Chickens can live for six or more years under natural conditions. However those used in intensive farming will commonly be slaughtered before they reach six weeks old. Free-range broilers will usually be slaughtered at 8 weeks old and organic broilers at around 12 weeks old.
Chicken lifespans vary widely, with most hens generally living between 3 and 7 years. However, with ideal care, they may live even longer. If a chicken is kept safe from predators (including dogs) and doesn't have genetic issues, they can certainly live 10 to 12 years old.
Lifespan of a hen
Hens may live in backyard flocks for 6-8 years, and most flocks will produce eggs for 3-4 years. The level of egg production, egg size, and shell quality decrease each year. Most commercial layers are kept for 2-3 years as their egg production decreases after this time.
A factory-farmed chicken lives an average of 42 days.
In the wild, chickens can live for several years.
Most chickens live for 5 to 10 years. However, the oldest chicken ever, Muffy (USA, 1989 - 2012), lived to be 23 years 152 days old!
A dirty coop can cause healthy chickens to stop laying eggs. A few animals are intelligent enough to rebel against their owners when they are left to live in dirty conditions. A dirty environment, however, will cause chickens to stop producing eggs.
If you don't want to process your hens yourself, you can try contacting a local farm or fellow homesteader to see if they are interested in taking them off your hands. Some farms might be interested in retired hens for the compost or bug control.
Hens usually live longer than roosters. There are many reasons for this, many of them overlapping: Roosters are constantly stressed. They have to protect their harem of hens from other invading roosters and keep the predators at bay.
Chickens lay one or sometimes more unfertilized or fertilized eggs a day until they have collected a clutch. If you continually collect eggs daily they will continually lay eggs because their goal is to have a clutch.
The simple answer is, initially, no. Raising chickens for eggs won't really save you money. There's almost no way that you can possibly raise chickens on a small scale as economically as the large commercial farms can.
Hens that are at the end of their laying life are considered a by-product of the egg industry, unlike broilers that are reared for meat and are a valuable food product. If spent hens do go into the human food chain, they are generally used in products such as soups, stock or stews.
Eggs are loaded with protein, and the shells are made up of almost pure calcium. These two things are essential to a chicken's diet and overall good health. If chickens aren't getting enough of either, they may turn to eating their own eggs to compensate.
When your hen's egg-producing days are done, send her off humanely with one last meal. When layer hens no longer lay eggs, chicken keepers can consider culling them from the flock to be used as meat.
You can train your flock to go into the coop at night by using light. At dusk, turn on a little light within the coop. Something as simple as hanging a small battery powered torch from the coop roof should work. As it gets dark in your yard, the hens will be naturally drawn to the light and will return to the coop.
Each time a coop is cleaned, the manure can be thinly spread on a tarp or other impermeable surface to dry in the sun, before adding it to the pile. The drying pile should be protected from precipitation or other water sources, or decomposition (and odors) may occur.
Many roosters can co-exsist peacefully in one pen as long as there are no hens to fight over. Don't separate the boys from each other or they might forget that they know each other and start fighting when they are re-introduced. That would guarantee you would need to re-home one of them.
A rooster may mate from 10 to 30 or more times per day, depending on the availability of hens and competition from other roosters. However, the number of sperm per ejaculate is seldom less than 100 million which is the minimum required to maintain high fertility.
Aggression typically becomes apparent in cockerels when they reach puberty, generally any time after four months old. Sexual maturity ushers in the full load of testosterone, which is a behavior game changer for some.
Chickens have great memories
They can solve puzzles by pecking the pieces with their beaks to let their human helpers know which ones go where. Chickens have also been caught on tape finding treats hidden under cups.
Many chickens love being given affection and one key way you can give it to them is by petting them. However, they usually only allow this type of contact once they get used to you and if you interact with them calmly and gently.
Ameraucanas & Easter Eggers
These breeds lay up to 300 eggs per year, and as a bonus, they're colorful. Ameraucanas lay bright blue eggs, and Easter Eggers can lay blue, green, cream, or even pink eggs. These breeds tend to be more flighty and frantic than other breeds, unless you handle them a lot as chicks.
Try to find a friend nearby who has hens and would be happy to adopt your single chicken. Then you can make regular visits to get her (and the existing flock) used to each other over time. Be prepared for some fighting, and keep an open mind in case this doesn't work and you need to find an alternative solution.