World’s oldest chicken dies at 21

Guinness World Records has announced the death of the world’s oldest chicken, Peanut.

Peanut the chicken died on Christmas Day at her home in Michigan, USA, aged at least 21 years 238 days old.

“Peanut was a close family member, and I’m grieving her loss,” wrote Peanut’s owner, Marsi Darwin, in a blog post announcing her hen’s passing.

“We bonded 21 and a half years ago when I peeled her out of an egg, and although I realize she had a phenomenally long life for a chicken, I’m heartbroken nonetheless.”

After being abandoned by her mother, Peanut spent the first two years of her life inside a parrot cage in Marsi’s dining room, before being moved to an outside coop with the rest of Marsi’s flock.

Peanut hatched multiple nests of eggs during her lifetime, and many of her grandchildren and great-grandchildren currently live in Marsi’s coop.

The owner described the death of Peanut as a great loss while calling her “an incredible little bird.”

“Peanut’s spirit and antics delighted viewers online and in the media. She was an incredible little bird.”

“I could feel her little head resting on my shoulder as she had done for years, and around 5 a.m. her neck relaxed into mine, and I knew she had died peacefully in her sleep, her final gift to me,” Marsi wrote.

“I know brighter days will come in time. But she will be forever missed.”