How many years does a chicken live and its life cycle

Beginner farmers often wonder – how many years does a chicken live? Should we wait until the laying hen dies of old age, or is it more profitable to remove her from the herd at a certain age? The lifespan of a bird is affected by various factors: breed, housing conditions, diseases, and others. We will consider these questions later in the article.

In nature, birds can live 13-14 years. On a farm or a poultry factory, this term is much shorter. Domestic and factory birds rarely live to die of natural causes. On the farm, the life expectancy of birds depends on the breed.

Farmers usually do not keep laying hens for more than three years, as feed consumption exceeds egg production with age. Therefore, it becomes unprofitable to keep birds. The only exceptions are birds of valuable breeds that can be kept for breeding. But their lives rarely last longer than five years.

Conditions of detention

Homemade

How long does a chicken live at home? The life span of a pet bird directly depends on the owner’s decision. If a farmer keeps poultry exclusively for the sake of egg production, then a domestic chicken will live no more than three years. A chicken can be kept as a hen for up to 5 years. If the laying hen has become a favorite of the family, then under the right conditions of keeping such a hen will live up to 14 years.

At the poultry factory

In poultry farms, chickens do not live very long. Representatives of meat breeds are fattened with special feed and quickly gain the necessary weight. Already in forty-five days they are ready for slaughter.

Egg stock is most productive in the first year of life. Therefore, after reaching one year of age, birds go under the knife or are sold to private farms.

By type of breed

Broiler

How many years do broiler chickens live? Broiler birds live little. Since the main purpose of breeding broilers is their meat, birds are slaughtered after they reach a certain weight. For the sake of egg production, broiler chickens are rarely kept. There are a number of reasons for this:

• Eggs rarely hatch into viable offspring.
• The productivity of the laying hen is low.
• The broiler egg is large, so it often injures the oviduct of the bird, which leads to disease and death.

When the broiler reaches the reproductive age – approximately 7-8 months, the quality of the meat deteriorates sharply. Therefore, farmers try not to leave broilers for the sake of egg products.

Broilers eat a lot and often. The average daily weight gain is 40-50 grams, so on average, by 2-3 months, the chicken reaches the required weight, and it is put under the knife.

Egg breed

The average life span of a laying hen is 3 years. In the period from 4 months to 3 years, the number of eggs laid in monetary terms exceeds the amount of feed consumed. After three years, the number of eggs decreases by 15-20% annually. Egg breeds can live up to 8 years with proper care.

Meat breed

Meat breeds go to slaughter in 2-3 months. After three months, the birds continue to feed with the same intensity, but weight gain slows down. Meat breeds have weak legs. Due to rapid weight gain, bones can break, which leads to illness and death of the bird. An exception is often made for egg-laying hens. Laying hens can live up to 5 years if they follow the rules of care and maintenance.

Meat and egg

The lifespan of versatile breeds is the same as that of egg-laying birds. As soon as the productivity of laying hens drops, the hen is slaughtered.

Decorative chickens

Ornamental chickens are rightfully considered long-lived among representatives of their species. This is due to the fact that ornamental birds are not raised for meat or eggs, but for their attractive appearance.

Representatives of the decorative breed have a strong immunity and live from 15 to 18 years if the rules of care and maintenance are followed. Since there is constant cross-breeding, the immunity of birds decreases, and they get sick more often. Because of this, life expectancy can be reduced to 5 years.

How long do roosters live?

How many years do chickens and roosters live? A male in natural conditions is able to reach the age of thirteen. In a farm, roosters do not live to the age of 13.

If the male is a meat breed, then his life span is equal to the duration of meat females. The reason for this is active weight gain.

If the rooster is from an egg breed and the purpose of keeping a bird is to breed young, then poultry farmers keep the male exactly as long as his sexual activity lasts. Poultry breeders raise one rooster for ten hens. With the right load, the male is active for 4 years. If the farm is large, then experienced farmers take no more than 6 roosters per 100 hens. With such a load, roosters live no more than three years. The older the male, the tougher his meat.

