From her makeshift crate in the living room, Gertie perks up whenever she hears bebop jazz and responds when her name is called.

Her owner, Frank Turek, 63, moved her inside his Grant Street home a couple years ago when the other chickens in his backyard coop began ganging up on her. The special attention — and perhaps the near-constant music — has earned the bird distinction.

Gertie is now the oldest living chicken in the world, according to Guinness World Records. She turns 16 in July.

As a Golden Sebright, a British ornamental breed, Gertie has distinctive gold-and-black plumage. She’s also what’s known as a bantam, a miniature bird that produces smaller eggs. Turek said Gertie laid eggs for about seven or eight years, and he remembers them being rich and flavorful. Since then, she’s settled in as a house pet alongside two cats and a Great Dane. (Don’t worry, they leave her alone).

When the city passed an ordinance in 2009 allowing homeowners to have chickens, Turek said he and his wife quickly took advantage after moving to their Grant Street home. Gertie was among their original flock ordered in 2010.

“She’s lived on through all of them,” he said. “And she’s always been the most photogenic. I’m always taking pictures of her.”

Noah Perlut, an ornithologist at the University of New England, said Gertie’s longevity both in age and egg-laying years is “absolutely extraordinary.”

Much of Perlut’s research has focused on bird survival and longevity, and he, too, has kept backyard chickens for about 10 years. He said a lifespan of a couple years is standard and considers a chicken “really old” after about five years.

Birds with longer lifespans, like bald eagles, delay reproduction and don’t begin nesting until they’re around five, he said. Backyard chickens like Gertie, however, begin laying eggs at the earliest age possible. Perlut said it’s “astonishing” to think about the weight in eggs Gertie laid relative to how much she weighs.

“It goes beyond the care the bird has received,” he said. “There’s so many backyard chickens that are pampered. There’s some of that, there’s some luck and then it has really great genes.”

Turek didn’t seek out Guinness recognition. This past fall, he posted a photo of Gertie on a Facebook page for chicken owners and someone asked about her age. A commenter quickly pointed out that the Guinness world record was held by a chicken younger than Gertie.

Guinness says Gertie’s record was active as of Nov. 7, 2025, surpassing the previous record holder by over one year. Given the volume of records that Guinness is asked to verify, Turek said he spent months submitting information about Gertie and waiting for responses from the London-based organization. He received official word earlier this month.

Luckily, Turek had saved the original emails from when Gertie was purchased and provided documentation on when she hatched. He was also asked to submit a statement from a veterinarian that Gertie was indeed alive and well.

When asked to guess the reasons for Gertie’s longevity, Turek said a lack of predators, a good diet, and maybe all that jazz.

Turek works as an artist and builds high-end audio products for Transparent Audio in Saco. He’s also a jazz saxophonist and there’s usually music playing in his house.

“She’s pretty alert,” he said. “Sometimes I’ll be singing something random and she’ll look up and respond, and if you say her name she’ll call back with a ‘pup-pup-pup.'”

It hasn’t all been smooth sailing, though.

On Christmas Day 2024, Turek heard a loud squawking outside and found Gertie with her head badly bleeding. He believes when she began losing her sight, the other chickens saw her as vulnerable and began attacking. That’s when he moved her inside.

He took a dog crate, laced it with chicken wire, and added wood shavings, a perch, feeders and water. When he does bring her outside, she’s kept in a separate pen.

Turek posted about the Guinness record on social media earlier this month — along with a video of him informing Gertie of the news. It was met with jubilation and light-hearted jokes. Someone suggested making Gertie T-shirts.

“This calls for some kind of party,” one commenter said. “I can’t believe I live in the same state as the world’s oldest chicken!”