The life of Peanut: Inside the story of the world’s oldest living chicken

Peanut, a 21-year-old chicken, struts across the Darwin family’s farm in Chelsea, Michigan. Peanut was recently verified to be the world’s oldest living chicken. PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARSI DARWIN
Peanut, a 21-year-old chicken, struts across the Darwin family’s farm in Chelsea, Michigan. Peanut was recently verified to be the world’s oldest living chicken. PHOTO PROVIDED BY MARSI DARWIN

LANSING

In the spring of 2002, Marsi Darwin noticed one of her hen’s eggs hadn’t hatched and had gone cold.

As the caretaker of the farm, she knew rotten eggs would attract unwanted animals. So she carried it to the pond to throw it away where it would become food for fish and turtles.

But as she raised her arm to pitch the egg into the water, she thought she heard a chirp – she listened closer, and …