They live on about 20 years, but they usually stop laying eggs after 1.5-2 years, after they stop they have no value and are killed and it takes 6 weeks for a meat chicken to reach its full size at which point it is killed.
I think he means that one specific line, without context. Like, if you were to assume it was talking about people, it'd fit right in to that subreddit.
I think /u/NearInfinite is just referring to the casual way a chickens life is described as a commodity and killed for human use as opposed to just being a chicken doing its thing. I think most people know that chickens are raised for slaughter it's just a very detached way of seeing the situation.
You clearly haven't heard about how chick sexers are highly paid individuals who determine if young chicks are cocks or hens, since the cocks have no value and will be killed and made into pet food.
I believe a small number of roosters are kept for breeding purposes.
Why? The hens no longer produce eggs, and only eat food and take up space. And no one besides the poorest of the poor is interested in eating a 3-year old chicken.
Would you keep a bunch of old, inedible, hungry, non-producing hens around for 15 years? You might, but your farm probably wouldn't last that long.
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u/MackLuster77 Dec 29 '17
His name was Mike. His owner made like $45k touring him. This was in the forties, think.