I've Had It!!! Please Help!!!

[PoultryQueen29]

I've only had chickens for about 9 months now and it seems I can't win here. I'm not supposed to have chickens but I keep a few anyway because I love birds and I need pets that I can hold so chickens it was. Anyway, I had one die at 9 weeks from an unknown illness, 3 had to be given back because I was paranoid they were roosters and they were close to the crowing age at the time, and one had to be given back because her egg song was the loudest noise I have ever heared a bird make. Now my EE hen is doing the same thing. It might have been her in the first place. I thought she would be quiet when I got her! I thought silkies would be quiet, too but I just read that they were the loudest! I don't know what to do and right now I pretty close to just giving up chickens and getting pigeons or something! Are there ANY breeds that are quiet?????

 

[DamselinFlannel]

Oh, I'm sorry. That's very discouraging. Hmm... I hope others can join in. I've had Silkies, Cochins, Marans, Welsummers, and Orpingtons. My Orpingtons have been the most quiet and docile for me by far. Let us know what you decide! I live in the country, so I may not notice how loud my birds are (I recently had a neighbor a half mile away say he can hear my Leghorn rooster -- thankfully he says he likes it!).

 

[PoultryQueen29]

Yeah I've heard they are quiet. I'm kind of stuck in a hole right now. There are more problems and bad things that can happen then I have solutions for.

 

[PoultryQueen29]

Well I don't think there's a breed out there that won't have a loud egg sond so i'm giving up on this one. I'll find something else to do with the coop. Gosh this stinks. I love them like they're dogs or cats but they are way too loud. I guess it's better because i'm trying to get a horse in the next few years so that's one less thing that can be used against me in the battle for one.

 

[ScottM]

Could you insulate the coop or nest boxes?

 

[RedDrgn]

Well, of the six breeds we've got (check my sig for details), I can only speak for five (because the cockerel obviously isn't quiet, lol). All of the girls will sing the egg song, but our EE, BR, and BA sing it the loudest....which really doesn't seem loud to me. Certainly not as loud as 95% of all dogs barking. They also don't sing it for more than 5 minutes or so. The other two rarely sing anything or make much of a sound at all unless they are spooked by something.

 

[gavada]

Are you technically not allowed to have chickens by county rules? We started off with illegal chickens as many people do. We did, however, ask our neighbors before we got any. At the time we lived in a fairly rural area/county and for some reason seemed to be the only community in the county that couldn't have chickens. None of our neighbors cared however so we went a head and got for EEs. Over all they were pretty quiet. There was one that sang loudly after laying but it didn't last too long. Honestly you couldn't really hear her if you were inside anyway. And if you went out after she laid she got pretty quiet. I will say that we thought it was really loud because we weren't supposed to hear them but none of the neighbors ever heard. And we gave away some eggs when we had extras so there were no complaints. We also disguised our coop and kept it hidden from view so you couldn't really tell where any noise was coming from.

It seems pretty hard to say certain breeds are more quiet then others as it's very individual with each chicken. Just having a few hens is a lot quieter then neighbor dogs (and I love dogs). We currently have guinea fowl as well and those things, notorious for being noisy, hardly make a peep. Every once in awhile you'll hear the machine gun sound or a quick buck-wheat buck-wheat from the females, but we've been pleasantly surprised by how quiet they can be. If you have a good relationship with your neighbors that may be your best bet.

If birds turn out to be a no go, I can say that house rabbits are a wonderful pet. You can litter train them, train them only to chew on appropriate things and they can hop around your house. The chewing is the hardest part with house rabbits though so just be prepared if you go that route.

 

[stargazingmommy]

I only have two laying hens. The salmon faverolle is very loud, the buff orphington is quiet I've never even heard the BOs egg song

 

[crumptz]

I'm kinda in the same boat... and trying to avoid it! I got rid of my first chickens because of the noise. I'm trying again now... I have built a better coop (not great but better), I'm putting them further from the house and I'm TRYING to keep them quiet till 7am by keeping the coop dark. By 7 no one will care.... but that 5:15 thing was not going over so well for anyone around our house! My chicks are only 3 weeks old now so I have a while to see if it works

 

[devora]

I've only had chickens for about 9 months now and it seems I can't win here. I'm not supposed to have chickens

Can you clarify what this means? You're not supposed to have chickens in your apartment? In the town you live in? In other words, who is it you need to contend w/ to do this on the up and up? Can you begin by dealing w/ the source of the complaint (if, indeed, there was a complaint)?

There should be a giant banner here stating "Chickens make noise. Deal."

Embrace the beauty of the egg song!

Good luck w/ your pet search!