While chickens aren’t kept as traditional pets, one woman’s bird might be helping her achieve some success as it’s believed to be the oldest in the world. This Michigan woman is now seeking recognition for her pet chicken, named Peanut, from the Guinness World Records.
Marsi Parker Darwin was urged by a friend to apply online to have Peanut recognized as the world’s oldest living chicken at the age of 20. She received a response two weeks later with instructions on how to gather evidence including photos, videos, witness statements and media coverage.
“I’m hoping they’ll give credence to my witnesses like my niece in her thirties who loved Peanut as a teen and a friend who moved to California 18 years ago and loved Peanut and was astonished when he moved back to see her again, among others,” Darwin said.
Darwin has been rescuing chickens since the 1990s and in the early 2000s, a Nankin hen laid a clutch of eggs in her coop after a rendezvous with a Mille Fleurs rooster. When one of the eggs failed to hatch, she was preparing to toss it when she heard a faint chirp.
“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,” Darwin said.
The chick, who ended up being Peanut, was rejected by her mother but found a new home in the process. “I realized I had a house chicken, at least for the time being,” Darwin said.
Ever since that moment, Peanut has been a part of Darwin’s flock and she still spends her winters indoors where she has been known to serve as a “lap chicken.”
Guinness World Records does have a category for the oldest living chicken but the page does not currently identify a record-holder.
Source: https://thesuntimesnews.com/g/chelsea-mi/n/135829/waterloo-hen-going-guinness-record-worlds-oldest