Life cycle of chickens

To understand how a bird grows and develops, it is necessary to study its life cycle in detail:

• The appearance of a chick. The first week of a bird’s life is very important. During this period, chickens need a certain feed, compliance with the temperature regime. The highest mortality of birds is observed in the first 7 days of life.
• Age from 2 weeks to 4 weeks. During this period, the chickens are transferred to a new room where the air temperature is 5 ℃ lower. They give coarser food. This is a period of active weight gain.
• 4-5 months. For egg breeds, this is the age of full maturation of the reproductive system and the beginning of egg laying. By a year, laying hens will produce the maximum number of eggs per month. After the first year, performance will gradually decrease. It is important to monitor the correct and complete nutrition of birds.
• First mating with a male. Poultry breeders combine females with roosters to fertilize eggs and produce offspring. After mating and laying, purebred hens incubate future offspring for 20-25 days. Hybrids and crosses have lost the brooding instinct. Therefore, an incubator will be needed to breed new livestock.
• Raising chickens. The new mother teaches the chicks to feed themselves, to find food. A purebred hen protects her chicks from all kinds of dangers.
• 3-5 years of life. A drop in productivity to the point that feed consumption exceeds the number of eggs laid. At this age, the bird goes to slaughter.

What affects life expectancy

How many years the chickens will live will depend on the correct care and maintenance. For maximum lifespan, birds should have:

• proper nutrition;
• optimal conditions of maintenance;
• regular examination by a veterinarian;
• timely vaccination.

Proper nutrition

Birds should have a nutritious and balanced diet. Life expectancy and productivity depend on it.

• Livestock should have breakfast immediately after waking up. In the morning, they give a mixture of crushed cereals, boiled potatoes, bran, and shells.
• No later than an hour before bedtime, the birds are fed with cereals.
• It is important not to overfeed birds. Feeding occurs three times a day at equal intervals.
• Be sure to add vitaminized mixtures, mixed feeds to the diet.
• A medium-sized laying hen should consume no more than 130 grams of feed per day. If the chicken eats more than the norm, its productivity drops, it can gain excess weight, which will significantly shorten its lifespan.

Note! The summer diet should be different from the winter diet. In summer, chickens can forage for themselves on a walk. In winter, you will have to diversify the diet of laying hens.

The diet must include:

• pea;
• legumes;
• oat;
• wheat;
• cake;
• juicy vegetables;
• chopped fish and meat leftovers;
• shell, chalk.

In the winter season, experienced farmers advise feeding chickens with germinated grain and yeast supplements of their own preparation.

To germinate the grain, the culture is poured with warm water and left for several days. After the appearance of green shoots, the supplement is ready.

To prepare a yeast supplement, dissolve 30 grams of yeast in one and a half liters of warm water. After the yeast is completely dissolved, a kilogram of crushed grain is poured into the mixture. Leave in a dark place. After 9 hours, the supplement is ready for use.

Conditions of detention

How to properly keep chickens:

• The chicken coop should be spacious. No more than five individuals per square meter.
• The premises must be kept clean.
• The floors are covered with straw or sawdust. Thanks to the litter, the chickens freeze less in winter.
• The birdhouse must be equipped with windows. Good lighting increases productivity. Chickens do not roost in the dark. For the winter period, it is important to equip the room with an artificial light source.
• The air temperature should not fall below 15 ℃ or be above 25 ℃. Sharp changes in the temperature regime negatively affect the health of chickens.
• The coop should be dry and well ventilated. There should be no drafts.
• Organization of the walk. On a walk, the bird independently extracts food with the microelements it needs.
• There should be enough feeders and drinkers for each individual.
• No stress. Chickens are timid, so a sharp noise or other irritating factor can lead to illness and reduced productivity.

Breeders install ash trays in the chicken coop. Chickens, smeared with ash, get rid of external parasites.

