I'm no farmer ... will tractor noise scare chickens?

[backintime]

My planned coop adjoins the spot where my husband parks his lawn tractor. I'm getting 8 egg layers and am hoping they will not all have heart attacks the first time he starts the thing up 6 feet from their coop. There's still time to relocate . . . (the tractor, hee hee)

 

[Cassandra]

LOL Mine are alright. They don't like it. It makes them scatter in their pen. John doesn't park our tractor near the coop, but he does cut around it. They squawk and cut up, but as soon as he is gone, they have forgotten all about it.

Cassandra

 

[backintime]

Thanks, Cassandra. I feel better already!

 

[Matt A NC]

At first it will most likely scare them. They will have to learn what to expect.

My chickens go crazy at the sound of the Tractor and the lawn mower. They chase the lawn mower catching whatever gets stirred up. The garden tractor is followed by 50+ chickens to help dig through the freshly turned soil. Have to be careful when making turns.

Matt

 

[chickenranchwife]

Like Matt said it'll scare them at first, but they'll get used to it. When I brought the tractor and bailor in last summer the girls were curious to see what kind of treat I brought for them each time I came into the yard. What was so funny my DH had been hauling hay in on the trailer and one of the girls was on the trailer eating to her hearts desire, and didn't want to get off. It was so cute.

 

[backintime]

Hey, I like the idea of having them associate the noise with a TREAT! I'll load up my husband's pockets with sunflower seeds, and each time he passes by he can whip some into their run!

 

[countryboy]

didn't bother mine at all, but they kept an eye on it while i used it.

 

[sgtmom52]

We had our log splitter set up about 25' from the coop and ran it frequently last fall. The first time we started it they were startled, but soon ignored the noise.
They did watch us closely when we were splitting wood as we fed them all of the bugs and grubs we found. We even threw a couple of bug infested pieces of wood in the run and they had fun cleaning out the little critters.

 

[backintime]

I can hardly wait to try all these great ideas. Sounds like chickens are very, very curious above all else.

 

[CoyoteMagic]

Mine follow the lawnmower, I think it makes more than the neighbors tractor.