How long will a hen live.How long will she lay eggs?Do roosters live longer than hens? I was thinking about my chicks that will comming in May and those thoughts came into my head and who better to ask than my chiken friends. Thanks
Question for those of you who have had chickens for years
Excited about your new arrivals. I have only had chickens myself a year so I am not one to answer this one. :D But I thought I would say hello and Happy days when they come!!! Jeanmarie
I have 7 year old hens that I got from a colleague who are still laying eggs. They don't lay every day. Hens are most prolific with their egg laying in about their first 1.5 to 2 years. After that, it begins to taper off. I don't mind - I keep them all anyway. They have done their duties and I feel like they deserve a good retirement. :-)
I've heard 5-7 years for hens with the proviso that almost no chicken dies of old age--so they may be able to live longer. I don't think roosters live longer...most intact male animals wear themselves out or take more risks than the females and don't live as long. I think high levels of testosterone are also suspected of having deleterious effects on longevity.
I wonder how long people's roosters do live? I have a sneaking preference for my rooster chicks...but I can't keep them where I live now.
Thank you green for asking this questions, I was wondering too
Hi Green!! Mox and Cat were both right on in my opinion. The average hen will live around 12 years when well cared for. The average Rooster will go about 7. There was an article in Backyard Poultry about a hen that lived fifteen years. As I best recall the owner said she still an egg about every 10 days about three or four years before she croaked. This infor is a littly foggy, I read it I think about three years ago. Haystack
Very interesting stuff everyone! So I can look forward to many years with all my favorite girls. yeah! Claire, its very nice that you have a chicken retirement community. They do indeed deserve to be treated well since they gave us eggs all those years. :D
Personally, I love Mox's attitude and Cat I personally really appreciated what you said on the Nice Roo thread. We need to cut some of the Roo's some slack. I had to laugh at ZZ's about her handsome terrorist Americauna! Only because I could relate. I have a very large Amer Roo also and he is so gentle, with me that is but he terrorizes the girls. I have built him his own pen and he gets two different girls twice a week, four hours a day and then their out of there. Gotta love him. Hay
Haystack... I'm so glad you posted that!
I've been so wishy washy about getting rid of him.. I've gone back and forth so many times.. He won my heart when I went out to put him in a crate to go.. He started doing the "this is food" cluck.. and kept offering me a piece of alfalfa.. He was insistent that I take it.. I cried.. took the alfalfa and called Catscan and said he won't be leaving yet..
I had plans to take him away today.. but again, he is safe. Thanks to you. I will figure out something. He is just too nice to let go, and if that's common for Ameracaunas, it would be a terrible loss to not keep him.
Okay.. it's Official. Plum Stays. So it is written! It's my problem now... I will stop whining about it and give him a condo of his own, with visitation rights.. LOL
Thank you AGAIN Haystack!!!!
This message was edited Mar 31, 2009 1:48 PM
I also wanted to say something about this very very old roo that was a pet in the Mobile Home park when I first moved here.. Everyone tolerated it, because no one really knew who owned it.. it was so old it could barely walk.. it's feet were all crooked with what looked to be arthritis. It was a haggard sight, but lived comfortable with all the handouts from the elderly folks that lived here at that time.. It waddled around the different yards, totally safe. I am sure it died of old age.. it was really old the first time I saw it.. and it lasted for several years after that!
Those were the days..
I hope I get to keep my roos that long..
I had a brahman hen live 12 years.
:o
ZZ's I have got to quite reading your posts and comments. You are begining to turn me to Putty also. I have always prided myself on my masculinity but after I read your heart felt comments, I can hardly walk. Your turning me to mush. I'm changing my handle to GUMBY. LOL
ZZ's read your Roo thread. I'm so glad your you. Haystack
Earlier on this thread, someone wanted to know how long hen's and Roo's live!! I just received my new issue of Back yard Poultry today and there is an article on page 48 about Icelandic chickens and in the first part of the article the lady say she has a Rooster that is ten years of and still going. WOW! just wanted to give anyone who get this Mag, a heads up on that article. Haystack
I have 4 hens that are 7 and still laying a couple eggs a week each and I'm with Cmoxin. The old girls have paid their dues as 4H girls etc...They stay until they die. I ca buy eggs. I have had hens go to 10...
