hidden coop?

You could always get one that looks like a shed or playhouse and then no one would know if they are quiet.

 

yea....buy a play house and put them in there lol, or better yet..let them live inside lol

 

Are you trying to hide it because you are not aloud to have chickens in your area or for the looks? Because you can have very cute coops that look nice. If its an issue of the law, I would find that out first.

 

The best thing you can do is to get your neighbors on board. The neighbors on three sides of me don't mind the chickens, but I plan to share eggs with all as soon as the days get longer and egg production gets going. They make noise when they are of laying age, proudly proclaiming the fact that they have laid an egg. I too have a six foot board fence in my backyard and I specifically built my coop so it is no taller than the fence. Good luck!

 

Hi! You will find alot of examples if you do a search of BYC.

Also, City Chicken has good photos. http://home.centurytel.net/thecitychicken/hhotm.html
She features coops that lay close to garage walls or sides of homes. You will be stealthy with anything that looks like a potting shed or mower storage.

Oh, just get pullets. There are no quiet roosters. Someone has a rooster about 1/2 mile from my home. I have never seen it, but have heard it for years & years.

Best of luck!

 

As mentioned, many pullets/chickens have to announce to the world that they have laid a daily egg and they do it by screaming: 'Bok, bok, bok BA-BAWKKKK' Over and over and over! It may have something to do with complaining about a sore vent from squeezing out an egg day after day, but it can not be stopped. You can do as some people do and leave them locked inside the coop until after lay time is over (About 2/2:30 pm) but that would be very cruel in the summertime to be locked into a stiffling building. Could also be fatal depending on where you live. You need to bear in mind that the birds need good ventilation year round also and that means that humidity as well as sound can escape.

Chickens are not nearly as loud as an annoying neighborhood barking dog so your neighbors may be able to sleep through the noise on the weekends. I have read that laying times are from about 10 to 2/2:30, but sometimes mine lay even earlier than 10. Another thing to consider is that some breeds just simply tend towards being more noisy as a rule. What breeds are you working with?

I think my best suggestion is to just give them a good solid coop with a nice chicken yard and let them live out their chicken lives and if you get complaints, sell the noisier birds and try to replace them with breeds known to be calm and quiet. They still may make the chicken laid-an-egg song.

 

Have you seen the stealth coop that it made for a garbage can?

 

I saw a HIDDEN coop in the McMurray Hatchery catalog.