13 Orpingtons - 1 Screamer

[jazzpurr]

I have 12 of the nicest Orpingtons on the planet. They are about
22 weeks old.
But Number 13 is completely obnoxious..almost never shuts up
and screams bloody murder.

I watch her on my chicken-cam and she just walks around and yells.
Pick this..dig that..then screeeeeem

No..it's not a rooster.

Is this the queen of the pack and feels the need to semi-crow? If I give her
to the neighbor, will another one just replace her as the screamer?

She really is incredible. I would enjoy a rooster crowing compared to this
constant screeching.

She appears perfectly healthy.

Anyone else have this experience?

TIA

 

[speckledhen]

Oh, yeah. My RIR, Reba, can scream and holler with the best of them. My Orps are very quiet, both Buffs and Blues, except for Velvet and Sunny. They tune up and there's no shutting them up unless you throw food.

 

[Katy]

One of my welsummer hens is that way. She walks around hollering all day.

 

[greenmulberry]

Yes, I had a speckled sussex hen that would just walk around and scream.

It got so bad her name became "screaming chicken."

She got worse and worse, screaming all day. I could let her out to free range, and it didn't help, still screamed her head off.

This wasn't egg clucking, it was full on yelling for no reason that I could see.

One morning, when I had a fairly bad hangover from a July 4th party, she started screaming at 6:30 am, and kept it up until 10am. At that time, I caught her, put her in a cage, and called my friend/coworker who has a huge flock of layers, and her hen house is not right outside her bedroom window like mine is.

Her little boy was delighted to get a new chicken with pretty speckles. And I get to sleep in on the weekend.

 

[jazzpurr]

Thanks Laura, et al.

Shes Okay when shes out. Free ranging is quiet time and they
all coo and scratch.

What I really wanted to know was did someone replace her as the
screamer? I thought maybe it was a queen-of-the-flock thing
and if she was gone one of the others would fill that roll.

Thanks again...

 

[mom'sfolly]

I think some hens are just plain old noisy. My head girls are the RIRs, but I have one EE who is just loud. There are days I do go and tell her to be quiet. She can set up a racket and kepp it going for ages. She is the most flighty of my birds, but she quiets down when I am out there. Probably on the look out for treats.