Based on the name you can tell this type of chicken variety comes or originates from Rhode Island, which is located in Boston, Massachusetts in the late 1890s. The Rhode Island red chicken was bred from other pre-existing chicken breeds and has gained widespread popularity ever since as being one of the most profitable chicken breeds to have in the entire world. However this is only true when the chickens are in their prime. With that being said, you may now wonder what the lifespan of a Rhode Island red chicken is? Or how long this particular chicken breed can live for? Here’s what you need to know about the lifespan of the Rhode Island red chicken.
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The Lifespan of A Rhode Island Red Chicken
The average life expectancy of a Rhode Island red chicken is at least five years but it has been well documented that if the chicken is taken care of properly, that means regularly vaccinating it and giving it nutrient-rich feed, the Rhode Island red chicken can live for as long as eight, to even ten years. If the chicken(s) is kept in a confined room with minimal space for it to graze around, it will likely live for a small amount of time (five years or less.) But if it has maximum space to roam around and be free, basically in a natural habitat, the chicken(s) tends to live longer.
- The Rhode Island red chicken does and did not occur naturally in nature. It was instead bred, which means two other different types of chicken breeds were mated (crossbreeding) to produce the chicken we now know as the Rhode Island red chicken. This bizarre but simple fact also contributes to the considerably short lifespan of the Rhode Island red chicken, although to be frank, it lives a lot longer than most types of chicken breeds.
What Makes The Rhode Island Red Chicken So Special?
From the time the Rhode Island red chicken hatches from the egg, it takes roughly fourteen to fifteen weeks for the chicken to reach its full maturity. This is around the time when the hens of the Rhode Island red variety will start to lay eggs as well. These chickens are some of the best egg producers in the world. With a single Rhode Island red hen laying five to six eggs every week, and two hundred-and-fifty to three hundred eggs in a single year. As mentioned before, the Rhode Island red chicken is not a naturally occurring chicken, it needs to be bred from two other types of chicken, namely a Malay rooster and a Java hen. So a normal or average person wouldn’t be able to breed a standard Rhode Island red chicken, they would certainly need to buy one from a specialist breeder in order to get the best of the Rhode Island red chicken, sometimes including a better lifespan.
Increasing The Lifespan of Your Rhode Island Red Chicken
The typical lifespan of a Rhode Island red chicken is at least five years, but as previously stated this can be increased to eight and even ten years, if the chicken(s) is well taken care of. And you may wonder how to take care of a Rhode Island red chicken in order to optimize its lifespan.
Give The Chicken Some Space
Well, you start by giving the Rhode Island red chicken some space to roam. This can be your backyard or a farm, just make sure the chicken has enough space to move around and explore your grounds. This exposes it to the natural environment and rids it of the stressors of confined spaces (like a fowl run.) Although not limited to confined spaces alone, stressors that affect chickens (in this case the Rhode Island red) can significantly shorten the lifespan of the chicken. But by exposing the chicken(s) to an open environment, you can significantly lessen the chance of stressors and allow the chicken to roam around and even scavenge for itself. Which can lead it to acquiring more healthy food (this includes grain, insects, bugs or seeds that may have been dropped by birds flying over your house) for its biological makeup that you can give it.
Pay Attention To The Chicken’s Health
You should pay attention to the overall health of the Rhode Island red chicken, if it is not as active as it normally is then the chicken(s) is probably unwell and needs some medical attention. In which case, you should enquire the aid of a veterinarian to know which steps to take to help treat the chicken(s.) You would often need to change up the diet of the chickens or add a liquid medicine to the water the chicken(s) consumes in order to treat the chicken(s)
- A quick tip however is to add aloe vera plums (cut into simple cubes) to the water of the Rhode Island red chicken to help treat or prevent most health issues that the chicken may face. The aloe vera acts as a natural medicinal supplement for the chicken.
- A healthy Rhode Island red chicken is one that will live a lot longer (the aforementioned eight to ten years or even more), this is an important note to take down and remember.
Conclusion
Animal life, like most life on the planet, is finite. That means it does not last forever even when we’d like it to. The Rhode Island red chicken is no exception. And it is understandable too, for a chicken that reaches peak maturity in a matter of fifteen to sixteen weeks from the time of hatching the Rhode Island red chicken will probably reach someone’s grill or stove before it gets to eight year or the average life expectancy age which is only five years. If the Rhode Island red chicken is bought for the purpose of egg laying, then you’d want to keep it well fed and healthy to have it going for as many years as possible.
