When I give talks about strange Alabama history, I always tell the audience I hope to fill their heads totally useless information, such as the fact that the World's Oldest Chicken hailed from Bessemer, Alabama.
Matilda, owned by Keith and Donna Barton of Bessemer, was certified as the World's Oldest Chicken. She died in 2006 at the age of 16. (Wikimedia Commons)
Matilda, a Red Pyle chicken who acted as an assistant for magician Keith Barton, lived to be 16 years old and was certified as the World's Oldest Chicken by Guinness World Records. She was the first chicken to receive that designation.
Matilda has her own Wikipedia page and appeared with her owners, Keith and his wife Donna, on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno Show in 2004. A veterinarian speculated Matilda outlived most hens because she never produced eggs and because she was an indoor chicken.
Matilda died February 11, 2006, and was inducted into the currently inactive Alabama Animal Hall of Fame the same year.
I learned recently Alabama was home to another chicken considered the World's Oldest. His name was Bob Ross, and he lived on the property of folk artist Butch Anthony of Seale.
For many years, Anthony claimed Bob Ross, a blind white-crested Polish show rooster, could tell fortunes. When visitors asked a question, an egg containing a "fortune" suddenly appeared beneath Bob. Apparently, no one ever questioned the fact that the eggs were plastic, or that Bob was male.
Folk artist Butch Anthony and his rooster Bob Ross. Anthony claimed Bob lived to be 20 years old. (Source: Jtfolkart.com)
Bob died in his sleep in 2010 at the age of 20. At the time, Anthony made the claim that Bob was the World's Oldest Chicken, but the title was never certified by Guinness World Records. Bob is buried in the "Woods of Wonder" near the Anthony's drive-through art installation.
I decided to see which chicken currently holds the Guinness World Record title and learned Alabama has lost the crown.
The current oldest living chicken is Muffy, who died in 2011 at age 22, according to the Guinness site. She was a Red Quill Muffed American Game chicken who belonged to Todd McWilliams from Maryland.
Muffy, the World's Oldest Chicken. (Guinness World Records)
So step up, Alabama chicken owners. Maybe we can take back the title.