The world's oldest hen is 15 years old

Usually, dogs or cats are raised as pets in our homes until they reach old age. However, if you were told that a fifteen-year-old, blind hen who loves jazz music is being raised as a family member inside a house, you would surely be surprised.

This amazing hen named 'Gertie', who lives in Portland, Maine, USA, recently entered the Guinness World Records book as the oldest hen in the world. By November 2025, her age was officially confirmed as 15 years and 100 days, and Guinness revealed this remarkable record to the world in April 2026. Gertie broke the previous record held by a hen named 'Pearl' from Texas to claim this title.

Gertie's owner, Frank Turek, received her in July 2010 in a box of eight chicks ordered by mail. Belonging to the bantam breed called Golden Sebright, she was smaller than the other chicks but took leadership of the group from the beginning. According to ornithologist Noah Perlmut, even a chicken completing five years is a huge milestone. To live for more than fifteen years, therefore, is an extremely rare and almost unbelievable special event.

In her youth, Gertie laid sweet-tasting eggs and for a time dominated the flock, crowing like a rooster. However, the twilight of her life was not so beautiful. As summer 2024 approached, her eyesight weakened, and she became blind. Because of this, she was constantly attacked by the younger and stronger chickens in the flock. After a severe attack on Christmas Day that year, Frank brought her inside the house, renovated an old dog crate, and made a safe home for her.

Today, Gertie is not just an ordinary garden hen, but a beloved elder of the family. She lives in her own small, secure enclosure and also enjoys sleeping next to Frank's giant dog named 'Maisie'. When Frank talks or sings to her, she responds with soft sounds. What's even more interesting is her strong preference for listening to fast jazz and bebop music.

An ordinary chick that arrived home in a mailbox did not live long enough to set a world record merely by luck. It tells a wonderful lesson about how astonishingly long life can be when even a blind, helpless animal receives proper love and care.