The World's Oldest Chicken Is Living The Good Life In Michigan

WATERLOO TOWNSHIP, MI — The world’s oldest chicken is living the good life in Michigan.

Peanut the hen has had a big year. She was named the world’s oldest living chicken in March by Guinness World Records and turned 21 later this spring.

The bantam breed chicken enjoys a life of pampering from her owner, retired librarian Marsi Darwin, according to Guinness. Peanut's favorite activities include sunbathing, watching television from Darwin’s lap and spending time with her companion, a one-eyed rooster named Benny, on Darwin’s property in the Waterloo Township area. Peanut also winters indoors, in a cage with her daughter, Millie, age 15.

“Peanut is a doddering old lady now but she has had quite a life,” Darwin told Guinness.

The elderly hen had a rough start, according to Guinness. She was abandoned by her mother when her egg didn’t hatch. Darwin found the egg, heard a cheep coming from inside, peeled the chick out of her shell and raised her in a parrot cage in the dining room.

Chickens typically live 5-10 years, according to Guinness, with the oldest hen ever, Muffy, reaching more than 23 years before her death in 2012.

Peanut laid eggs until she was eight and she now spends her days on the same property as her grandchildren and great-grandchildren, according to Guinness.

Darwin has honored Peanut’s legacy by writing a picture book about her life, titled, “My Girl Peanut and Me: On love and life from the World’s Oldest Chicken.”