How noisy are they??

[winstonsgrrrl]

I'm planning to get 2-4 laying hens in the near future. I have a VERY small city lot. While it's completely legal in my town to have any kind of livestock, my coop/run will be closer to my neighbor's home than is allowed. Fortunately, the neighboring house is a duplex w/ an office in the lower level that is rarely used. I'm worried about the "egg songs" and other various noises. I should add that we live on a major street in town and the traffic adds a lot of noise as well. Just not sure if chicken noises will be an issue.

 

[canada-goose]

Sounds fine to me. You don't need to worry too much.

 

[peeboo]

they are USUALLY not a problem, but every once in a while they will start this domino effect calling, but if you dont have too many i can't imagine it being too much of a problem. it gets very loud and overwhelming when 4-5 start up at the same time but i'm used to it lol. i haven't heard anything from my neighbors yet, but they dont live very close to me. i know sometimes i can hear them down the road a ways when they get on a tangent but on average they are not too noisy.

 

[foweler]

My 3 make more noise than I expected. If I don't let them out of the coop and run shortly after daylight they (one in particular) will bGAWK until I do. Not good at 5:30AM. I only really worry about the early morning noise, especially on weekends when people want to sleep in. I don't sleep in anymore. I really don't want to get a complaint.

The egg song can get pretty loud when two of them sing in concert but it's usually later in the morning so it doesn't worry me quite as much.

 

[Davaroo]

Quote:
Probably not. Talk to the affected neighbors beforehand, if you are concerned.

 

[cmom]

They also like to sing their egg song to announce they have just layed an egg.

 

[CMV]

Keep your birds in a secure house at night and then don't let them out until a reasonable hour in the morning. When my hens start screeching in their house they can barely be heard, and certainly not by my neighbors unless they are standing right next to the coop.

Good luck.

 

[foweler]

I have a screen door on the coop (way hot here in the summer) and my girls got pipes.

I'd like to soundproof them in but I would have baked chicken if I didn't install a/c.

 

[LegHorn-BusHorn]

Quote:
They can be loud at times, and all mine are not even laying yet. My rooster is very loud at times but I love him to death. Yes, I definetly have a good snooze alarm in the am. I sleep through it most the time.

 

[The Zoo]

If they're being too noisy you can always go out and give them treats to make them shut up. I do that sometimes with mine, I give them something to occupy their mouths.