Are chickens noisy?

[seagirl]

also if you go to a farm store to buy chicks they can certainly help out in choosing a quieter breed of hen, we have 28 hens and they are pretty quiet unless something scares them, a few of my roosters are pretty noisy especially at 4am when he thinks the world should be awake! haha we love him anyway!

 

[topdycke]

I have 6 chickens.  When they sing their egg song in the morning, they can get rather loud.  They're not louder than wild birds can be, though.  Their singing is usually pretty short lived.  99% of the time, they're almost silent.

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[Gary Pey]

All hens can be noisy for short periods of time, especially at the crack of dawn. Mostly they are quiet and don't make a peep at night. Remind your neighbors that keeping a flock of chihuahuas is totally legal and a lot more noisier. Combined with some occasional eggs, most neighbors are not bothered by chickens and my neighbors always ask how they are doing. They tell me they enjoy hearing the birds. The early morning and late night barking of my neighbor's dogs is another story.

 

[Victoria215]

We own 3 hen:. 1 Barred Rock, 1 Easter Egger, and 1 Buff Orpington. When someone is either in the nesting box to lay an egg or has exited the nesting box because she laid an egg, the girls go into this bawking frenzy. It can get pretty noisy at the time, but the rest of the day, they are quiet, perfect little girls.

 

[JJSS89]

I would suggest a flock of little bantams like cochins or game chickens. They tend to be a little "sneakier" and the rooster crows aren't like a booming siren like when a Rhode Island Red, Barred Rock, Orpington, Welsummer, Australorp etc start going off.

 

[ShockValue]

My girls are typically quiet unless I'm outside doing something near their coop. Then they "wahgle wahgle wahgle" and "wahkka wahkka wahkka" up a storm trying to talk to me.

The only time mine sound like stereo-typical chickens is when they lay an egg. Otherwise they sound like a drowning Fozzie bear.

 

[farmlady1]

It is always good to check to see if others in the neighborhood has chickens. If they do ask if they have had any complaints from neighbors. Then if you decide to get chickens speak with your neighbors and let them know that you will be getting chickens and that sometimes they might be a bit noisy, although the noise is usually short-lived. You wouldn't want to get chickens and have your neighbors complain all the time. Good Luck.

 

[marktoo]

Hens are far quieter than the neighbor's constantly barking dog, which barks at all hours, to which the owner seems oblivious to. Are chicken legal? Then get some chickens! Are chickens illegal? Do your homework, get some dirt on the neighbors, pictures, video, etc. Then get some chickens! Should the neighbors come to complain, show them the pictures. Should the cops come first, show them the pictures. I am kidding of course but we all must be a little tolerant of the trespasses of others & cannot be held hostage by some unreasonable neighbor's whims. There are HOA for those that wish to live like that!

 

[Bob G]

Rather than answering this with a subjective answer, I went to Bing.com and looked up how loud roosters, chickens and dogs are as measured in decibels. It took a lot of references to find this, so I'm not listing them all, but here is what I found:

The average chicken - 60dbs
The average rooster crowing 100dbs
The loudest rooster recorded 113dbs+
A very large dog barking 100dbs

So, the original question mentioned 200 to 300 feet between neighbors. In my county, Escambia County, Florida, the chicken reg says one may not have a roo unless they are at least 150' from the nearest neighbor. According to our county regs, you would be in compliance, but you would need to check the regs in your own county to be sure.

The comments about a fence are pertinent, too. I have a six foot privacy fence between my property and my neighbor (who also has chickens.) Neither of us complains about the other's roos because they all crow all day. We just try to get along, even though we both know there is not 150' of separation between us. The neighbors on another side are family and they won't say anything to anyone, and the other neighbors are always indoors and don't hear the chickens, anyway.

We all also live within one mile of a NASCAR track, none of us are bothered by the noise emanating from there, and we are three-quarters of a mile from a high school football/baseball field. Since the racetrack brings about a million dollars/year into the community, and the school is an "attractive nuisance," nothing will ever be done about either of them.

So it's all relative.

 

[bren0990]

So I have my answer, after two weeks of chicken ownership, no they are not noisy! I have 2 Lohman Brown hens and they only make some noise when they are excited to see me coming.