Quiet/docile Long Term Layers

[JacinLarkwell]

My hens in my mixed flock love to sing an egg song with each other. Little cheaters. But I do think my EE is quieter than my bantams and my cross bred

 

[Kiki]

My Welsummers are my loudest birds.
My Wyndotte ,Easter Eggers and Australorps don't make any noise.

 

[Gallinarium]

A bit late, but...

Really? I don't know how loud most roosters are, but my 12 week old bantam Cochin roos have some serious lungs on them!

Bantam rooster have higher crows that seem much louder, but doesn't carry as far. The larger ones have deeper crows that carry pretty far.

Cream legbar are expensive because they're still a little new, and they're autosexing while staying purebred so they don't have to vent sex them

People claim that sexlinks are unhealthy. I've never had a problem. Granted mine ended up getting picked off by predators, but I had one that lived and laid until 9 before she went down hill.

I got three sex-links in my new batch of fifteen chicks, two blacks and a red. Unfortunately, both the black sex-links, along with a Whiting, died in the first week. I have no idea if that's a breed problem or just random chance, though I'm sad that Black sex-links are now extinct on my property. My Red is still doing great, though.
Definitely avoid Mediterraneans, like Leghorns and Minorcas. NOISY.
Plymouth Rocks and Orpingtons are fairly quiet. I think that Bielefelders would be a great choice for you. Large, fine layers with a long production life, quiet, calm.
My remaining four Whitings are the quietest of the group, barely bawky, especially the Green. They're supposed to be excellent layers, but I can't speak for that or production life, as they're only at thirteen weeks.
Do let us know what you end up getting.

 

[Aunt Angus]

My Welsummers are my loudest birds.
My Wyndotte ,Easter Eggers and Australorps don't make any noise.

I now have an Australorp, and you're right: I have no idea what noises she makes because I haven't heard her utter a sound in the 2 months I've had her.

 

[feather13]

Echoing what many people say about BOs: ours is quiet, sweet and lays an egg a day (she's 5+ years old)

Our Black Sex Link was one of the best birds ever. She had no health problems (and we have Mareks in our flock). We adopted her from friends who couldn't keep chickens and she died when she was at least 7 years old. She wasn't very quiet, but was healthy, at the top of the pecking order, and a superstar layer.

As others have said, we also have an Australorp that's a good layer. She can't stand people and only screams/makes a sound when I pick her up.

Our RIR is very loud, but also a great layer.

Good luck!

 

[feather13]

Oh, and I'd avoid Egyptian Fayoumis. While beautiful and slightly more disease-resistant than other breeds, one of our 7-week-old Fayoumi screams all day. No one is picking on her and she doesn't need anything. She just screams with an irritating, high-pitched whistle ALL DAY. Your HOA would be gathering with pitchforks within a matter of hours LOL

 

[Chicalina]

If you want long laying then look at German Death Layers. They are quite rare, but beautiful, and they lay like crazy.

If you want quieter pets with eggs as a side benefit, then i recommend Seramas. So friendly and petite. Each egg is half the size of a normal medium egg, but lovely poached on toast!

Silkies are also fairly quiet.

I adore Orpingtons but they are a huge bird with disappointingly small eggs for their size. My RIRxLight Sussex (red sex links) were prolific layers of huge brown eggs, but they do die from reproduction related causes, though I had one who lived until she was 11, and she stopped laying at about 9.

If you want 7 good laying hens, will you eat 7 eggs a day? Do you have the space they require? Bantams and seramas in particular can be more numerous in the same space than LF.

 

[BleuSaphir]

Bantams can be a bit quieter because they have smaller voice boxes so they kinda are restrained by their own bodies.

Having Bantam in the past....I think Sebrights are somewhat a quite breed. At least for the hens. Roos are loud in my opinion. But my hen is LOUD when she chant she laid an egg. You can hear her a mile away when she sing that song!

OP might benefit from Easter Eggers. They are not too loud. Some are quite. But op will still face issues of having chickens. I would also cut down to 3-5 chickens than have 7. What if someone in her neighborhood snitch OP out? Than OP would have to face rehoming a lot of chickens!

 

[jbpoole]

Having Bantam in the past....I think Sebrights are somewhat a quite breed. At least for the hens. Roos are loud in my opinion. But my hen is LOUD when she chant she laid an egg. You can hear her a mile away when she sing that song!

OP might benefit from Easter Eggers. They are not too loud. Some are quite. But op will still face issues of having chickens. I would also cut down to 3-5 chickens than have 7. What if someone in her neighborhood snitch OP out? Than OP would have to face rehoming a lot of chickens!

What a coincidence. Just this morning, I discovered Sunnyside Hatchery in WI. They have a version of Easter Egger called Rainbow Eggers. My current thinking is that I will order probably 3 (plus a Barred Rock or 2) in March. Thanks for your suggestions.

 

[springvalley123]

What a coincidence. Just this morning, I discovered Sunnyside Hatchery in WI. They have a version of Easter Egger called Rainbow Eggers. My current thinking is that I will order probably 3 (plus a Barred Rock or 2) in March. Thanks for your suggestions.

They all look like the Czech breeds--the hatchery site showed calico princess, midnight majesty maran, sapphire gem and one other. I have the midnight majesty now but they're young. I had the sapphire gem and they started to lay right at 18 weeks. All these birds should be as quiet as you could hope for in terms of egg song (the sapphire were) and as non-flighty as you can get and still tolerate the heat of summer. They were bred for harsh conditions such as south africa etc. and as extreme as the Ukraine. Best of luck!