Chicken is perhaps the most common bird on planet Earth. Thanks to his domestication for man, he has reached a worldwide distribution. The chickens we have in our homes today come from an Asian species that we can still find today in their natural habitat. In this peritoAnimal article, we’ll explain where chickens live and how long a hen lives, talking about their living conditions and certain breeds, read on!
If you’ve ever thought about adopting one, you’re definitely worried about where hens live in the wild, so you can provide them with the best conditions in your home. To understand this, let’s start by talking about your ancestors. Our domestic chickens come from wild chickens that live in Central Asia. An ancestor is the bankiva rooster (Gallus gallus), which lived in the Indo Valley in a semi-domesticated state for at least 5000 years. At the time, humans prevailed across the planet, making it probably the largest bird on Earth. It was domesticated to provide meat and eggs.
- Currently.
- This animal lives in its natural state in India and Southeast Asia.
- They are birds that inhabit forest soils.
- Form groups in which the male protects females from egg laying and has daytime habits.
- The flight of hens and roosters is very short and they use it only to climb low branches.
- Where they spend the night or take refuge when they perceive a danger.
- Their diet is omnivorous and they seek food all the time during the day.
- They get their food pecking and digging.
Among its habits stands out the taste of the sand baths, with which they seek to eliminate parasites and cleanse. On the other hand, like all birds, hens lay their eggs in nests, which are shallow holes covered in grass. In the wild, although premature deaths are abundant, wild chickens can reach up to 15 years of life.
In this section, we will focus on explaining where domestic chickens live around the world. The truth is that when observing the customs and habitat of the hens or wild, we will see that there are few differences. Thus, the chickens that we can have in our house, and not those used for the production of meat or eggs, which live on farms, are usually installed in chicken coops.
Their ideal living conditions should be those that respect their natural tendencies and behaviors. Therefore, it is desirable that domestic henhouses have a closed and covered area with elevated areas in which hens can climb. On the other hand, access to a safe outdoor area allows them to develop basic behaviors, such as digging the ground, taking sand baths or pecking.
In short, enclosing a chicken in a cage is not correct, because these animals need space to move freely and perform their daily habits. Therefore, if you do not have enough space to prepare a suitable chicken coop, we advise 2 not to adopt a chicken. Now, if you can give him all the care he needs, you will have a very quiet and affectionate animal, especially if you have had it since he was a puppy.
In addition to where the hens live, we want to know what they eat to make sure they get all the care they need. Like its wild relative, domestic chickens are omnivorous, meaning their diet includes a lot of food. In fact, there are few foods you can’t eat, such as avocado, tomato, rhubarb leaves, or potato skin. Otherwise, they can feed on everything they find outdoors, from various plants, including nettles, to all kinds of insects, lizards and even small rodents. Of course, cereals, seeds, vegetables and fruits are also part of your diet. However, they cannot eat only what they find in the chicken coop, so most of their diet should be provided by you. Special preparations can be found for sale in specialty stores for all stages of chicken growth.
Access to land or gravel is important, not only because of the sand baths they love so much, but also because it allows them to ingest the mineral materials that are stored in their gizzards. This organ stores stones that help chickens crush food because they don’t have teeth.
We’ve seen where and how long a chicken lives in freedom, and now we’ll see how long a domestic chicken lives. These birds will have a different life expectancy depending on the breed to which they belong. On average, between 5 and 10 years. So, for example, if we want to know how long a graffiti lives, especially Numida meleagris, which is the most common species of these hens, the number is between 6 and 8 years.
On the other hand, if you’re wondering how long a Japanese chicken or silky chicken lives in Japan, there’s virtually no difference between 5 and 10 years, although the smaller Bantam varieties have a reduced life expectancy, which is between 4 and 8 years. Years.
However, in order for a chicken to have a higher life expectancy, it is necessary to provide it with all the necessary care, the right space and a good diet, as we have seen in previous sections. In addition, being a pet that we have probably adopted since childhood, affection and regular visits to the veterinarian, who will tell you which vaccines the chicken should receive and its deworming schedule, can not be lacking.
For more information about chickens, see our article on why chicken doesn’t fly.
For those looking to know how long a rooster lives, the truth is that the life expectancy of the rooster and chicken is the same, so the average age of males also varies between 5 and 10 years, depending on the breed. Similarly, the care offered also directly influences the years of the rooster’s life, so if he has a good quality of life, he can live to age 12! In this sense, it is important to note that habitat and food are the same for chickens and roosters, i.e. there is no distinction between the sexes.
If you’ve adopted a chicken and still don’t know what name, check out many chicken name options in this Animal Expert article.
If you would like to read articles similar to, we recommend that you visit our Basic Care section.