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

[fiddleblue]

CHicken sounds: what I found is that I can pretty much understand the language of chickens if I use both my emotions/intuition and also my visual observations of what they are doing when they make a particular sound. Purring chickens -- one always likes to hear that, right? Well, in part you can tell by the fact that the sound is nice and enjoyable that it means "I'm happy." THe sounds my hens make when they are whining, really SOUND like whining! Annoying, irritating to listen to, they whine when they see me come to their coop, begging and whining for scraps and treats. The bok bok bok they make after laying an egg, I call the "I laid an egg!" triumphal call. THen there are crying sounds, which I don't really hear except from my bantam, which are soft and plaintive, meaning, "help me, I need help". THere are sounds that mean, "I just saw a rat!! Take care!!" when they see some rodent scurry across the way: a call that is urgent and quick and short. THen there is the "I'm pi$$ed" sound which is different from the whiny begging sound: my Sussex is pi$$Ed when I put her in isolation to get her to stop brooding, and I can tell from her tone. There are also questioning sounds, that sound like the chicken is asking, "SO what is this? What's going on here? I'm curious?"

I read that chickens can make about 30 different kinds of sounds. It's fun to learn to understand all these!

(By the way, why is backyard chickens censoring the word pi$$ed? I typed it in normally and it came out all asterisks. THis is not a profanity.)

 

[oswald808]

the noises the rooster makes is called tidbitting

 

[azygous]

I hope I don't come across as officious sounding, but the "sounds" you all are talking about is really a language, and it's a language complete with syntax, like the sentences in which we humans speak. This has been verified by recent bird studies.

If you pay close attention to the "Bok, bok, bawking", you'll begin to discern a sequence of notes with accents on different notes according to what a chicken is saying.

For example, the phrase for, "Here comes the cat", is five notes with the same emphasis on all five notes, while the phrase for, "Here comes the human", is five notes with the emphasis on the third note." A phrase I dread hearing is very similar to "Here comes the cat or here comes the squirrel", but it is spoken in a very low, discreet tone, and it means, "Here comes danger." When I hear that, I know when I look up, I'm going to see a bear coming toward the pen.

The thing that clued me in to the fact that chickens are speaking in language was a two-day old chick I was holding when the cat walked into the room. The chick chirped out the exact same phrase for "Here comes the cat" as I'd heard my adult chickens utter when they saw the cat. It was after that that I really started listening to my chickens. They have a lot to tell us.

 

[Mickey Lou 04]

Okay so this is my first post, I am slightly nervous.

I am able to tell which of my hens just laid an egg by their egg song. Each has a slightly different pattern and pitch. Yet all are similar.

As for the whining, when I let my bird out of the run to get some grass sometimes one gets lost. This is when I notice the whining they whine till someone comes looking for her. As soon as she is found she is completely happy again. I also notice it when birds feel to confined, they whine as they pace back and forth. So maybe you need a larger pen. The smallest change of size can mean a lot for the lowest in the pecking order.

I think that if you pay attention you'd be surprised at the slight differences not only different kinds of calls but the slight differences in each birds noises.

 

[Mickey Lou 04]

My birds also make a whistle sound that could be described as a whine. It is extreme contentness in my flock.

 

[annewandering]

A couple of my chicks make trilling sounds. Not sure which but I think one is a brahma. I was hearing it when I opened the lid on the brooder so not sure if its fright, warning or looking forward to food!
It is very cute

 

[GuppyTJ]

Did you have to train your dog to be gentle to your chickens? I thought chickens naturally are afraid of dogs, but I guess sometimes under the right condition, they do feel comfortable!

