- Mar 22, 2016
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I'm fairly new to chicken keeping and have ended up with three hens living in a small coop with an attached covered run in my city garden. Due to foxes I have only ever let them out while I'm in the garden, maximum a couple of hours a day in summer, and now in winter no more than an hour a day.
I've had one of the hens for nearly a year and for the past three or four months she has become louder and louder. I've also noticed the other two hens, who are younger, have started making the same noises. Its a long, drawn out bwaak bwaaak bwaaaaaak that gets very loud and the older hen in particular does it many, many times a day. It sounds like she is in distress, its that bad. I believe from the fact that she also paces by the door to the pen that she wants to go out, but I cant let them free range unsupervised. I have tried once or twice staying out with them recently for a bit longer and they still make the noises after they have to go back in.
Its getting to the point where I'm worried I might not be able to keep the hens because they seem so unhappy and I'm worried my neighbours will complain about the constant racket. Has anyone experienced something similar?
The run is about 2m by 2m which is most likely too small but I've tried keeping the two younger hens in the house for a couple of hours and the older hen still complains loudly over and over. I cant extend the pen or coop. Would it be helpful to find a new home for one of the hens so there would only be two and therefore more space? Or do I have to give them all up? Its really upsetting because I'm quite attached to the older hen. I realised that chickens make some noise but i only have three and did not expect them to make this terrible distressing noise all say. The only thing that stops it is shutting them inside the coop, but what the point in that?
If I never let them free range, will they eventually forget it and get used to the run and stop making the noise? This will be difficult because even when i go in to replace food and water, they escape and I have to herd them back in.
I've had one of the hens for nearly a year and for the past three or four months she has become louder and louder. I've also noticed the other two hens, who are younger, have started making the same noises. Its a long, drawn out bwaak bwaaak bwaaaaaak that gets very loud and the older hen in particular does it many, many times a day. It sounds like she is in distress, its that bad. I believe from the fact that she also paces by the door to the pen that she wants to go out, but I cant let them free range unsupervised. I have tried once or twice staying out with them recently for a bit longer and they still make the noises after they have to go back in.
Its getting to the point where I'm worried I might not be able to keep the hens because they seem so unhappy and I'm worried my neighbours will complain about the constant racket. Has anyone experienced something similar?
The run is about 2m by 2m which is most likely too small but I've tried keeping the two younger hens in the house for a couple of hours and the older hen still complains loudly over and over. I cant extend the pen or coop. Would it be helpful to find a new home for one of the hens so there would only be two and therefore more space? Or do I have to give them all up? Its really upsetting because I'm quite attached to the older hen. I realised that chickens make some noise but i only have three and did not expect them to make this terrible distressing noise all say. The only thing that stops it is shutting them inside the coop, but what the point in that?
If I never let them free range, will they eventually forget it and get used to the run and stop making the noise? This will be difficult because even when i go in to replace food and water, they escape and I have to herd them back in.
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