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Chicken
How Long Do Roosters Live?
We all love living with a cockerel around. However, ever wonder for how long will these feathered friends company with you, especially for some breeds like bantam chickens? How long do roosters live?
The length of a male chicken life depends on many factors. If you’re planning to pet a rooster, you need to answer this question beforehand to make sure you know the right way to keep your friends around.
How to know the length of a rooster life span? Check out our article below.
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How long do roosters live?
A rooster can live around 5 to 8 years naturally and others could live their life up to 15 years depending on many factors. The length of cockerel life span could vary based on the quality of care provided by raisers. However, there’s one thing you need to remember: the older rooster grows, the less active they are.
Though it’s kind of rare, an amazing fact is that if roosters are well taken care of, these feathered flocks can possibly live longer than dogs or other domestic animals. For example, free-range chicken can live up to 7 or 10 years in your backyard.
Moreover, a rooster’s lifespan can be changed due to the type of food in their diet. Hence, when the flocks are just fed with layers ration only, the time roosters live might be shortened. As the huge amounts of calcium in the layers feed can affect their health negatively.
Asides from a healthy and balanced diet, to increase longevity, a rooster should be protected from predators and diseases. This could make life more easier and relaxed for chickens and for sure, increase the length of lifespan.
Want to know more about how to lengthen a cockerel’s life expectancy? Read more below for a full guideline!
How long do bantam roosters live?
In natural, bantam roosters usually seem to live a shorter life than other types. Their average lifespan could be around 4 to 6 years depending on the breed. If well-cared, the length of bantam roosters expectancy could raise up to 8 years.
To explain the reason that bantam cockerel always has a shorter life than the normal type, people assume that their small size is the key reason that makes it easier to be affected by weather conditions. How much a chicken weighs matters!
Bantam chicken’s size is really small as most individuals in this poultry type only weigh under 2.5 pounds. It only takes up space for 3 normal chickens to fit for 10 bantam chickens. As growing up in small size and amenable attitudes, bantam chickens are highly recommended a good choice to farmers, especially those who only have a small space for petting.
What factors affect a rooster’s life span?
As mentioned above, a rooster’s longevity depends on many factors. We list out the most common one below for you to take into consideration.
1. Diet and nutrition
Just like any other species, chickens need a balanced diet to grow healthy continuously.
As the base of their feed, farmers need to provide roosters a quality poultry pellet. For the variety in nutrition, providing some more fruits and vegetables is acceptable at a proper frequency. Be sure to check out which one can your chickens eat, such as watermelon and its seed.
2. Housing
How long roosters live could be affected by the way of housing. An ideal coop for chicken housing must be well-secured and clean. In order to maintain good health for your rooster all the way, make sure that you always keep your coop and the foraging areas as clean as possible.
3. Diseases and health conditions
Parasites and illnesses are the two problems that may shorten the lifespan of your roosters if not solved immediately. Also, deformities are another factor to consider. A deformed rooster can’t survive for long due to the abuse from other poultry and attack from predators.
Remember to check out your chicken’s stress level to ensure their health condition. Due to competition, a rooster is easily stressed up while trying to keep their barn and flock safe.
4. Environment
A good environment for roosters to grow up with should protect them against cruel natural conditions such as snow or pollution. Thus, it must have the ability to keep your poultry safe far away from awaiting predators.
5. Treatment
Chickens love to socialize with other poultry and humans even from an early age. Petting and holding roosters can make them less aggressive than they possibly can seek out cuddling time.
How to identify a rooster’s age?
Knowing what age your cockerel is currently at matters a lot to how you can raise them to live longer. A few signals of change in the outlook of a chicken can tell you its age. Come and check it out!
- The legs – As the cockerel grows up to a rooster, his spurs will be much longer and more curly. Their legs will look a bit worn.
- Feathers – As chickens ages, all their feathers don’t need to change all at the same time. That’s why some feathers are faded and others are just amazingly new.
- Comb and face – Missing comb tips and scars on the face are indications for you to know your roosters are old now. Since they age, they could end up fighting with others to leave those marks on comb and face.
If a rooster is on your raising target, one thing you must know is how long roosters live, especially how long bantam roosters live if you aim to go for this special type. The length of their lifespan varies from breeds to breeds and depends on a long list of factors. Make sure you equip yourself with enough knowledge to establish a plan to lengthen your rooster longevity.
Do you have any chickens to call “old man” in your flocks now? Let us know by commenting below.
