff ball with a beak One of my other bantam Cochins who is turning 4 soon:

 

[TreeTree411]

Oldest, 3 years old.

 

[Ritz]

My oldest chicken was a mutt bantam named Buttercup, and she lived to be twenty. She was a bossy hen who was top hen of my first flock for years, and she outlived her brothers and sisters, her babies (tragically lost the last who was only around 5 to a raccoon), and most of my second flock. In the end I'm not sure what got her, either pure body break down from old age or possibly secondary infection from a foot problem and crop stasis, I don't know. I still miss her and wish I could have afforded to take her to the vet. She had lost most of her eyesight in the last couple years but was still sharp as a tack and adapted to every change life threw at her. She lived inside with us for at least two years and my goodness did she have a personality. I miss that birdy.

Most of my chickens have gotten to 10 years, several to at least 15, but too many fell sooner to predators, disease or mishaps like run-ins with poisonous plants I didn't know were around. If you want them to live a long time, I think the most important thing other than luck and medical care (which sadly I haven't always been able to give or diagnosis properly), is actually love and attention and giving them a happy life. Because 5 of my oldest birds have been family favorites who got lots of love and affection and entertainment, and each of them had medical emergencies so it wasn't even like they were just lucky there. I don't think it's a coincidence that out of 50 chickens a few favs outlived them all.

 

[americanchicks]

Birds referenced were DP (Australorps, White Rocks, and a few others my mind unfortunately does not recall) and laid like that all their lives.
Sexlinks are another story. They're bred to give 365 eggs their first year then drop dead.

The bird I kept stopped laying at about six years of age due to severe health issues. She recovered but never laid again, poor thing.

Sex links are short lived, oh no! Our family favorite is Phoebe, a red sexlink. She is going to be four this summer. She is the most friendly and out going chicken I have ever seen. Walks in the house as she pleases, comes when you call her name, can pick her up anytime with out her squatting. She only lays 3 a week but I will keep her even if there are no eggs. I LOVE that chicken she is a PET. As for the others I take them to auction at at 2 years and rotate fresh layers.