I think roosters live longer because they can run faster :)
Ginger
I saw that article too Haystack, but I didn't read it yet. I thought it would be interesting for me since I also have Icelandic sheep! I could have a whole Icelandic barnyard going on!
Oh, yes!! You could change your name to Hildi.
I think it is just mean to have Icelandics in such a near tropical climate as Iowa... you'll have to move back north before global warming makes them all break out in a heat rash...
{{just kidding}}
LOL Jay
He Mox: Thats interesting, because the lady who wrote the article, started with Icelandic sheep, and found out about Icelandic birds, and because she loved the sheep so much that was what prompted her to start raising the Icelandic birds. I already know thats on your next agenda. You rock mox. Hay
There are Icelandic ponies too.....
Icelandic poppies
Icelandic puppies:
http://www.thebreedsofdogs.com/ICELAND_DOG.htm
http://www.icelandics.org/
Icelandic horse congress... just wanted in.
Icelandic cheese--I expect Moxon to make this for the baby animal shower:
http://www.thenibble.com/REVIEWS/main/cheese/cheese2/whey/2006-07.asp
Ummmmm, yummmmmm =0)
Icelandic hot springs...
http://www.athropolis.com/arctic-facts/fact-hotsprings.htm
We just missed Icelandic Beer Day!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Beer_Day_(Iceland)
Oh yes!!! CHEESE
We will have to mark our calander for next year! :(
OH NOOOOO!!!! We missed beer day....
{{slump}} That's tragic... I love variatals.
The light has gone out of my day... oh, ooops, no, the sun's just not up yet.
Never mind.
=0) Jay
Good grief! I have a busy day and then all of a sudden I have to catch up on a whole wealth of Icelandia. I have the poppies so I'm all set there.
No offense, but I'm not having any horses (not enough room) so they are out. Especially a whole congress of them!
The Icelandic dogs are lovely, and I could probably spin their fur, but they might suffer in the Iowa heat indeed, as would the sheep if we did not shear them.
The Icelandic sweaters are beautiful, and if I can ever knit that well, I will make one from my Icelandic sheep's wool.
The skyr cheese is fascinating. I wonder if I can make some with milk from my Icelandic sheep???
Here's a nifty hand milker that would work nicely with the little bitty teats of the sheep...
http://www.udderlyezllc.com/
And an article about milking sheep, large scale but there's useful info for anyone in it.... Like sheep are milked from the rear.
http://www.countrysidemag.com/issues/89/89-2/J_D_Belanger.ht...
You'd have to find out about and obtain the right culture was used to make the cheese; probably a small jaunt to Iceland would take care of that. =0)
Jay! We already have that milker!! LOL!! We use it on the pygmy goats!
Thanks for the sheep milking article - that's useful! For some reason the link didn't work, I had to go search for it. I want to make sheep's milk cheese anyway (Icelandic or not) so that is good to have! Icelandic sheep are supposed to be good milkers.
I wonder if you can use the skyr (Icelandic cheese) sold at "some regional Whole Foods" as a starter? Everyone should go to their local Whole Foods and look for skyr to send to Claire. Then she would need rennet--unless she already has it. Apparently there are formulas for making it on the Internet.
Moxon, you could become a regional skyr magnate! Especially authentic with Icelandic sheep milk.
I have rennet! I make junket with it (a sort of British milk pudding) and I have some in my cheese making kit. We do not have Whole Foods here. I don't know where the closest one is. I wonder if there is one in Omaha...
I think it needs to be refrigerated though, so don't send that!
Oh, and I have to have a sheep that is lactating....and they are not until they have had their lambs!
Shearer said yesterday we have 3 with twins and 1 with triplets and 1 with a single. He has 30 years in the sheep business so he is good at these things.
Shearing blog here: http://chooksiniowa.blogspot.com/2009/03/shearing-day.html
We have always been very happy with these people.
http://www.cheesemaking.com/
Ginger