Egg Song

[bcmama]

Will all laying hens have an egg song?

 

[HEChicken]

Chickens are all individual so vary in the amount they "announce". In my experience, the older hens are much more likely to just get on with the job without feeling the need to announce each egg, whereas the pullets are still quite excited by the whole process. I've also found that one will sing one day and not the next - who knows why?

The "Egg Song" is also used at other times - particularly if they are anxious or stressed out. When I had a visit from a fox back in July, I knew the birds were seeing it when they started anxiously singing the egg song. The roosters will also join in from time to time. And, sometimes all it takes is for a flock member to SEE an egg, to start singing the egg song - they don't have to have laid it. I've found hidden nests because a bird started singing the egg song every time she went near a particular part of the yard.

So to answer your question, the "song" is a sound that they are all capable of making, but how often and under what circumstances they sing it, varies quite a bit.

 

[Fred's Hens]

That which is commonly called "the egg song" here is a bit of a misnomer of sorts. As HEchicken said correctly, older hens often dispense with the drama of calling altogether, when laying. A chicken is a bird, and like their feathered friends in the wild, they are have series of sounds, calls, alarms, clucks and peeps they use to communicate.

 

[bcmama]

Thanks for the info. My girls are about 14 weeks now and they make all sorts of noises but nothing that I would find to be particularly loud as I have read some post about their "egg song". Is this something that will get louder with age or just will they just sound as they do now. They are always talking when they want out of the run or see me coming especially if I have food with me.

 

[Fred's Hens]

You just never know. I've got pullets and hens that have never said "boo". Calm is a farm pond on a hot, still, summer night. Others? Geeesh. Lots of drama. Like people, it just depends on the individual.

 

[earlybird10842]

Autumn and Selena are the only hens of mine that will sing the egg song, and they rarely do. the neighbor's pullets, on the other hand, sing it daily.