Experiment in classical conditioning to make quieter chickens

[centrarchid]

Getting back to basic problem, the vocalizations produced by the "chickens". I am not inclined to agree the level of vocalizations produced is normal even though it is typical of most chickens as kept.

My birds / flocks are kept under a variety of conditions. Some groups make a lot of racket, others are extremely quite when coming off roost and starting daily foraging. The latter extreme is likely closest to the real normal as predictably making lots of noise can promote too much attention by predators. My quite flocks roost in trees in smaller groups of mixed ages and sex. Bulk of sounds produced comes from rooster's crowing. Hens and juveniles make very little racket.

Question to ask is why are your birds making more racket than mine? How does your flocks makeup compare? What is different about your facilities?

 

[matimeo]

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Great questions. My birds have access to food and water 24/7. Their automatic door opens at sunrise and closes after sunset. They are confined to an area about 360 sq/ft currently with plenty of area to scratch around. They used to free range my small back yard but made too much mess and were moved to this area of my yard. Mind you however that even when they had range of the whole yard they were extremely noisy- in fact much noisier than now that they are confined to a smaller area. I have four hens, no roosters allowed in the burbs. They are noisiest in the morning- not right at first after coming off the roost, but shortly thereafter. We had been blacking out the coop and that delayed their squawking for a while, but actually made it worse over time. Perhaps that has trained them to be noisy in the morning? They are not making the noise in correspondence with egg laying (although that song can be loud as well).

 

[RHRanch]

I think it is unlikley that the chicken is going to connect in her mind "my butt hurts if I make noise". To her, all kinds of things are happening when she gets shot, so its going to be really hard for her to sort that out. And chicken skin can be quite delicate, yours is much thicker. I have naked necks, and thier skin can tear very easily, and they bruise easily too. In my opinion, there is no excuse for shooting chickens with any sort of projectile. The water, fine. But either way, you are fighting a battle against one of the most standard characteristics of poultry (and the way they communicate) and you may have to accept that you cannot mold everything to your expectations.

 

[trophywife]

What chickens do you have?

I have yet to own one but my understanding is that hens arent too noisy

Instead of negative reinforcement, I would try and figure out whats getting them all worked up

Just my $0.02

 

[centrarchid]

matimeo,

Appears to be classic "desperate househens" syndrome. I will bet money vocalizations intended to attract dudes. My hens isolated in fence rows used to make a big ruckus in early morning. Hens only in henhouse typically were rowdy as well. For hens, it is a big deal not to have a rooster around when she is in breeding condition. They invest at some risk to fix problem.

 

[RHRanch]

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Hens are noisy, too. They just don't crow.

 

[centrarchid]

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Most of my hens make very little racket unless as warning or tending chicks. Many of my birds nearly wild so their behavior is closer to normal.

 

[MEchickenfarmer33]

i wouldnt use this method, but if it works for you then great. clever ideas though. you should write a book on it

 

[hansolo]

Agree it might be helpful to find out why they are loud and who is/are the loud one(s), then find solutions from there. When something makes sense or works for you, PLEASE share.

From observation of our tiny flock I have the following hypothesis:

They are loud (persistently) when they are afraid. This might go hand in hand with the observation that flocks with roosters tend to be less routy.

Try to find out what might be bothering them, making them feel insecure. Could be many things, sometimes simple as dog barks, sometimes it is the social order thing. You have 4 so three of them might be making the fourth one grumpy, or one could be making the other three unhappy, and so forth.

 

[Beekissed]

perhaps you need to rethink your decision to be a chicken owner

I would agree with this. Chickens are not quiet, though my flocks always seemed to be very quiet....maybe due to being busy foraging all day, not sure. But...the occasional loud mouth has to announce the arrival of the daily egg. This, I believe, can not be changed and probably shouldn't be discouraged....she's being a chicken, nothing less, nothing more.

My dad used to try and train a roo not to come to the house and get on the porch by shooting toward him with a shotgun...sometimes you could see that the pellets actually stung him a little. He was never injured by this, as he was mostly too far away for the pellets to reach him with any velocity...but he got the message. He still continued to trek towards the house but would turn tail and run when the screen door opened. He learned. Pretty soon he just stayed with the rest of the flock and didn't often venture towards the house.

This could be accomplished because Dad was disabled and not working...but to be vigilant enough to shoot a hen when she is noisy will take some doing. I'd just not have the chickens, as it doesn't seem worth all the trouble just to keep a few hens in the city. If you like fresh eggs it would be much simpler to just locate someone who sells them and save yourself the money, work and worry of owning chickens.​