Help my neighbor said my chickens are being loud :(

[Ebony Rose]

...She just said “Is it possible for you to go to check on your chickens they are screaming and making a racket.” Oy! I promptly locked them in the coop and told them we need a game plan to keep Cherri happy!

What you're seeing as your neighbor being unhappy might not be because of the noise; it might be genuine concern for your flock.

It occurs to me that your neighbor may simply be concerned that something is WRONG with your hens. When you take your gift of eggs to her (soon), apologize for the racket and explain that the nearly daily chorus that she's hearing is your hens bragging (or congratulating the bragging hen) for her accomplishment of laying another egg. That it is the sound of a very happy hen and her mates joining in to pat her on the back. Assure her that in your flock, due to the time needed for an egg to be produced (about 26 hours), that it's only a once-a-day thing, and that an unhappy bird/flock will not lift up this song of thanksgiving.

If nothing else, the conversation ought to open dialogue between you and your neighbor to get to the root of her complaint so that a solution that keeps the peace can be found.

 

[BigFuzzball]

Great debate as always on here.....
Two rescue hens we collected from a local farmer were kept (with 2,498 others) in enormous sheds with artificial light for up to 20hrs a day to try and get the poor things to lay twice every day instead of the usual one egg every 25hrs (approx).
The artificial light you suggest is therefore something I wouldn't recommend as the birds end up confused, exhausted, skinny by comparison and have very short sorry lives as we found, plus if not already 'ill' then they're very very susceptible to disease and sudden death......
I'm sure with all the ideas posted so far you can make some adjustments and improvements to 'win' ?

 

[NatJ]

It occurs to me that your neighbor may simply be concerned that something is WRONG with your hens.

Very good point.

Assure her that in your flock, due to the time needed for an egg to be produced (about 26 hours), that it's only a once-a-day thing, and that an unhappy bird/flock will not lift up this song of thanksgiving.

Once-a-day times how many hens? There might be some hens that do not start the egg song after they lay, but there might be more than one who does.

 

[2hotchicks]

Could you express to her that you are trying to come up with some plans to lessen the noise coming her direction. And it may help to once in a while drop off some fresh eggs to her.

My thought exactly, free fresh eggs may make the noise more tolerable

 

[cmom]

I am originally from the Traverse City area near Elk Rapids. When I had my first flock around 50 years ago it was there. I moved to Florida and went into the army so there were some years when I didn't have any birds. When I got out of the army I bought a house in a development and at that time couldn't have birds but now I think a person can have 10 there. Now we are rural and I have a lot of birds. I like the idea if somehow you can set up a space in your garage for your birds. I have some birds that like to sing the egg song and are really the cheerleaders. They can sing as loud, sometimes louder than the gal who is laying the egg. I have neighbors but they aren't that close but they have told me they hear the males especially crowing but were amazed they didn't hear them more often but they do crow some early in the morning and when I'm out around the coops, trying to get my attention and some treats. I don't free range anymore due to losses from predators in the past and my land is mostly open pasture. Not knowing what your setup is like, again the garage idea looks good. Pictures and updates please. Just curious. Good luck with your flock and your neighbor. Give her more of the green eggs she likes and have fun...

 

[KingD]

Just buy a cockerel so the neighbors understand what 'loud' and 'anoying' actually mean. Then get rid of the cockerel and all will be well.

 

[aart]

Just buy a cockerel so the neighbors understand what 'loud' and 'anoying' actually mean. Then get rid of the cockerel and all will be well.

Like turning the stereo UP before turning it back down to where it was.

 

[cmom]

Just buy a cockerel so the neighbors understand what 'loud' and 'anoying' actually mean. Then get rid of the cockerel and all will be well.

Good idea...

 

[room onthebroom]

Your hens should be on a laying cycle where they lay roughly an hour later each day. The cycle will eventually circle back to around first thing in the morning & so forth.

There is a theory that the laying hen does her ‘egg song’ to alert the flock that she has laid her egg & is leaving the nest. In turn the flock sounds off to let her know where they are so she can rejoin them.

My suggestion is to go out when the girls start their egg song & distract them with some snacks.

You can also try to leave them in the coop a little longer in the morning to muffle the sound, or maybe you can move the coop further away from the complaining neighbors house.

 

[aart]

My suggestion is to go out when the girls start their egg song & distract them with some snacks.

Oh, that could be a bad habit.......they might start sounding off just to get treats!