2 hens crowing. Is there anything I can do to lessen or stop this?

[ldyshrk]

I have two hens that are crowing. One is ~2 and the other is ~1. They lay eggs and are definitely adult females. And what i am talking about is definitely crowing, not loud squawking. they do that too, but that isnt what i am referring to. I live in a city where roosters are not allowed. I am worried we will get complaints and I just feel bad, but I don't want to get rid of them. Eggs are nice but really we have our 7 Banti ladies just to enjoy their presence in our backyard.

Is there anything that can be done to lessen this or stop it?

 

[my sunwolf]

Post some photos of the hens, I would like to see them! Regardless, to have 2 hens that crow in one flock is extremely rare. I have a feeling you're referring to the "roar," a load crow-like sound that hens do that closely resembles a crow.

A lot of residential chicken owners have this trouble--it is the part they don't tell you about keeping chickens. I would provide distractions in the form of food treats: hanging suet treats, hanging cabbage heads, pumpkins to pick apart, stale loafs of bread to pick at, corn to scratch around and peck at. Make sure that they have enough room to roam. My girls seem to quiet down with enough free range space, but will still "roar" in the mornings, and sometimes evenings, just like a rooster.

Other than that, I would start looking into noise/sound barriers, including insulation and dense hedges, to lessen the noise while they're in the coop, run, and yard.

 

[ldyshrk]

One of the hens might be roaring -- it sounds like a funny sounding crow. But the sebright is definitely crowing. I will post a video. They have tons of space and free range most of the day, twice as much as the space you will see in the video -- basically the entire backyard. They have a compost pile, lots of snacks (scratch, grains, etc) and fresh veggie scraps in addition to their feed. I like your other suggestions and will work on the ones that are feasible. The problem will be setting them up in an area that our dogs can't get to. They all live peacefully and the dogs love sneaking the chicken feed, etc -- always an uphill battle.

Here are some photos. The 2 hens that are crowing are the black and white sebright and one of the 2 grey Old English Game hens. I'm not sure which of the two grey Old English Game hens are crowing. So I'm including pics of both. Since their last molt it is tougher to tell them apart. The OEGs are about 2 years old and the sebright is about a year old. Interesting enough, the OEGs never crowed until we added more hens and the sebright started. I'm wondering if it is a dominance thing in the absence of a roo. I am loading a video of the sebright crowing to youtube and will post it when it is done.

 

[ldyshrk]

Here is a link to the video of the sebright crowing. For some reason the order of the video got messed up. I tried to edit it. She should start to crow after 15 to 20 seconds max. Dumb youtube.
http://youtu.be/V20KFhFhK_k