Matilda (chicken)

Matilda (chicken)

Matilda (1990 – February 11, 2006) was a fourteen-ounce hen, and the first chicken to receive the title of World's Oldest Living Chicken from Guinness World Records. She is thought to have been descended from the Red Pyle color variation of the Old English Game breed. She was a pet of Keith and Donna Barton of Bessemer, Alabama, a suburb of Birmingham, Alabama.

Matilda's name was taken from "Waltzing Matilda", an old Australian folk song, and given to her as a result of her penchant for stepping side to side (as if she were waltzing) against the wire panels on the sides of her cage. Unlike most hens, Matilda never produced eggs. Her veterinarians believed Matilda's lack of egg production contributed significantly to her extraordinarily long lifespan of sixteen years.

Another contributing factor to Matilda's longevity was her having lived the majority of her life indoors, inside a large wire cage, where she enjoyed a stable, protected environment year-round.

Read more about Matilda (chicken):  Magic Career, Ambassador of Good Will, Declining Health and Demise

Famous quotes containing the word matilda:

    Waltzing Matilda, Waltzing Matilda,
    Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?
    And he sang as he watched and waited while his billy boiled:
    ‘Who’ll come a-waltzing Matilda with me?’
    Andrew Barton Peterson (1864–1941)