The chicken may be the most widespread bird on planet earth. Thanks to its domestication by humans, it has achieved a worldwide distribution. The chickens that we have in our home today derive from an Asian species that we can still find today in their natural habitat. In this article on our site we will explain where chickens live and how long a chicken lives, reviewing their living conditions and some races, read on!
Where do wild chickens live?
If we have thought about adopting one, we are sure to be interested in knowing where the chickens live in the wild to provide them with the best conditions in our home. To understand it, we will start with the ancestors. Our domestic chickens are variants of the jungle chickens that inhabit Central Asia. One ancestor is the bankiva rooster (Gallus gallus), which lived semi-domesticated in the Indus Valley for at least 5,000 years. In that time, the human being has moved it all over the planet, which probably makes it the most numerous bird on earth. It has been domesticated as a source of meat and eggs.
Currently, this animal lives in the wild in India and Southeast Asia They are birds that inhabit theforest floors , form groups in which the male protects the females until the eggs are laid and they have diurnal habits. The flight of chickens and roosters is very short and they only use it to climb low branches, where they spend the night or take refuge if they sense any danger. Their diet is omnivorous and they search for food continuously during daylight hours. They get food by pecking and digging.
Among their habits, their taste for sand baths stands out, with which they try to eliminate parasites and clean themselves. On the other hand, like all birds, they lay their eggs in nests, which are shallow holes covered with grass. In nature, although premature deaths abound, wild chickens can reach 15 years of life.
Where do chickens live?
We will focus in this section on explaining where domestic chickens live in any part of the world. The truth is that, reviewing the customs and habitat of free-range or wild chickens, we will see that there are few differences. Thus, the chickens that we can have in our home, not those used for the production of meat or eggs, which live on farms, will be installed in chicken coops
Your ideal living conditions should be those that respect your natural tendencies and behaviors. For this reason, home chicken coops should have a closed, sheltered area with some elevated places where the hens can climb. On the other hand, access to safe outdoor terrain allows them to develop basic behaviors such as digging in the dirt, taking dust baths or pecking.
In short, confining a hen in a cage is not the right thing to do, since these animals need space to move freely and carry out their daily habits. Therefore, if we do not have enough space to install a suitable chicken coop, we do not recommend adopting a hen. Now, if we can offer it all the care it needs, we will live with a very calm and affectionate animal, especially if we have had it since it was a chick. In this sense, we recommend reviewing the following article: "How to take care of chicks".
What do chickens eat?
In addition to where the chickens live, we will be interested in knowing what they eat to ensure they receive all the care they need. Like their wild relative, domestic hens are omnivores, meaning their diet includes a large number of foods. In fact, there are few that cannot be offered, such as the avocado, the tomato plant, the leaves of the rhubarb or the skins of the potatoes. On the contrary, they can feed on everything they find outside, from different 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. But they cannot feed only on what they find in their chicken coop, that is why the bulk of the diet must be provided by us. For sale in specialized establishments we can find special preparations for all stages of chicken growth.
Access to soil or gravel is important, not only for the sand baths that they like so much, but also because it allows them to ingest mineral material that is deposited in their gizzard. This organ stores pebbles that help chickens to grind food, as they lack teeth. For more details, don't miss this article: "What do chickens eat".
How long does a chicken live?
We have seen where and how long a hen lives in the wild, now we will see how long a domestic hen lives. These birds will have a different life expectancy depending on the breed to which they belong. On average, we talk about between 5 and 10 years Thus, for example, if we want to know how long a hen of Guinea, specifically the Numida meleagris, which is the most widespread species of these hens, the figure is between 6 and 8 years old
On the other hand, if we ask ourselves how long a Japanese hen or Japanese silky hen lives, there will be practically no difference with respect to 5-10 years, although the bantam varieties , smaller in size, show a decrease in life expectancy, which is between 4 and 8 years
Of course, in order for a hen to enjoy a longer life expectancy, it is necessary to offer it all the care it needs, such as adequate space and good nutrition, as we have seen in the previous sections. In addition, as it is a domestic animal that we have probably adopted since it was a child, it cannot lack affection and regular visits to the veterinarian, who will indicate the vaccines it should receive and deworming. For more details, don't miss the article in which we talk about the hen as a pet.
How long does a rooster live?
The life expectancy of the rooster and the hen is the same, so the average age of the males also ranges from 5-10 years, depending on the race. Likewise, the care offered will also directly influence the years of life of the rooster, so if they have a good quality of life, they can even live up to 12 years! In this sense, it is important to highlight that both the habitat and the food are the same for hens and roosters, that is, there is no distinction between gender.