Breed

Life expectancy also depends on the breed of chickens. Egg-laying birds can live up to five years, if they have a developed hatching instinct. Universal birds, like egg-laying birds, live a long time. They are slaughtered after a decrease in productivity. In meat birds, the lifespan rarely exceeds one year. The indicators are relative, since a chicken of one or another breed may not reach puberty with improper nutrition, improper care or in the presence of disease.

• Loman Brown is one of the most popular breeds of laying hens. Precocious, hardy and unpretentious birds. The average lifespan is 3 years.
• The gate is a big chicken. Previously, it was considered a meat breed, but recently it has been officially recognized as a decorative breed. They ripen for a very long time. The full formation of the reproductive system ends in the second year of life. Mass is gained very quickly. The average lifespan is 10 years.
• Cobb 500 – broiler chickens bred exclusively for meat. They live for about 2 months.
• Chinese silk chicken is a decorative breed. Feathers, black bones and black meat stand out among the distinguishing features. With proper care and maintenance, they live for about 5 years.

Diseases

Poultry are prone to various diseases.

• Infectious – an infection enters the bird’s body and the chicken becomes ill. The most frequent infectious diseases: tuberculosis, colibacteriosis, Newcastle disease, pasteurellosis, salmonellosis.
• Non-infectious – are not transmitted to all livestock, but have dangerous consequences for a person. Among non-infectious diseases, the most common are cloacitis, vitamin deficiency, goitre atony, gastroenteritis.
• Parasites are internal and external. Very contagious.

What signs indicate that the bird is sick:

• apathy;
• anorexia;
• mucus in the respiratory organs;
• refusal of water;
• bloody inclusions in stools;
• loss of feathers not during the molting period;
• wheezing;
• high temperature;
• hanging goiter;
• lameness;
• scabies.

Note! To prevent the disease of the entire flock, chickens with alarming signs are removed from the herd. Mandatory consultation of a veterinarian.

How many years can you keep a chicken at home?

How long can laying hens live at home? If birds are bred for egg production, then laying hens live for three years. Some are kept for up to five years. After five years of age, poultry meat is hard, practically unfit for food. A chicken, depending on the breed and proper care, can live up to 15 years.

Long-lived record holders

Until 2010, the record holder was a chicken that lived up to 18 years. She was born in Ukraine. The representative of the dwarf breed was named Hannusya. But in 2010, information appeared about a bird from the village of Baoshan (China), which lived to be 22 years old. When calculating the age of a chicken, it turns out that the bird is 400 years old! During its lifetime, the bird laid 5,000 eggs.

Japanese scientists conducted experiments on chickens, wanting to prove that domestic birds are long-lived. The experimental group of birds was deprived of food for a month. The chickens were only allowed to drink water. All birds survived after starvation. Most individuals lived to the age of 18.

How long does a chicken live without a head

The chicken is killed by cutting off the head. But if the head is cut off incorrectly, the bird can live for some time. In 1945, a unique case was recorded – an American farmer cut off the head of his rooster Mike. Blood loss was minimal and the male survived.

The cause, thanks to a happy accident, was a thrombus that blocked the jugular vein. For another 18 months, the bird continued to live without a head. Mike slept on a pole, walked around the yard, tried to clean feathers and peck grains and even crow. Also, a careless farmer fed a pet from a pipette directly through the esophagus. The rooster also died due to an accident – the owner forgot to take out the syringe he used to clean the bird’s throat, and the rooster suffocated.

If accidents are excluded, after cutting off the head, the bird continues to move and flap its wings for 15-30 seconds. During this time, the spinal cord continues to send signals to the chicken’s body. But after 30 seconds, the bird dies from significant blood loss.

As you can see, there are many factors that affect the lifespan of chickens. But we are talking about farm poultry, so there are specific numbers. Meat breeds live a maximum of six months, and egg breeds are profitable to keep for no more than 3 years.