Does anyone know how to "interpret" different noises your hens make?

[shmccarthy]

From what I've seen, there are really distinct sounds with their own meaning.
My roosters do the really fast "bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok bok!" when they find treats. Depending on what rooster it is, he will either share it or just eat it quickly and run away when the hens come.
The roosters will also make a "come here" sound that sounds like "bwaaaaAAAHHHH" and all the hens will come running.
I love the purring sound they make when I pet them
They also make the "buh buh bawk bawk BACAW! BACAW!" when they see predators or get scared about something. They also do it sometimes when they lay eggs.
My bantam hens also make a chirping sound when I'm about to feed them.
I found that the best way to interpret the noises they make us just watching the behavior associated with them

 

[CaCO3]

My polish hen remains an enigma. She just shrieks at will. Plus she probably can't even see what she's shrieking about... I'll never understand her, but will always love her.... Lol. The wing nut....

 

[fionamcc]

I call my chickens contented sound' crooning' it is so relaxing. The dominant hen Chicken Licken talks away all the time and I am beginning to tune in to her language. She grumps if no treats are forthcoming. If I am out in the garden but not visiting the run she calls and she lets me know if food or water feeders are low. It is fun to learn their signals and I am attuning to it although only had them a month.

 

[BrooketheChook]

My two bantamX girls make SO many different noises, no normal clucking noises yet ( still be too young at 5 weeks??....or boys??). They do short little whistles and make happy quiet nattering chirps (finch-like noises; or, 'rusty trundle' noises, like if you are pushing a washing clothes cart and the wheels make little squeaks) as they forage or are sitting and chatting to one another, I take this as content, LOVE these noises. They argue with each other and make a little purr-scowl like noise and the other chicken will just stop talking and focus on her. They make this at me when I put them away for the night and walk away from them. One makes little whiney chirps when she snuggles under my chin for cuddles and 'beeps' in her sleep. The one I have definitely nailed is the 'MUM! MUM! MUM! COME AND GET US! I'm cold and want to come inside'. These are urgent-chirps that get louder if I ignore them and they pace on the side of the outside enclosure where they can see me through the window, when I have left them outside all day (prepping them for being 'big girls' lol) and bring them inside to sleep. I put them in their bed box and they make the happy noises. Then by 08:30pm (without fail) the 'I'm tired and grumpy' cries when we have all the lights on, so I cover their window with a towel so it is dark in there for them...and like a crying baby, they eventually settle and go to sleep. Yup. I'm a 33 year old with chicken-babies instead....

They also make the frantic and scared 'OMG!, they sky is falling down!!!' chirps when the kids next door decide to start kicking the ball against the fence.... :-/

I adore my chickens.

 

[ivan3]

Have been very intrigued by vocalizations since first noticing that our neighbor's flock's "talk" differed noticeably from our flock's "interactions". This interest grew, as the baby monitor in coop revealed considerable vocal activity during certain times of the night (not counting growling at one another over roost space, or alerts announcing a ground pred shuffling through the dried leaves near coop). Shortly after we transitioned our first 10 pullets from the brooder into the coop, we got to hear the flock "sing" (chortle) in unison. Sounded like a chorus of rapid growling - but lilting & transposed to a higher "key". They repeated the song a couple of times. Immediately thereafter, we heard the rain begin pattering against the roof. I wondered if this vocalization wasn't some "atavistic" behavior inherited from their Jungle Fowl ancestors (still can't say for certain - remains the best hypothesis I can generate - posit the same about their voracious appetite for the leaves of the Fuschia Princess from the first time they found that South East Asian/Pacific "jungle" plant, on the back deck).

Anyway, reposting Collias' research on vocalizations https://sora.unm.edu/node/103838 (pdf downloadable - quoted, below):

VOCAL REPERTOIRE OF THE RED JUNGLEFOWL: A SPECTROGRAPHIC CLASSIFICATION AND THE CODE OF COMMUNICATION NICHOLAS E. COLLIAS

I stripped out all but the essentials, however, every growl/whine/purr/etc. is described in extensive detail (in context-illustrated by sonograms) in the linked paper. Collias made his observations of, and performed his sonograms on, the flock of Red Jungle Fowl that used to be maintained at the San Diego Zoo.

1. Rising pitch (pleasure) vs. falling pitch (distress) (chicks)
2. Clear tones (attract) vs. white noise hiss (repel)
3. Low pitched (attract) vs. high pitched notes (repel)
4. Brief notes (attract) vs. long notes (repel)
5. Soft notes (attract) vs. loud notes (repel)
6. Slow to fast repetition rate of notes (increased stimulus intensity)
7. Regular to irregular repetition of notes (increased stimulus intensity)
8. Gradual onset of call (set to respond) vs. abrupt onset of call (startle)
9. Steady tones (secure) vs. wavering tones (disturbed)
10. Consistent number of notes (stereotyped) vs. inconsistent number of notes (flexibility)

Specific calls (see paper for details, i.e., chevron calls/intergradiation of calls), each is comprised of signals (vocalizations) appropriate to a given context.

1.Chick calls expressing insecurity or security
2. Attraction calls of hen to chicks
3. Attraction calls of a cock to hens
4. Calls of well being or contentment by adults
5. Adult calls of mild disturbance
6. Warning calls announcing a predator on the ground or perched
7. Warning announcing a flying predator
8. Aggressive calls
9. Crowing

When our girls were still pullets on the `learning curve I observed behavior (increased chance of advantageous foraging by means of `delay of gratification, i.e., `malice aforethought). One pullet had managed to take down a large, `armored, Tree Boring beetle. As it worked to tear off the wing covers and get at the `meat, two other pullets, nearby, continued to pick at vegetation and made no move to `share the `bugged' pullet's feast. When that pullet finally made her way through the beetle's shell, the other two pullets rushed her and one made off with it, and the chase was on.

Collias makes reference to something similar in vocal signaling:

"In experiments with domestic fowl cocks exposed to a hen who could not see the food automatically presented to the cock, the rate and number of food calls given by the cock increased with the preference ranking (palatability) of the food. A hen was more likely to approach the male when he was calling than when he was silent after food was presented to him (Marler et al. 1986a). A cock would food-call significantly less with no audience than in the presence of a hen; he would even food-call to a hen over non-food items especially in the presence of a strange hen (Marler et al. 1986b). Since a cock often refrains from ingesting a food item after calling a hen to it, just as a hen does after calling her chicks to food, a possible inference is that the behavior is intentional and implies that the caller plans ahead of time to share the food with the receiver (Marler et al. 1986b)."

The observations of behaviors (vocal or otherwise) that might suggest a degree of `delay of gratification - `planning', could indicate a certain `presence of `mind that is not often considered part of the lowly chook's armamentarium; though some roosters penchant for attacking from ambush is well known and reported in the forum, weekly.

 

[BrooketheChook]

I didn't realise that the little 'stamp dance' and hop dance that my 2 month old D'Uccle cross girl does when I get her our of her bed each morning is to show that she thinks I am the rooster. lol. It is SOOOOOOO cute. She waggles her tail, hops and stamps and then bows to me. After putting them either outside in their enclosure, or in their bed box, she makes this quick Brrrrrrr noise at me when I walk away from them. I'll turn and look at her, then walk off again and she does it again...I'm assuming it is to signal 'something' about me walking away, does anyone else get this from their chooks?