Australia - Six states..and that funny little island.

[User395221]

She is also very loud in the egg song department.

Do other breeds do the "egg song" or is it an australorp "thing". My isa browns make some noise in the morning, but I'm not sure whether they are announcing eggs, or just letting me know they want out of their pen and out and about.

 

[Fizzybelle]

My australorp honks. She is also very loud in the egg song department. Hoping the other two are quieter when they start!

YES! My Ada (an Australorp cross) is normally pretty quiet, except when she's laid an egg and sings her egg song. Unfortunately that happens to be between six and seven in the morning. My neighbor thought I had a rooster, and I had to explain that no I don't, just a hen who's very proud of her accomplishment.

My poor little Agnes I noticed late this afternoon has a swollen cheek and eye on one side of her face. Didn't notice any runny nose or rattled breathing so far so that's good. I'll be booking her into the vet first thing tomorrow, that's for sure. No visible sign of trauma, maybe a reaction to something, or a bite? Poor baby girl, had to separate her from her friends which is no fun, so she's sleeping in the pet carrier that I had cleaned out for the D'uccle I got on Saturday, Beatrice, who is now sleeping in a toybox in my bedroom. Bit crazy atm, but the main thing is to get Aggie on the mend, and to spend some time bonding with Bea so she settles in and gets used to me

 

[Anniebee]

Do other breeds do the "egg song" or is it an australorp "thing". My isa browns make some noise in the morning, but I'm not sure whether they are announcing eggs, or just letting me know they want out of their pen and out and about.

I honestly think it is individual choice - chicken by chicken.

Some announce - others don't. Have heard huge ruckus from other peoples' hens, but not so much mine. Mindy Araucana - ( the one who crows and shrieks ) .... can lay an egg, be silent for a couple of hours, and then light forth with these incredible sounds she makes - which may or may not be her version of the egg song ???? I will never know.

@ appps .... My Molly RIR .... also honks - quietly as though she has a bass voice box. And she never announces eggs. Mandy Welsummer used to announce loudly with an 'egg song' her lay - but since she has apparently decided enough is enough .... all she does is growl. Not aggressively - just growls and grumbles to herself all day.

My two big girls never make a sound - in order to get let out of their pen. Instead, they try tearing down the bird wire netting that is on their coop door. Jump, scrape, scratch. But only when I or someone else is in the back garden. Be it 7 am or 11 am ....no matter - same thing. Mindy just patiently waits for her coop door to be opened ( unless she is laying - then she just sits and ignores open doors etc.).

........

 

[appps]

YES! My Ada (an Australorp cross) is normally pretty quiet, except when she's laid an egg and sings her egg song. Unfortunately that happens to be between six and seven in the morning. My neighbor thought I had a rooster, and I had to explain that no I don't, just a hen who's very proud of her accomplishment.

My poor little Agnes I noticed late this afternoon has a swollen cheek and eye on one side of her face. Didn't notice any runny nose or rattled breathing so far so that's good. I'll be booking her into the vet first thing tomorrow, that's for sure. No visible sign of trauma, maybe a reaction to something, or a bite? Poor baby girl, had to separate her from her friends which is no fun, so she's sleeping in the pet carrier that I had cleaned out for the D'uccle I got on Saturday, Beatrice, who is now sleeping in a toybox in my bedroom. Bit crazy atm, but the main thing is to get Aggie on the mend, and to spend some time bonding with Bea so she settles in and gets used to me

Oh dear, that is not good. If it's in her respitory/sinus area by the time the face swells it's really serious. Had one that I thought had lost an eye because it's face was so swollen on one side it appeared sunken. When the vet saw her she said she wasn't savable. She did an autopsy on her and said she was amazed she was still breathing as everything was so full of mucus it must have been almost impossible for her. Yet the breathing wasn't what I noticed, though she was mouth breathing.

Luckily ours wasn't contagious as none of the others caught it. Hope you get some answers from your vet and it's not respitory.

 

[Teila]

Good morning Friends

Well, this morning when I fed them, KiKi was having a dust bath and not the slightest bit interested in what I was doing in the coop. Blondie, however, was in the coop and while she was not jumping up and down all desperate to get to a nest box, she was sniffing around and I do believe would have jumped into one as soon as the covers came off.

Then, I had a thought, which is a wonder at that time of the morning and before coffee .. ‘why do I need to take the covers off?’

Cilla is still not laying after her bout with broodiness.
Dusty and LuLu are not laying because they are moulting.
Blondie and KiKi are definitely not laying due to only recently being broken and one of them maybe not quite yet.

That leaves Crystal. Who laid yesterday and if she wants to lay today, will let me know.