MissyPebble, I raised my first set of chicks inside the house in a home-made brooder. I have 2 dogs that live in the house but roam free outside during the day. The chicks very quickly got used to the dogs and never really showed any fear of them. By the time the chicks moved to the outside coop, they thought the dogs were part of the family and in some ways, looked to them for protection. I was very careful to train my dogs to not harm the chickens, which was my much bigger concern. One dog, Darby, a terrier beagle mutt, was easy to train as she never really took a lot of interest in the chicks. The other dog, Shadow, is a shephard mix and he's also blind. It took a lot longer to train him, because of his personality, breed and his blindness. He's still very interested in the chickens, partly because he can't see them so has to stare in their direction and listen and smell just to figure out where they are. But he's doing pretty well. The big thing I did was make him sit when he's around them. It helps him lower his dominance standing and just makes it harder for him to think of them as prey if he's sitting or laying down. I'm to the point where he can be left alone with them while I'm in the coop cleaning. He even lets them peck at him and walk over his tail without getting up to move. He still gets up and moves when they climb on his back but at some point, I hope he's so used to them that he'll even be comfortable with this.

Guppy

 

[jungletoy]

Azygous, Fiddleblue,

I couldn't agree more. I own a micro farm with 119 Australorps/Black Stars layers and spend about 12 hours a day with them. Our operation is under construction so it's standing room only for the chickens when papa's working. They love to watch and follow me around like fans at a golf tournament. I represent an analog TV to them. Comedy most of the time, but action adventure with some very bad singing and dancing others. Simply through observation and being in tune with the flock I was able to discern that the brooder was getting to small and the beginning of tail feather picking. A good guideline is if the noise is startling to you, it's a warning, if it makes you smile or want to pick up the little chick and squeeze it next to your cheek, it's content. They peck at my boots and pant legs when they see me carrying the meal worm bag, or scratch scoop. If you're around and watching you will be able to associate the cluck with the circumstance. Every flock is different and will develop it's own local dialect but through careful observation and correlation you will easily be able to understand your flocks language.

 

[ShellLea]

My hens acted Exactly the same way if I don't give them the treats they're looking for!!!  My RIR would do this especially loudly, then gave me a "dirty" look and walked away from me immediately! She's a spoiled princess (as my husband called her).  And that is Very funny that yours know how to play tag!!!  You should share record it next time when you have a chance and we'd love to see her in action!!! It's so amazing how chickens are so adorable with very unique personalities!  I dreamt about chickens quite a bit!  Am I crazy?!

Not crazy at all! I dream about chickens all the time! I just got back on a camping trip. Didn't sleep much worrying about my birds, lol. Maybe I can get my husband to record a game of tag. I run after her too much to be able to get a good recording myself. Id love to get it posted on BYC though.

 

[Daisy8s]

I hope I don't come across as officious sounding, but the "sounds" you all are talking about is really a language, and it's a language complete with syntax, like the sentences in which we humans speak. This has been verified by recent bird studies.

If you pay close attention to the "Bok, bok, bawking", you'll begin to discern a sequence of notes with accents on different notes according to what a chicken is saying.

For example, the phrase for, "Here comes the cat", is five notes with the same emphasis on all five notes, while the phrase for, "Here comes the human", is five notes with the emphasis on the third note." A phrase I dread hearing is very similar to "Here comes the cat or here comes the squirrel", but it is spoken in a very low, discreet tone, and it means, "Here comes danger." When I hear that, I know when I look up, I'm going to see a bear coming toward the pen.

The thing that clued me in to the fact that chickens are speaking in language was a two-day old chick I was holding when the cat walked into the room. The chick chirped out the exact same phrase for "Here comes the cat" as I'd heard my adult chickens utter when they saw the cat. It was after that that I really started listening to my chickens. They have a lot to tell us.

i completely agree that it's a language with clear meaning. Once I got a rooster I noticed it much more as the hens all have the exact same response to his verbal cues. When he "tidbits" they come running to get fed; when he gives the alarm call they immediately take cover. And then when one hen hatched chicks I noticed a bunch of new calls...though her "tidbit" call sounds the exact same as the roosters: high-pitched, buk! buk! buk! buk!

I have become so tuned into the flock that now I'm noticing the calls the wild birds make. The rooster has taught me which ones to listen to. There's one call either blue jays or crows make that indicate there's a hawk in the area. He gives that five-note alarm call (buh buh BUP buh buh) and the hens duck for cover immediately.

One thing I disagree with is that the "egg song" is given after an egg is laid. Rather, for my flock, it means "hey, where is everybody?" All of my flock, including the rooster, use that exact call (bawk, bawk, buh-gawk!) whenever they've become visually separated.