Are Hens Loud?

[trictle]

In my experience, absolutely. I have 2 Delawares and 2 Barred Rocks. They are so loud in the morning that they wake me up through closed windows even though the coop is 75 feet away. Egg song is loud regardless of breed from what I can gather but mine just start up this awful squawking/screeching in the mornings or whenever they are bored. Its typically worst in the morning from about 6am-10am. The Delawares are the worst offenders but they've taught the Barred Rocks well.
If you have neighbors close by they will hear them if their windows are open and may hear them if they are closed. Everyone talks about not getting roos because they are loud and the natural presumption that follows is that the hens are quiet. I have found this is a bad assumption. If you live in a neighborhood with, say, 1/4 acre lots like me then noise is a real concern. My threshold of noisy has to be much lower than someone on a bigger lot because of the proximity of other houses. Based on peoples comments, it seems like the Buffs are somewhat more reliably quiet but it appears that luck plays a pretty big role here.
Good luck. I'm thinking of giving away my Delawares to someone with more land before the neighbors revolt.

 

[JustOneMore]

We don't have those breeds but our hens are pretty quiet ... other than the egg song.

They are very chatty with each other all the time with soft clucks and coo-ing. Ours are 20' from the house and they've never awakened me in the morning, even with the windows open.

They will complain loudly if the cat wanders through their yard but other than that, the only noises I hear are the calls from nest boxes telling me they've just completed omlet fixins.

We have EEs, Wyandottes, NH, Sussex, Australorps, and Welsummers.

 

[turbo13]

My Buff Orp.is real quite,unless she can't find her best friend,a Barred rock.then she honks,looking for her.My Barred rock stills peeps like a chick unless she can't find the BO,then she honks. they are 3 months old.The pullett EE is also quite,unless she can't find the roo,also a EE .All the same age.no one is laying yet.However the Barred rock has a very red face,comb,wattles.The roo is showing a lot of intrest in her.too bad its to beat her up.

 

[beachchickie]

My EE are the quiet ones of the bunch. Only one of them actually makes any noise at all. My RIR are the noisy ones

 

[SJensen]

Most of my EE/Polish/Silkie crosses are only noisy when they lay eggs or are begging for food. The loudest hen, however, actually crows! Video link:
http://jensenschickens.blogspot.com/2010/07/crowing-hen.html From what I hear, this is relatively rare.

 

[ChickenEllis]

i think you will find breeds that tend towards the quiet side but you can never count out the personality factor.

i have 9 chickens of 4 different breeds and they are all unique.

 

[NonnasBabies]

Sometimes mine are LOUD and sometime not! I have 44 that are laying so that's from the am till the pm of egg laying songs! I can honestly say that I can't hear them in the hosue. And most times I can barely hear my roos unless their crowning by the back porch. But I have a very well insulated house with double paned windows (not sure if that makes that much of a difference!) but I thought I'd throw out the idea!! To me the noise is just part of owning chickens!!

Missi

ETA: I have breeds that were mentioned as being quite too!!