Chickens making REALLY weird noises... **UPDATE**

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WhiteMountainsRanch

WhiteMountainsRanch

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So a few days ago my chickens (19 weeks old) started honking like geese. I mean REALLY REALLY loud honks. You can hear them hundreds of yards away... If you couldn't see them you would swear I had geese. They do it in the late morning or afternoon. It's REALLY weird.

They JUST started laying, and we've gotten a couple eggs from them this week... Other than that everything has been the same...
 
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The temperature has been the same here. Nice.
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We have one Delaware, probably about 20 weeks who does that occasionally. Nothing else different about her, and I'm not sure why she does it.
 
Thanks for posting this! I have been wondering since a couple of mine have started doing that too. Really wacky. I have no clue why they're doing it. It seems most frequent in the afternoon, during and just after a dustbath.
 
My two Black Australorps did that when their voice began to change. I kept telling them they sounded ridiculous. They're 14 weeks now and I don't notice it so much anymore. Maybe I just got used to it.
 
So they are still doing this a few times a week... Every time it happens I run out there and try to see why they are doing it. For like 2 weeks I saw nothing... then yesterday morning I run out there and there is a HUGE roadrunner just moseying on by on the outside of the fence... they decided to honk like geese at him! I don't know if that is why they have been doing it EVERY time, but I think it may be some sort of warning or territory thing... they don't seem to do it to the other birds... just the roadrunner....
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I keep trying to convince them they aren't geese, and they keep not believing me...
 
The honking noises are hilarious! My girls do it too. I've read a few explanations for this in various publications and the general consensus links it to egg laying...one theory is that in order to attract attention away from the nest after an egg has been laid (in case of predators), the hen who laid the egg will make a racket with the honking noises. The funny thing is that usually once one starts, the others usually join in. I've also noticed with my girls that sometimes if one of them is on a nest laying, the others will make the honking noise. Celebrating? Jealous? Protective? Hard to know...sometimes it's so loud in the morning that it wakes us all up! A number of times I've shouted down out the window for them to Shhhhh and they clam up...for a while :-) There's a great article in "Backyard Poultry" (June/July 2010) called "Why Does a Hen Cackle" that goes into pretty interesting depth on the topic.

I love the many "talking" sounds my girls make...it really can sound like conversation if you sit and listen for a while.

Have fun with the honking!!
 
My BR honks now and then. She always looks startled when she does it; I don't know if she starts startled and honks because she is startled, or honks and the honk noise startles her, but it's a hoot.

My RIR sometimes sounds like she's laughing maniacally.

Both of these girls are just now at point of lay.
 

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