A hen named Peanut, from Michigan, USA, is now confirmed to be the world’s oldest living chicken, over two decades after surviving a brush with death when she was abandoned by her mother.
Born in the spring of 2002, Peanut is at least 20 years 304 days old as of 1 March 2023.
She is a bantam breed of chicken – a Belgian d’Uccle/Nankin mix to be specific – raised from birth by Marsi Darwin, a retired librarian.
Bantams are smaller than standard-sized chickens, but are otherwise similar in most respects.
Peanut’s age has been verified by her vet, Dr Julia Parker, who first met Peanut in 2003 as a fully-grown adult hen.
Chicken lifespans vary widely, with the average being somewhere around 5-10 years. The oldest chicken ever, Muffy (USA, 1989 – 2012), was a Red Quill Muffed American Game who lived to the age of 23 years 152 days.
Marsi later discovered the cold egg and, assuming it had died, picked it up to throw into her pond.
However, at that moment she “heard it cheep.”
“I think Peanut had a strong survival instinct to ‘call’ to me,” Marsi said.
After being peeled out of her shell, Peanut instantly bonded to Marsi.
Peanut’s mother refused to accept the newborn chick, so for the first two years of her life, Peanut lived inside a parrot cage in Marsi’s dining room.
Peanut laid eggs until she was eight years old, which is a year or two longer than average.
She hatched several nests of eggs during her lifetime, and has several grandchildren and great-grandchildren living in Marsi’s coop.
“I’m sure she has outlived quite a few of her children,” Marsi said.