How long does a chicken live at home? How long do roosters live? Varieties of chickens

2024 Author: Howard Calhoun | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 10:16

Chickens are domesticated birds. To date, many breeds of egg and meat have been bred. Birds are bred for the needs of the family and industrial cultivation in order to sell eggs and meat to the population. At the same time, it is important to know the life expectancy of a chicken for more rational housekeeping. What varieties of poultry are there, how to feed them correctly? How many chickens live at home, read the article.

Lifespan

Chickens living in their natural environment are shortened by predators: ferrets, rats and larger forest dwellers. Difficulties also arise with the extraction of fodder, especially in winter. However, life expectancy is a respectable 15 years.

How long does a chicken live? Typically, poultry are kept on the farm for up to four years. After this time, they lose their productivity and are allowed tofor meat. Depending on the direction, their life expectancy is different.

Meat chickens

The lifespan of chickens raised for meat is calculated in months. For these breeds, it is only two months. An exception are hens, which are kept for hatching chickens. Their life expectancy is five years or more.

With age, the meat of chickens of this orientation becomes worse, which is why they are allowed to meat so early. In a household environment, they live up to a year. This is influenced by the fact that natural food is used for feeding.

In poultry farms and farms, chickens are fed with special additives that accelerate their growth. Therefore, at the age of one and a half months, they reach a decent weight, their life ends there.

Egg chickens

Domesticated birds can be found in every household. In the first year of life, their egg production is the highest. The performance index of the hen can be maintained at a high level for a short time with proper feeding. But still, by the third year of life, the chicken begins to lay fewer eggs. Leave the bird in the courtyard or get meat from it, the owner decides. Of course, chickens that have a good incubation instinct are not sent for meat. As a rule, these are excellent mothers, they are left on the farm for a long time as an incubator.

Farms don't need laying hens. The eggs are placed in an incubator to hatch the chicks. How long do laying hens live? When grown at hometheir average lifespan is three years, sometimes four or even five. This is influenced by the fact that the requirements for domestic laying hens are less severe. How long do laying hens live? They live on a poultry farm for a year and a half.

How long do roosters live?

The duration of their life depends on the destination. In order for the livestock to be at the same level or higher, and the productivity of laying hens does not fall, one rooster per ten females is enough. If the conditions for keeping birds are poor, the load on the rooster should be reduced, if good, increased. For a flock of 100 hens, five or six males are enough. How long do roosters live? Their lifespan is determined by sexual activity and averages four years. In a large household or farm, roosters are kept for two to three years. If it is a meat breed - two to three months.

Life cycle

In chickens, it depends on many factors, some of them are listed below:

• The conditions in which chickens are raised: in a household or on a production scale.
• Breed of poultry. Scientists have proven that some chickens live several years longer than their relatives of other breeds.
• Nutrition and content, which is assessed by the level: low, medium, high. The life of chickens can be extended if they are fed properly and kept in conditions that are characterized by a high level.

How do growing conditions affect lifespan?

The most important factor in how long chickens live is where they are kept. Growing birds at home, in the courtyard, the owner is morecarefully and carefully treats their pets than workers on a poultry farm. How long does a chicken live? The lifespan of poultry is twice that of those kept on farms. The following factors have a positive effect on the duration of the existence of chickens:

• If the chicken coop is illuminated, including artificially, for at least 14-16 hours a day.
• Give the chickens a place to run.
• Give birds a spacious environment to live in.
• Equip the house with a sufficient number of drinkers and feeders, place them correctly so that access to water and feed is unhindered.
• Maintain optimal room temperature for chickens (20 oC) and humidity (50-70%).
• Install good ventilation.
• Place tanks with sand and ash in the chicken coop. Bathing in them, chickens get rid of parasites.
• Finish the walls and floor with soundproofing material so that loud sounds from the street do not reach the chickens.

If you follow the rules for raising chickens and provide them with everything they need, life expectancy will increase. How long does a chicken live? On a farm, her optimal life span is three years if her purpose is to lay eggs. In the household - up to nine years. Such a chicken ceases to carry eggs or lays very few. When it is put on meat, it will be tough. But often the owner is sorry to part with his pet.

Feeding chickens

The basis of the dietare cereals, but this is not enough, since the diet of poultry should be varied. If you feed a hen with a balanced diet, her life span will be at least five years, while productivity will decrease by only 15-20%. What is the best food for a chicken? The food should contain vitamins, carbohydrates and minerals. Bird food includes the following foods:

• Beans - soybeans, peas and others.
• Grains - corn, wheat, oats.
• Piece.
• Greens - cabbage leaves, beets, stems, young shoots.
• Sunflower seeds, especially in winter chickens prefer them.
• Shells, limestone pebbles, egg shells, pre-crushed into crumbs.
• Remains of meat, fish or flour from them.

The basis of the nutrition of chickens kept on poultry farms is compound feed. Its composition, of course, is balanced, but not diverse. In the summer, it is very important to allow chickens to move freely. Since they belong to weedy birds, they themselves will find something to eat on a walk in the garden or on the lawn. Therefore, in the summer season, they should be fed once a day. During the winter cold period, the frequency of feeding increases up to two times.

Feed rationing

In order for feeding to be correct, it is important to calculate the food intake of one chicken per day.

• Whole or Crushed Grains - 50g
• Additives from mineral components, s alt - 6 g.
• Meat and bone meal or minced meat - 50 g.
• Juicy food made from raw or boiled vegetables - 70g
• Protein inquantity not more than 20 g.

All food is divided in half and fed to chickens twice: in the morning and in the evening.

The life span of broken brown chickens

This breed of poultry is considered the largest, most popular and unpretentious. Laying hens are characterized by early maturation and endurance. Their maintenance is low cost. The average lifespan is three years, since subsequently they carry few eggs. For a long time, brown chickens belonged to the meat direction due to their large size and rapid increase in body weight.

Broilers

This type of chicken belongs to the meat breed. They are grown for meat related to dietary products. For feeding birds, special combined feeds with a high content of nutrients are used. Chickens move little, so they gain weight very quickly. Their life span is eight weeks. If they are not bred for meat, they live longer, but too much weight puts a lot of pressure on the legs and they will atrophy. Birds often die for this reason.

Chinese silk chickens

It is impossible to confuse this decorative breed with any other. The originality of their appearance is given by a fluffy hairstyle and paws with five fingers that have a clear separation. Chickens have an interesting feature: their bones are black, dark in color and meat with skin. Birds of this breed are bred not for profit, but for beauty. How long does a chicken live? If you provide good care andbalanced diet, can live five years or more.