My darling GL Polish has become quite a noisy chicken. She has always been much more vocal than the other girls, but she could out-squawk a crow and sound more like a Macaw. Loud, very loud! Is this common with this breed? She is lowest on the pecking order but is not mistreated by the other hens. All my girls are sweet. She just started laying last week. I have learned to take treats to the run before I gather eggs from their nesting boxes in the coop because if she sees me gathering, it sends her into a tizzy. (She must be tattling on me to the other hens) Of course she caws nonstop as she hears or sees me coming and continues until she is happy with her goodies. Much louder than a rooster, I don't want my neighbors aggravated with the noise. I'm concerned that she may think of the treat as reward for her vocalization, so how do you get them quiet before you treat them with goodies so they learn that behavior does not going to get them what they want?
Some hens are just naturally louder than others. Pretty much all of my hens have been louder than the roosters, especially when they see something out of line or have laid an egg. Sometimes they do it "just to hear their heads rattle" as my grandmother says. Yes, if she makes a lot of noise and treats appear, she will quickly figure out how to get treats. I really don't know of any way to quiet a noisy hen, though. It's probably just her personality.
Quote: Head rattles and top hat twitches. That's about the way to tell it. lol I love to hear grandmother sayings. Just don't want to continue to do what I'm doing and her think that her ruckus is the thing that gets the vegetables, meal worms & sunflower seeds. I don't want to stop the good treats either. It's my favorite time to visit with them all. She is such a sweet and funny thing, I don't want to have to give her up. My son suggested peanut butter to keep her beak busy for a while trying to lick it off. Oh dear.