Very Long lived birds question

[FrogPond2012]

My flock of chickens are still quite young, 1 to 3 years. Even so 5 of mine have sadly died. One due to a predator and 4 were quite sudden. My rooster was a meat bird who wasn't expected live long because of his weight. Two of my late girls were ISA Browns. I found out later ISA's have a short life expancy. So breeds like the ISA's and any meat bird breed have a short life expancy. Hope that helps.

 

[KRZ4CKNS]

Although not an expert on chicken keeping it is one of my favorite hobbies. I live in California where we are lucky to have mostly sunny days, the nights are very rarely freezing during winter. My chickens usually live a long life..the oldest, Daisy was a ripe old age of 12 when I lost her. However I have lost younger chicks & have no idea why? It was mentioned possibly due to the chicken pecking at a bug that made it sick. Could this be a consideration in your case?

 

[azygous]

@Mrs. K I doubt very much you are doing anything"wrong". There are so many subtle illnesses that chickens can get that are simply not noticeable to the average observer until the chickens dies from it.

If you've never seen and treated symptoms of coccidiosis, impacted egg, reproductive track infection and cancer, botulism toxin poisoning, petroleum distillates poisoning, impacted crop, not to mention all the different respiratory diseases, your chickens that have died could have had any of these. Chickens are experts at hiding symptoms so most busy people don't notice.

It's not your fault.

 

[getaclue]

4 - 5 years on production hens is about all you're going to get, if they're well taken care of. Good quality, large heritage breeds tend to last significantly longer. There are individual exceptions, of course.

 

[red horse ranch]

I'm not sure if it makes a difference but the majority of my geriatric birds are mixed heritage breeds (barnyard specials!) It seems like the purebreds don't live as long as the mixes..

 

[21hens-incharge]

I think a lot has to do with genetics. Then feeding and third illnesses.

I have a lot of old ladies but I have also lost young birds for no apparent reason.

 

[FluffTheDuck]

I would think below 0 the chickens could get frostbite therefore **maybe** milk the chicks...

 

[2 many chickens]

I have three 5 year old australorp hens. They are still thriving, top of the pecking order and all. I am not sure if they are still laying or not. The next in line are 4 year old bared rocks and 3 year old comets. Rest are 2 and one. I live in VA and winters get into the teens. They have shelter from the cold but actually enjoy standing out in the freezing lol