How to get my dear girls to SHUT UP?!

[TheYLWFlock]

Dont get me wrong, I love my chickens a lot, but lately they’ve been screaming their heads off all day everyday, like an egg call except louder and lasts longer. The leader and starter of this activity is my Barred Rock... she’ll scream until I go outside and let them out to free range. So basically they blackmail me into letting them out. Now normally this would only be a matter of annoyance, but our bylaws state that the coop must be 50 feet away from all property lines and 50 feet away from our house... impossible for our property or anyone else’s in my neighbourhood. So we are worried that someone will get fed up with this constant screaming and report to the bylaw officers. So I mentioned that they stop when they get let out... well they have 80 square feet of space in the run for THREE chickens, they have fresh food and water, and a nice coop. So I don’t know what their problem is! Anything I should do to make them quite? Should I add something to their run to make it more fun? Please help!

 

[rosemarythyme]

They definitely have you trained! Mine are noisy in the morning ("food! food!") but that's about it.

What do you have in the run for them to do? Do you ever add anything new or different for them to explore?

 

[brit foster]

This thread is me cracking up- usually my girls (and one boy) are pretty quiet in general, and my cockerel just started making sounds that resemble crowing within the last week or so (they are all 20 wks old)... I woke up this morning and started making my coffee and they were SCREAMING like I've never heard, I though maybe some predator was in the run... Nope, just screaming for their mama to feed them

Best part is that I signed onto here to see if anyone else had desperate screaming chickens and you had posted this only 2 minutes ago

 

[Ted Brown]

For us newbies in the planning stage one more good reason to build adequate room in both coop and run, start with youngsters and never let them free range.

 

[21hens-incharge]

You can think that is the case, but people bring their kids to the bins not all kids are 2' tall. And parents don't say no.

I set the raccoon trap just in case.
If I get a neighbors cat I can release it. If I get the same cat 3 times it gets a free ride to the pound. We are close to a main highway! No squished kitty if it's in the pound.

Whatever it was did not trigger the motion activated lights.

 

[rosemarythyme]

I have some logs that they hop on... I’m in the middle of re arranging so I’m wondering what else to put in there for fun.

I just throw junk in there sometimes... piles of weeds, dried leaves, grass. Maybe if you add some after they go to bed they can wake up next morning and find the surprise?

Mine get excited just to see the dust bath open up, I guess they're not terribly picky about entertainment.

 

[ChickenFlamingo]

I guess they just love a routine. I have three hens too, and I let them out for an hour or so under supervision each morning.
When it's their time for free-ranging they are pacing up and down and squawking and yelling. As soon as they are out, they are quiet, just clucking gently amongst themselves.
Funny thing is though, they also 'know' when they have been out for their hour, as then they start to remind me they should go back into their run - mainly because it's snack time. (Hope it's mealworms, hope it's mealworms, oh an apple, oh that's ok, but mealworms tomorrow right).

 

[Grits&Eggs]

Love your description, I have the same problem, I can't free range, but 10 feet from back neighbor leads to a lot of early weekend conversations from them "whats going on over there?" I hear most often, sigh. I added play yard, xylophones, scratching boxes, lots of things to hop on and over, but nothing beats roaming free
so, I will be watching and taking all advice as well!!

 

[Ms Clucky]

My hens, well just a few, make a crowing noise when I'm out there and they want out. It's funny

 

[Tyson_chickens]

That's funny cause my Barred Plymouth Rock (Omelette) is the vocal one of the group. Not so much to get out of her coop in the mornings (either that or the ducks drown her out) but anytime me or my bf go outside she always comes to us and greets us with her somewhat loud clucking. I enjoy it. Makes me feel like she is telling me how her day is going. Now if only she would let me pick her up or pet her haha.