Coping Strategies for NOISY suburban hens

[ybmagpye]

Holy $##%! I have three beautiful Faverolles hens who began their egg laying careers on March 1st of this month. Wonderful hens, I love them dearly.

However, they are LOUD. I purposely didn't get a rooster, not wanting noise, but it turns out my hens are just as loud as a rooster and just as vocal. The three of them sound like 47 chickens with megaphones.

My hens are spoiled, the three of them sharing an Eglu Cube with the maximum run extentions. They have the run of my 1/8 acre lawn/plants & such, for much of the weekend and on afternoons when I return from work. SO WHY SO MUCH NOISE?!

I'm asking, if your hens are noisy AND living in a suburban or urban area where noise is a no-no, what are your coping strategies for rawkous hens?

 

[teach1rusl]

Play loud music...lol. Then your neighbors will be distracted from the loud talking hens...lol.

 

[Imp]

Is it all day long? Mine are only noisy in the morning when they want out of the run. No sleeping in here. i have great neighbors that don't mind a little noise. Perhaps your neighbors like it too. I'd talk to them before getting worried.

Imp-

BTW- I went to work early one day last week. As I was getting in the car I could hear 2 roosters crowing. Somebody has illegal roosters in my neighborhood.

Great & funny way to start the day.

 

[mstricer]

Faverolles are funny little talkers, but when they lay an egg it sounds like they are being killed, so much that when my Faverolle rooster is across the yard, he starts running all the way over to see what is up, thinking that he's going to have to kick some a**. He goes in the coop and probally just looks at them and says "jeez girls do you have to do that"

 

[slg]

Sounds like it is time to start giving your neighbors some eggs! That's what we do...and everyone seems not to mind as much.

 

[WoodlandWoman]

Are they being loud after laying an egg (the egg song), when they're complaining that they want to get out of their run/pen or all the time?

If it's after they lay an egg and it seems to be going on a bit long, I can stop it by tossing a few hulled sunflower seeds their way. Any snack they like will usually divert their attention and they shut right up, as they have a short attention span and love food. Kind of like my cocker spaniel.

This has been more of an issue for me when they are pullets just starting to lay. Once it's more routine for them, it's not such a big deal here. It's also more comfortable for them to pass an egg after they've been doing it for awhile. A short egg song is just a fact of chicken life, though.

If they're complaining to get out, it can help some to have them on a regular schedule. Then they should know when to expect to get out and maybe not fuss so much at other times. Some scratch and a dust bath in the run can help, to keep them busy. I've found a regular schedule to be the most help, though.

 

[JenEric Farms]

Quote:
That's Hysterical!!!

 

[mstricer]

Yeah you should see it

 

[chuckzoo]

ybmagpye I am not too famialr with your breed but I have two BR hens in a suburb and my one hen starts cackling from the moment she wakes up and goes on for 30 mins!

Here are a couple of the things I have tried;I bought a two way radio so that I could talk to her in the morning and try to calm her down.

I put a mirror next to the run so she would not feel lonely (because the other hen lays in the morning).

I have kept them closed in the coop till 8:00 am when people have gone to work - she cackles in the coop.

I have taken her out of the run in the morning and carried her around the garden. (Quiet)

I have made the coop darker so she thinks it's still dark outside.

I have let her out of the run in the morning.

I have thrown sunflower seeds in for her.

Just a couple of this you could try on yours, alas they have not worked with my Lady!

 

[City Gardener]

I would check in with your neighbors. It could be like when you have a newborn baby -- my neighbors just apologized to me in case their 3week old was bothering us. I was like, 3 -week-old babies do not make the kind of noise that keeps me up at night. But when it's your own baby it sounds louder and you think it might be bothering everyone.

It could be that the neighbors don't even hear it, or that it doesn't bother them. And, yeah, give them some eggs!