We have had 1 egg from 6 chickens in 3 days. So, the covers are still on and any temptation therefore, thwarted

potato chip my smallest hen, Cilla, is matriarch.

Fizzybelle Ooooh, I do hope Agnes is OK

On the subject of noisy .. KiKi, when she is not broody, sings the egg song but it actually sounds like she is giggling loudly; always makes us laugh and comment “Sounds like Giggles has laid an egg”. Crystal also sings the egg song along with Dusty who also, being part rooster

, crows and Cilla and KiKi will crow also if they really want something; like when they feel that free range is late

Cilla, Blondie and LuLu [funnily enough all pure Pekins] do not sing the egg song. They used to when they were younger but do not bother now.

 

[satay]

My australorp honks. She is also very loud in the egg song department. Hoping the other two are quieter when they start!

Agreed. My aussies are by far the loudest when it comes to the egg song some go on for what seems like hours after they lay. Next would be biddy the Belgian. She is super loud and usually BB her rooster joins in too. My pekins like Teilas don't do the egg song that i have noticed. My aras I haven't heard them make much of a fuss but never pick one up those girls sound like they are being murdered if you need to pick them up for anything.

 

[Teila]

Agreed. My aussies are by far the loudest when it comes to the egg song some go on for what seems like hours after they lay. Next would be biddy the Belgian. She is super loud and usually BB her rooster joins in too. My pekins like Teilas don't do the egg song that i have noticed. My aras I haven't heard them make much of a fuss but never pick one up those girls sound like they are being murdered if you need to pick them up for anything.

Hey satay I was hoping you would comment on your Pekins as I was interested to know if it was just mine that do not sing the egg song. May be it is a Pekin-thing

 

[satay]

Hey satay I was hoping you would comment on your Pekins as I was interested to know if it was just mine that do not sing the egg song.  May be it is a Pekin-thing 

Could be . I have never heard any of my pekins make a noise after laying . Not the straights or the frizzles. I could just have lazy butt pekins, not sure

 

[Fancychooklady]

YES! My Ada (an Australorp cross) is normally pretty quiet, except when she's laid an egg and sings her egg song. Unfortunately that happens to be between six and seven in the morning. My neighbor thought I had a rooster, and I had to explain that no I don't, just a hen who's very proud of her accomplishment.

My poor little Agnes I noticed late this afternoon has a swollen cheek and eye on one side of her face. Didn't notice any runny nose or rattled breathing so far so that's good. I'll be booking her into the vet first thing tomorrow, that's for sure. No visible sign of trauma, maybe a reaction to something, or a bite? Poor baby girl, had to separate her from her friends which is no fun, so she's sleeping in the pet carrier that I had cleaned out for the D'uccle I got on Saturday, Beatrice, who is now sleeping in a toybox in my bedroom. Bit crazy atm, but the main thing is to get Aggie on the mend, and to spend some time bonding with Bea so she settles in and gets used to me

If you've got some chlorsig in the medicine cabinet , put a few drops in the eye and check inside the ear by pulling the ear muff forward. Also check the nares aren't blocked . Just to be safe , I would keep her in isolation .

 

[Fancychooklady]

Isa Browns are largely held by egg farmers.   For that very reason.   They often don't live a long life, but are extremely productive - in whatever state they lay in.   I loathe the idea of caged hens laying, ( mostly Isa Browns I would think ) .... and I suspect that everyone here hates it all, too.   

But free range Isas' do their darnedest to lay and continue to lay until they give it up.  Have a friend with a chicken farm - heapsa  chickens -  mostly Isa Browns  ....  and she has to cull them occasionally, although I have NO idea how she knows who is doing what or --- not !!   And I have not  asked. !!    

I gather though, she lets them live their lives out naturally - which is a  short time for many full flock Isa Browns ( not the pampered backyard Isas' who can live a lot longer ).   She runs a bio-diversity farming complex, raising the egg layers and French breed Limousin cattle.  Compact, hardy and docile to handle, with excellent beef production to size.   

Cheers ...... 

Yes Annie, they are a ' production ' bird and were specifically designed to be ' egg machines ' . They are quite capable of living a long life, ( my last one died at the grand old age of 8 ) , but they like all chickens only have a set amount of ovum seeds and as they rarely have any time down , brooding and raising chicks , they have reached their use by date after just 2 years. That is when some unscrupulous hatcheries will offer them up for sale to unknowing newbies that pamper them , but can't figure out why they get few eggs from their new found friends.
The breed is also very susceptible to egg binding once it is no longer fed the correct calcium to phosphorous ratio, which is carefully monitored at the fatcheries and egg production farms.