How far away can you hear hens?

[3KillerBs]

people over a quarter of a mile from me have said they could hear my rooster.

Yep. Depending on how the wind is blowing and how the clouds are laying I can hear a rooster that's close to half a mile away direct.

But I can't hear the hens that are in the second-house over with a lot of trees between us.

I can' hear my next-door neighbor's dogs and they can hear my roosters.

 

[Acre4Me]

No hard and fast rule. I am on just barely an acre, same with neighbors. The properties are rectangular with homes at front. We have a barn towards the back, and the chicken run is behind the barn. Wind is usually blowing from the west and hits the homes first and blows past them. There is a farm field to the west, so nothing blocks the wind, or causes it to flow differently. My neighbors do not hear our chickens, but can hear the roosters, faintly if windows open. My neighbor had chickens and a rooster. We never heard the girls, sort of heard the rooster. We have no trees, no fences, no brush between the properties. Mostly, I think the way the general air currents flow, helps to mitigate the sound. There is an elevated train track about 1.5 miles away, to the east and we do not hear it 98% of the time. But, when wind/humidity is different enough, we hear it like it is a few hundred feet away. It is loud, and obvious but it is not the norm. Same way at a rental we lived in. Fairly close to the interstate, where it made an inward curve. We could not see the interstate, and there were several properties between us and the highway. We heard the highway 98% of the time. It was notable bc occasionally, it was silent…wind and humidity shifted enough to negate the sound. At that property, we were to the east of the highway, and with the general wind direction, we got the majority of sound coming from the west.

 

[Krugerrand]

From no personal experience, only what I've read, some people unable to keep chickens because of noise or ordinances find quail a quieter option.

 

[saysfaa]

Ambient noise matters too. You might hear them when no one is mowing their lawn but some places we have lived, one or another of our neighbors was mowing their lawn. Or vacuuming their car or blowing their leaves somewhere close enough to cover chicken sounds. If you live near a highway, or a building with a compressor on it, or ....

 

[Auntiejessi3]

I recently moved and want to start raising backyard chickens again. I have a 1.5 acre property and I am wondering how far away neighbors would be able to hear them. No roosters- assume 4 standard size hens.

Would a distance of 200 feet be far enough away that they would have ZERO noise if in their backyard? If not, what would the safe distance be?

Thanks

I'm not laughing at you, just reminded me of a text my neighbor sent me a couple weeks back. She said man one of your ladies is on one, she's been squawking for 2 hrs (she wasn't complaining she has triple the chickens I do) I said it's probably Betty, if someone is in the nest box she wants she's has a fit and ends up laying in the run. Well when I got home there was her blue egg in the run. Point being they all have their own personalities and even though their "supposed" to be a quieter breed doesn't mean they will be Just for reference I have almost 2 acres and my neighbor is about half an acre away.

P.S. Stear clear of Welsummers if you want quieter ladies

 

[3KillerBs]

Ambient noise matters too. You might hear them when no one is mowing their lawn but some places we have lived, one or another of our neighbors was mowing their lawn. Or vacuuming their car or blowing their leaves somewhere close enough to cover chicken sounds. If you live near a highway, or a building with a compressor on it, or ....

When I had my in-town flock I deliberately located the coop on a line between my heat pump and my neighbor's heat pump.

My neighbors had the attitude that if we didn't mind their muscle car they didn't mind our rooster.

It helped that their kids liked to see the chickens.