What is the life expectancy of a chicken?

Word on the internet is that poultry lifespan can range somewhere between 7 – 12 years. Some poultry breeds have life expectancy of up to 20 years.

Poultry lifespan by breed

Here is a quick list of some poultry breeds and their respective life expectancies:

Poultry breed	Life expectancy
Rhode Island Red	5 – 8 years
Golden comet	10 – 15 years
Wyandotte	6 – 12 years
Orpington*	5 – 20 years
Plymouth Rocks*	10 – 12 years
Jersey Giants	6 years
Roosters	5 – 8 years
Silkie	7 – 9 years
Leghorn	4 – 6 years
Wyandotte	6 – 12 years
Isa Brown	2 – 3 years
Australorp	6 – 10 years
Cochin	8 – 10 years
Easter egger	8 – 10 years

Here are some of the sources used to put together the table above. Kukufarm does not guarantee the accuracy of this information. Actually, even though we are taking their word for it, we would love to see some data. Breeds marked with an asterix have mismatching lifespans from different sources.

• Treehugger
• Chickens & More
• Know your chicken

Factors that determine poultry lifespan

The lifespan of a chicken is determined by several factors with two being fundamental: breed, and biosecurity.

Breed

Nowadays, few chicken get to live out their full lifespans mostly because chicken are reared for food products. Single purpose hybrid breeds have an even shorter lifespan. On the other hand, heritage or indigenous breeds that breed naturally, tend to live longer, generally.

Commercial hybrid broiler chicken live between 4 – 8 weeks before they are harvested. Commercial hybrid layers chicken can live 2 -3 years. Differences may apply.

Biosecurity factors

In a nutshell, biosecurity refers to any and all active measures taken to prevent from disease, pests, parasites and even predation. Biosecurity measures can include vaccinations, proper and safe housing, clean and sanitary conditions, quality feeding and hydration, access to bathing material, free movement and so on.

In general, poultry flocks, especially hybrid ones tend to be highly sensitive to their living conditions and require utmost care to ensure good health.

Poultry lifespan versus productivity

Living longer, or to full life expectancy does not necessarily mean that poultry birds maintain their productivity.

Hens, for instance, are known to reach peak egg production within two years of starting egg production. This means that their egg production rates starts to drop thereafter.

Broiler breeds, especially hybrid ones that are meant to be harvested within a few months of life may start to lose body mass the longer they live. Additionally, they may be become less active, in comparison to their younger selves, and in general have a shorter lifespan of months if not weeks.

In general hybrid breeds especially single purpose breeds meant to live a few months or years will not outlive their heritage breed counterparts. However, their productivity will decline with age.

Show us the data

In spite of the claims that chicken can live beyond 3 years to somewhere in the range of 7 to 12 years, we are yet to see actual data.

Matilda is known as the world’s oldest chicken. She lived to the age of 16 years.

Chickens & More

It would be interesting however, if someone could actually keep a record of this and provide some evidence. Otherwise, it becomes hard to differentiate speculation from fact.

There are a number of apps through which one can track a bird’s or flock’s age. With Kukufarm, poultry farmers can log and track other flock’s mortality rate, egg production, and expenses and sales data.

If you have data on poultry lifespan we would love to hear from you. It would even be more interesting if such data can also show how productivity increases and decreases as respective birds age.

Key takeaways

• Chicken life expectancy can be determined by a number of factors including its breed and biosecurity
• Native breeds will generally outlive their hybrid counterparts
• The ideal breed, in ideal conditions can live between 7 – 12 years.
• There is a need for data to support this claim