Oldest Hen Age and Breed

[pecky33]

My family has 1 chicken left from our fist flock. Her name is Stella, and she’s a bantam mix (we think she has Nankin in her). She is 6 years old now. She still looks and acts sprightly! She lays from spring-fall usually (occasionally she’ll still lay through the winter). She goes broody like once a year.

Now we call her a baby grandma princess. LOL

 

[jcoz]

Old BooBoo is 11 going on 12. She makes me get my steps in every day. Part ninja but mostly speckled sussex.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Old BooBoo is 11 going on 12. She makes me get my steps in every day. Part ninja but mostly speckled sussex.

I love how much "snow" her feathers have, was she darker as a youngster and lightened over time?

 

[BDutch]

Oldest was Orpington 9; Welsummer 9. My oldest now is a 7year old EE which surprises me for a mix.

Mixes are often stronger (better variety of genes) than pure bred chickens.

 

[catballou]

My family has 1 chicken left from our fist flock. Her name is Stella, and she’s a bantam mix (we think she has Nankin in her). She is 6 years old now. She still looks and acts sprightly! She lays from spring-fall usually (occasionally she’ll still lay through the winter). She goes broody like once a year.

Now we call her a baby grandma princess. LOL
View attachment 4083556

She's not that old.

 

[pecky33]

Old BooBoo is 11 going on 12. She makes me get my steps in every day. Part ninja but mostly speckled sussex.

She has a LOT of speckles! More than my speckled Sussexes. But she’s gorgeous!

 

[pecky33]

She's not that old.

Yeah, but the oldest I’ve had.

 

[birdlady11]

All of my longest-lived hens were crossbreeds, quite a mix and match. The two oldest were half sisters and inseparable: Sue (buff laced wyantodotte/partridge rock) was 17; Pam (golden laced wyandotte/partridge rock) was 19. She laid almost until she died (granted, five to eight eggs a year isn't much but it's amazing when you're an 18-year-old chicken!).

When Sue died Pam went into depression, called for her sister and kept searching for her for several months then stopped searching and calling but started sticking to me like glue ever time I went outside. When I wasn't outside she just sit and not eat and started going downhill. I thought she was going to die of a broken heart. I know it sounds silly but she acted just like a human who has lost their spouse after a lifetime of being together. So I borrowed a friend's young teenage chicken for her to buddy up with. We called her Road Runner because that crazy chicken went everywhere full speed, running circles around Pam. But the friendship blossomed and Pam perked up and lived another two years before the frailties of age took her.

Then next oldest was El Choppo, a mixture of RIR, partridge rock, red star, and a neighbor's who-knows-what. She was round as a beach ball and as her name suggests she was an escape artist (I think she paid off the armadillos and gopher tortoises to dig escape tunnels under the fences). She stopped laying at 5 and spent the rest of her life bossing everyone else around. She was 16 when she passed.

Trumpeter, Sue's daughter, was 12 when a young bobcat took her. She was still laying from late winter to early summer. She was a lovebug and enjoyed following me everywhere "helping" me to garden.

Puffy Cheeks was 11 and looked just like CombNWattles Sweet Cheeks. She laid beautiful olive green eggs.

Bag Lady (a real mixed bag including white leghorn, partridge rock, buff orpington, and another Heinz-57 special) was also 11 when she passed.

 

[Chicken_Obsesser]

10 years, Easter Egger. There were two of them.

 

[jcoz]

I love how much "snow" her feathers have, was she darker as a youngster and lightened over time?

Yeah, she has keeps getting more and more white - as do I