About the Animals' lifespan

I wasn't paying attention specifically to the lifespan, but I think I got the chicken in my current save when I started it in Spring and it was taken by Grim at the end of Fall, so about 21 days? I did not give her any 'healthy' treats.

There is a toggle if you don't want the animals to age, although they may still get killed by the fox. If you don't want your chickens to be attacked, they need to be behind a fence with a locked gate. Llamas are also supposed to chase off foxes.

@invisiblgirl, @Isharell
Thanks. Will they still age up if I stop aging all sims in town?

"Jeansoo;c-17991906" wrote:
@invisiblgirl, @Isharell
Thanks. Will they still age up if I stop aging all sims in town?

No, disabling aging for Sims do not affect the animals in CL. It does stop aging of "real" pets (aka pets that take up a household slot).

Just FYI - Some people have reported that the animal aging toggle mentioned by @Isharell is not working:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-SAVES-CoL-Animal-Aging-off-Animals-Still-Dying/td-p/10550660

"EternalSunshine;c-17991966" wrote:

Just FYI - Some people have reported that the animal aging toggle mentioned by @Isharell is not working:

https://answers.ea.com/t5/Bug-Reports/NEEDS-SAVES-CoL-Animal-Aging-off-Animals-Still-Dying/td-p/10550660

Doesn't surprise me. He said cynically, after complaining for a whole weekend about how incredibly buggy Cottage Living is.

@Beardedgeek, @EternalSunshine
Thanks so much. I’m waiting until Black Friday for a good sale. :D

@EternalSunshine Well, darn, I didn't realize the animals were aging. It was working last time I really played for more than a couple of hours. I guess now it's bugged. I hadn't noticed because I've been remodeling and just fiddling with things more than playing for the last couple of weeks. I've been trying not to get attached to any of the animals since I keep the Fox trait enabled; I know they'll get one of my chickens eventually.

I'm a bit confused with their aging, so I can not tell you how this works. I play rotationally and I noticed that some big animals seem to be nearly dead after playing them for only 1 simday - I wonder if they aged while I played other lots. On one farm I had a project running for 4 sim weeks but played also other houses in between, but those cows are mostly not very old yet. Maybe they age faster when not played...? I had aging off for all my sims during these sessions, but I did not toggle anything re animals in particular. I expected their aging to be off if my sims' aging is off, but I obviously was wrong about that. Hoping for some upclearing from Maxis as they start fixing bugs.

"Isharell;c-17992225" wrote:
@EternalSunshine Well, darn, I didn't realize the animals were aging. It was working last time I really played for more than a couple of hours. I guess now it's bugged. I hadn't noticed because I've been remodeling and just fiddling with things more than playing for the last couple of weeks. I've been trying not to get attached to any of the animals since I keep the Fox trait enabled; I know they'll get one of my chickens eventually.

Will the fox kill the evil chicken too?