How long do chickens live???

[Ms~Silkie~Girl]

My dad met this guy at work who has been raising chickens for his whole life. He said chickens start dying off at 2-3 years old. but i don't really believe it.

So i have 16 hens and one rooster, all heavy breeds, how long should they live??

4 Buff Orpingtons
5 Black Star
5 White Rocks
2 Speckled Sussex
And one Americauna Roo

 

[henryetta]

i've had 10 year old chickens...... they lived the good life so dont know if thats normal or not, but thats how long im expecting to have these too

 

[bufforp89]

I think that I read that chickens can live up to 15 years in captivity. Although I doubt many make it that far...I could be wrong though

 

[Davaroo]

I love these questions. There will be all sorts of answers, from the sublime to the ridiculous. Everyone will have a different response.

Left to their own devices, they live for 2-3 years. I certainly know the average life of a commercial chicken is substantially less. But it's safe to say that chickens left to fend for themselves, only rarely die of old age

Pampered and allowed to live in protection, and under the right conditions, they can go for many years. I think the longest lived chicken on record was 20-22 years. Something like that.

 

[patandchickens]

Actually, left to their own devices I doubt that many even make 2 years of age. Most get et by something

The answer totally, totally depends on what you mean.

"What is the longest that chickens sometimes live?" 15-25 years. But virtually none ever make it to that age, for a whole variety of reasons not entirely limited to those related to getting et. Expecting a chicken of yours to reach age 15 is like expecting your gramma to reach age 110 -- it does happen, but not on a regular basis and it's not something to *plan* for.

"What is a good ripe old age for a well cared for captive chicken?" If you're getting many of your chickens to 6-10 on a regular basis, you're doing pretty well.

"What life expectancy can a well cared for captive chicken expect when it's born, assuming nothing eats it?" Depends on breed and what diseases are floating around in what abundance. High-performance layers like sexlinks seem to have a distressingly nontrivial prevalence of deaths due to various female troubles, starting at 18 months or so (ish) and many succumbing in the next few years. Some other breeds, mostly ones that lay less to begin with, seem to have less likelihood of fatal reproductive problems and thus have less taken off their lifespan from those causes, on average. Also chickens in a situation with many new diseases being introduced, or with fairly stern strains of multiple chronic diseases resident in the flock, will not live as long on average. So there are a lot of factors that affect how long an individual person's chickens are likely to survive.

Pat

 

[Kojack]

Quote:
Pat, I have Black sexlinks and gold sexlinks, I admit I am very new to this but I shudder to think my girls will be gone sooner, than others.
Is this info from your experience or from info on BYC or what?
Im hoping to find info contrary to what you have posted here! Please be fibbing!

 

[babylady4]

My MIL currently has one EE chicken and it is over the age of 15. Silly bird hangs out with the dogs.

 

[chicken master]

I had a rooster live to be 13 years old and the only reason he died was because three chickens jumped on him and he got his back ripped open about a inch deep so i put him out of his misory.

 

[patandchickens]

Hi Kojack,

It's a statistical thing, not a confirmed destiny for any particular individual bird -- and it also seems to vary according to lines, with some having more problems than others. So, if you want to hear that there is no definite proven reason to expect your particular hens will necessarily live shorter lives than anyone else's, there ya go

That said, *on average*, production type chickens do seem to be noticeably more prone to prolapse, eggbinding and internal laying, which are not infrequently fatal; I say this both from my own experience and from others'.

But again, individuals are individuals not collective averages.

Good luck, have fun,

Pat

 

[undermywings]

We have a RIR hen that is 11 years old, a bantam rooster that is 12. The hen still gives us an egg a day (the high temperatures in the desert will slow her down soon as usual for all our birds), broke her leg (healed but limps) early in spring of this year, never stopped laying. The roo has some cateracts but 'does the job'.

I live in the high desert, have 110 degree summers and winters in the teen temps. Our chickens were not spoiled. I also think the dryness keeps many diseases and pests at bay. We do not have fleas in HD. No molds (no rain), less infections in dry conditions.
Stray dogs are our number one predator.

I have had chickens for over 3 decades and many live over age 10 but only 1 over age 15.

Ducks and geese are very long lived. I know someone whose geese were over 20 years old.