Michigan's Peanut breaks Guinness World Records for being world's oldest chicken

A Michigan woman's pet chicken has been certified as the world's oldest hen by Guinness World Records. The chicken has been awarded the title after the hen's age was disclosed that is at least 20 years and 304 days. "Peanut, a Belgian d'Uccle/Nankin mix belonging to Waterloo resident Marsi Darwin, had her age verified by Dr. Julia Parker, the veterinarian who first saw Peanut as a full-grown adult in 2003," read the statement released by the Guinness World Records. Marsi Darwin, who has been taking care of Peanut, said that the hen has several grandchildren and great-grandchildren living in her coop. 

"I'm sure she has outlived quite a few of her children," Darwin shared with GWR. Further, she added, that Peanut almost didn't survive past her own hatching. "I ended up peeling it out of the egg. As the chirping grew fainter, I feared the chick would not survive. A pitifully wet, wadded-up mess sat in my hand. I wrapped it in a towel and carried it close to my heart as I set up a cage and mounted a heat lamp with one hand," said Darwin, reported The Sun Times News last year. Darwin calls Peanut the doddering old lady although she has always answers to her name and  she "loves to be cuddled".

Michigan's Peanut: World's Oldest Chicken 

As per the GWR press release, before hatching, the hen was left alone by her mother with all her other chicks. Darwin had discovered the cold egg and assumed it to be dead, later she picked it up to throw into her pond. However, as soon as she decided to throw the egg, at that moment she “heard it cheep”.

“I think Peanut had a strong survival instinct to ‘call’ to me,” said Darwin in a GWR press release.

Soon, Peanut instantly bonded with Darwin and started living inside a parrot cage in her dining room for the first two years. However, Peanut joined the rest of Darwin’s flock and eventually moved to an outside coop. Peanut laid her eggs for the first time when she was eight, which is a year or two longer than average. Peanut has several grandchildren and great-grandchildren who have been living in Darwin's coop.