Hens have become extremely noisy now that they are laying! Will this go on forever? (Video in this t

[joannarashid]

I have 10 hens that are all laying or starting to lay (they are all 22-24 weeks old). When one goes into to lay, my Maran always stands at the door of the coop and clucks extremely loud. All the others join in.

I figured this would happen in the morning when they lay, but this literally goes on all day (several times per hour). Most of the time no egg is laid. In all I am only getting 1-2 eggs per day form 10 hens. Is this going to go on forever? Or will they get more accustomed to laying and do so in the morning only and with less fanfare?

 

[TwoCrows]

Chickens produce an egg about every 25 to 26 hours. So if a hen lays an egg at 9am today, she may lay again tomorrow at 10 or 11am, and so on. If you have 10 of them laying, they will be laying at all hours of the day until dark. It will start up again the next day.

Your girls are young yet and need to get into the groove of laying. They will squawk and carry on for awhile before and after laying. Some eventually quit. I used to know exactly when a hen laid an egg when they first started laying, but now that they are older, I rarely hear a squawk out of them.

 

[gryeyes]

The short answer to your question is "no."

It generally takes 26 hours to "build" an egg, so hens which lay daily will lay a bit later each day until it's too late to lay, and that day is skipped. The cycle begins anew. The AVERAGE chicken lays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. "Average" does not mean "all," nor does it mean a hen laying earlier or later than that is abnormal.

And many, many chickens sing the Egg Song for their own egg AND in chorus with another hen laying her egg. They are flock animals so communal communications is common. But not all hens sing the Egg Song, so there is some hope .... I guess.

When they get close to lay, they practice a lot.

I happen to like hearing them sing the Egg Song, but I do have one hen - Brenda, a Light Brahma - who thinks HER eggs are the very best and nobody else could possibly lay an egg as fine as hers. She sings for over 20 minutes every time. Another hen - Beatrice a Dark Brahma - also sings her Egg Song for five minutes or so. The rest of the hens don't spend much more than a minute announcing the arrival of a freshly laid egg.

However, if somebody is in a favorite nest box when another hen wishes to lay her egg there, there can be a whole lot of loud bitching abut it until the nest box is free.

 

[joannarashid]

So, it is pretty normal that they go into the nesting boxes, with a cacophonous production from the flock, and not lay an egg (over, and over again)?

 

[TwoCrows]

Absolutely. My girls will even now, go in and sit in the box, lay nothing and come out cackling about it. And they are in their second year of laying. Once your girls get going in the laying, they will be less noisy for the most part. But expect some cackling on occasion before, during and after for some time.

 

[PeepinChicken]

The short answer to your question is "no."

It generally takes 26 hours to "build" an egg, so hens which lay daily will lay a bit later each day until it's too late to lay, and that day is skipped. The cycle begins anew. The AVERAGE chicken lays between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m. "Average" does not mean "all," nor does it mean a hen laying earlier or later than that is abnormal.

And many, many chickens sing the Egg Song for their own egg AND in chorus with another hen laying her egg. They are flock animals so communal communications is common. But not all hens sing the Egg Song, so there is some hope .... I guess.

When they get close to lay, they practice a lot.

I happen to like hearing them sing the Egg Song, but I do have one hen - Brenda, a Light Brahma - who thinks HER eggs are the very best and nobody else could possibly lay an egg as fine as hers. She sings for over 20 minutes every time. Another hen - Beatrice a Dark Brahma - also sings her Egg Song for five minutes or so. The rest of the hens don't spend much more than a minute announcing the arrival of a freshly laid egg.

However, if somebody is in a favorite nest box when another hen wishes to lay her egg there, there can be a whole lot of loud bitching abut it until the nest box is free.

My pullets are almost at laying age. I do have one hen that lays everyday around 9 AM and she always has her support group of the two 14 weeks olds. They just sit and watch her, like they are just fascinated when she lays an egg she is pretty quiet about it though onle does the egg song once a week or so

 

[SunnyAlberta]

Momma is my Buff Orpington, 22 weeks and not laying yet. She practices her egg song every morning at about 5:45. Our noise bylaw quiet hour ends at 7 am.

 

[joannarashid]

This is about how it goes. 35 times per hour between 5:30 am and 5:30 pm. I can totally deal with this once per day per hen. Not as often as it is now, most times there is no egg laid from this whole procedure. Hopefully the above comments amount to - "don't worry soon they won't do this so many times a day."

 

[joannarashid]

My pullets are almost at laying age. I do have one hen that lays everyday around 9 AM and she always has her support group of the two 14 weeks olds. They just sit and watch her, like they are just fascinated when she lays an egg she is pretty quiet about it though onle does the egg song once a week or so

"hilarious, I am constantly amazed by the social complexity of my flock."

 

[joannarashid]

Momma is my Buff Orpington, 22 weeks and not laying yet. She practices her egg song every morning at about 5:45. Our noise bylaw quiet hour ends at 7 am.

Have you had neighbors complain? This is my biggest fear. I am not actually annoyed by all this commotion. I just fear a visit from animal control.