Chickens have a potential lifespan of up to 10 years and, as such, represent a fairly long-term commitment involving great care and dedication. The productivity of eggs diminishes after the first year, while it is still good the second year it then decreases sharply after this period. The productive life of a chicken is normally around four years. There are several people who tend to breed replacements on an annual basis.
Chickens may live for five to 10 years, depending on the breed. In commercial intensive farming, a meat chicken generally lives six weeks before slaughter. A free range or organic meat chicken will usually be slaughtered at about 14 weeks. Hens of special laying breeds may produce as many as 300 eggs a year. After 12 months, the hen's egg-laying ability starts to decline, and commercial laying hens are then slaughtered and used in processed foods, or sold as ‘soup hens’. The world's oldest chicken, a hen, died of heart failure at the age of 16 according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
With male birds, the length of the spur, which you will notice grows out of the leg above the foot, is a good indicator of age. Actual lengths will tend to vary from breed to breed so it is difficult to be specific. Yet in the majority of cases the spur does not start to grow until the bird reaches sexual maturity, which normally takes at least four months. You would normally expect a six month old male to show a spur that is less than one cm long. On more mature birds it can grow up to anything in three to four cm in length.
As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals that are reared, and with a population of more than 24 billion, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird. Humans keep chickens mainly as a source of food, consuming both their meat and their eggs which can be used for anything from roasts to simple fried eggs on toast.
Chickens may live for five to 10 years, depending on the breed. In commercial intensive farming, a meat chicken generally lives six weeks before slaughter. A free range or organic meat chicken will usually be slaughtered at about 14 weeks. Hens of special laying breeds may produce as many as 300 eggs a year. After 12 months, the hen's egg-laying ability starts to decline, and commercial laying hens are then slaughtered and used in processed foods, or sold as ‘soup hens’. The world's oldest chicken, a hen, died of heart failure at the age of 16 according to the Guinness Book of World Records.
With male birds, the length of the spur, which you will notice grows out of the leg above the foot, is a good indicator of age. Actual lengths will tend to vary from breed to breed so it is difficult to be specific. Yet in the majority of cases the spur does not start to grow until the bird reaches sexual maturity, which normally takes at least four months. You would normally expect a six month old male to show a spur that is less than one cm long. On more mature birds it can grow up to anything in three to four cm in length.
As one of the most common and widespread domestic animals that are reared, and with a population of more than 24 billion, there are more chickens in the world than any other species of bird. Humans keep chickens mainly as a source of food, consuming both their meat and their eggs which can be used for anything from roasts to simple fried eggs on toast.
