Bessemer lays claim to world’s oldest chicken

Matilda, a [14-year-old] bantam hen in Bessemer who has been a prop in the magic act of “Mort the Mystifying and Donna” for years, recently was designated as the World’s Oldest Living Chicken. She has a letter and a certificate from Guinness World Records to prove it.

[Donna] Barton noted also that Matilda receives the best of care and is petted and pampered and even tucked in at night.

“Most chickens live outside and put up with the cold, wind,’coons,’possums. … I don’t know if that chicken ever hits dirt,” she said.