Is it true that crossbred chickens have shorter lifespans? I recall reading a chicken page claiming that when talking about golden sex links and amberlinks having shorter lifespans. Is there any truth to that? Or is there something specific to certain crosses rather than any chicken cross, because I’d assume the former since the latter doesn’t make a lot of sense.
Typically yes those laying hybrids will have a significantly shorter lifespan then other chickens breeds due to reproductive related illness. They are a hatchery bird bred from parent lines who are selected for high egg production above anything else. Certain strains of red sexlinks can out produce every other chicken breed including production leghorns. Think about what it means to out produce a chicken breed who lays daily unless they are molting 😬
Now if your the average chicken owner and you have your own flock of Rhode Island Reds, new Hampshire, ect and you crossed them with your own barred rock, leghorn, ect those chickens would look pretty much the same as the birds mentioned above but they likely wouldn't lay themselves to death unless you selected the parent stock to do that as well. Mixing chicken breeds brings many benefits like being able to sex the chicks at hatch depending on the genes involved, faster growth,faster sexual maturity (egg laying), and more hardiness. If you mix two high production breeds with each other the chicks do tend to produce more then the parents.
To hatcheries chickens are just product that that they sell to you and the chicken industry. They want to sell as many chicks as possible so their chickens need to lay as much as possible. They also want the birds they produce to lay an obscene amount of eggs so people keep buying them even if their lifespan is significantly shorter then a heritage breed or a well bred bird. I have seen my friends breed their own red sex links and they are your typical every day chicken, they don't lay daily but can lay for a long time and have a typical lifespan. It's really the hatcheries selection for extreme egg production.
Hatcheries are like the chicken version of puppy mills
