HELP! Chickens being noisey

[Leanrz]

I own 7 chickens. One of them keeps clucking loudly ( not crowing) between 430-5am which riles up the others. This is not every morning tho.
They freerange in backyard during the day and have an electric chicken door on a light sensor to let them out of the run in morning into the backyard. I look out a window when she goes off and do not see predators lurking about. It has snowed and I also do not see animal tracks anywhere near the coop.

My flaglot neighbor has migraines and is up all night and doesn't fall asleep until 6amish.....she wrote me a text the other day stating she never gets to sleep in because of my chickens and it's the dam city!
We usually get along.....im at a loss at what to do.....we are going to talk after the holidays.

How do I stop my chickens from being noisey at 5am and in the early morning once its light out? Has anyone expierenced this problem with a hen?
I'm guessing it's the black copper maran whose going off in the wee morning hours. Not 100% sure tho. She is very vocal during the day. I feel i didnt have a 4-5am clucker until I got her.
They all have laid eggs or currently lay eggs, tho I have 1 pullet (99% sure it's a girl). 1 5 yr old Wyandotte, 2 4 yr old standard cochins, 2 2 yr old black copper maran and blue wheaten amaurcana, 1 new egg layer black sex link and the pullet Easter egger.

I've ran out this morning at 2 diff times (430 and 520) and they were all in the run in the dark when the loud clucking occured.
If I got rid of her, would that solve the problem? If I downsized my flock (I have 3 non egg layers freeloading) would this help decrease the noise during the day?
I do not want to get rid of my chickens, i am allowed to have them but I also do not want neighbor wars....
I don't think she's complaining of egg laying song but more of them clucking loudly several minutes at 4am and when they are let into the yard at first morning daylight.

I'm at a loss of what to do about this situation...why is my chicken acting like a rooster when it's clearly a female. How do I make a migraine neighbor happy...
Any suggestions or advice would be greatly appreciated!

 

[chuckachucka]

What do you mean by going off? Do you mean that alert/stress call they make on repeat? If not, the obvious question is how sure are you that your bird isn't actually a rooster? If you are sure you have a female, then getting rid of her will probably not work.

You should try to get to the source of the noise. Is she doing it after laying, or after the other hens are laying? Is she complaining about wanting to be let out of the coop/run? If so do your chickens have enough space? Perhaps there is something worrying your girl, I.e. Predators lurking near the coop, or other birds flying overhead?

If you find out why your hen is making the noise, it will be easier to do something about it. This will probably involve either changes to your coop/run set up or changes to your chicken routine.

One common way to keeping chickens quiet is to keep them on the dark, so you could consider a way to do that during the problem hours

 

[chuckachucka]

My top hen is very demanding and makes a LOT of noise when she wants to be let out to free range in the mornings. It is a real problem in the summer when she wakes up with the sun long before I do, but I found that removing her only made the other hens more noisy in her place.

I'm not willing to get up at 4am to let my chickens out, and prefer to supervise their free ranging because of the local foxes anyway. So that left me with two options.

The first is locking the top hen in a separate part of the coop at night so she can't get out into the run until I let her out later in the morning. The second option, which works like a charm, is letting her raise chicks whenever she goes broody! If she has chicks with her, she is blissfully quiet and she mothers them for three months plus each time, twice a year. Happy chickens equals happy neighbours, I have found.

 

[21hens-incharge]

I agree with cluckachucka. I also think we need more info.

Pics of your coop, how far from property line/complaining neighbor, ages of birds, and pics of birds to help determine gender if still youngish.

Mine will raise heck if I am late getting their doors open.

 

[GC-Raptor]

If she's singing the (I just laid an egg song). I don't know of a way to quiet her. Rehome is my suggestion. Just make sure its her.
I have 5 Golden Comets and only 2 sing,, for up to 5 minutes. The other 3 don't want me to know.. They quietly come out and go about scratching and pecking. GC
Edited to add. I open the coop and turn on the lights 5am every day so I never have a, let me out squawking.

 

[aart]

If I got rid of her, would that solve the problem? If I downsized my flock, I have 3 non egg layers, would this help decrease the noise?

It might...but no guarantees.
You only have 3 birds, and none are not laying?

Romance meets Reality in Chickeneering number 3(or whatever number)...
....Chickens are noisy, and not just the males,
and not just when they lay an egg and 'sing the egg song'.
There may be a predator trying to get in that sets them off.

 

[Leanrz]

What do you mean by going off? Do you mean that alert/stress call they make on repeat? If not, the obvious question is how sure are you that your bird isn't actually a rooster? If you are sure you have a female, then getting rid of her will probably not work.

You should try to get to the source of the noise. Is she doing it after laying, or after the other hens are laying? Is she complaining about wanting to be let out of the coop/run? If so do your chickens have enough space? Perhaps there is something worrying your girl, I.e. Predators lurking near the coop, or other birds flying overhead?

If you find out why your hen is making the noise, it will be easier to do something about it. This will probably involve either changes to your coop/run set up or changes to your chicken routine.

One common way to keeping chickens quiet is to keep them on the dark, so you could consider a way to do that during the problem hours

I edited post to be more clear.
100% no roosters. All have been egg layers or are currently laying. I've had roosters and this is not a crow. More of a series of loud clucks for a minute or 2.
It's in sight of my bedroom window and I do not see predators lurking. It has snowed recently and there are no tracks other then chicken by the run.
They have an electric light sensor door that opens at daylight so they can freerange in backyard.
During the morning once they are let out to free range a couple cluck very loudly...happy to be outside? I don't know. It mever sounds like a distress call at 4am or during the day.
My golden wyndotte and copper maran are the most vocal.

 

[Kenny_]

If she's complaining that she's not being let out early enough, let her out earlier, would be my recommendation.. to quieten her.

If the neighbor can hear her out in the run at that time and she's too loud out in the run, then maybe keep her in the coop until a later time like 7am? I know it might not be the best thing for the chickens, but if the neighbor complains to the city it might become a bigger thorn for you?

Wishing you the best resolution.

 

[Leanrz]

I agree with cluckachucka. I also think we need more info.

Pics of your coop, how far from property line/complaining neighbor, ages of birds, and pics of birds to help determine gender if still youngish.

Mine will raise heck if I am late getting their doors open.

I have 7 birds. 3 stopped laying for along time now. One is almost a 5 yr old golden laced wyndotte, 2 are 4 yr old standard cochins, 2 are 2 yr old black copper maran and a blue Wheaton amaurcana, 1 is a newer egg layer black sex link and the youngest is a pullet Easter egger ( to young to be a crowing but 99% sure she's a girl, I've raised roos from eggs before several breeds and she doesn't display any behavior all 3 roos did, nor shows male features).
3 non layers are wyndotte, a Cochin and amaurcana.
Flaglot neighbors bedroom is a couple hundred feet away. My bedroom is closer to coop as is my other neighbor who never complains to me.
I can post photos in daylight.

 

[Dani4Hedgies]

What could be happening is your lead hen is doing her job and "becoming" the rooster since there isn't one in the flock as this seems to be the normal issue when this happens from what I have read. I have always had roosters in my flock so I can't answer from experience but based on the other posts I have read on here that would be my take on what is happening.