Just how loud are hens?

[kimmypie]

We want to get 4 hens, for sure an Australorp (my husband is Aussie so it's just a little fun thing) and an Easter Egger for the fun colored eggs and two more...maybe a Plymouth Rock and a brahma (the the second two are up in the air, I will take suggestions!

). Anyway, our city is A-okay with chickens, we just have to keep them in our yard in a clean/safe coop and we can't have a rooster. Our HOA on the other hand is not okay with chickens. We plan on clearing this with our neighbors first to make sure they won't report us, but if the hens are too loud someone might change their mind or a passerby may hear them. Our HOA isn't very active and hardly enforces anything, but I still don't want to risk spending the money on chicks and a coop and loving them only to have to get rid of them. So tell me straight, how loud are hens?

 

[ben is a terror]

My girls only make noise when an egg is laid (The Morning Announcements.) The bigger the hen the louder the noise I guess. My EE is not a talker. My buff orph. is pretty quite.

 

[gryeyes]

If you are in close proximity to your neighbors, they will hear your hens if they become Singers of the Egg Song. (Not all hens sing the Egg Song, but those that do can make quite a racket.)

 

[CathyM]

Not to mention if they get into arguments as to who's turn it is on the nest! Honestly, I have 3 nest boxes for 4 hens, and they all fight over the corner of one coop, which isn't even a nest box!

And they do get loud! And they also get loud when I "forget" to let them out of their pen to freerange or "forget" to get them out of their coop by first light!

I have two barred rocks and two Orps - all of them can be loud. Mostly they shush if I run out and shush them... I'm lucky to work at home, and therefore I'm mostly home. No one's complained yet...

 

[wenlo]

The high range for hens is seventy decibels while a dog is 90 decibels. A typical conversation is 60 decibels.

 

[kimmypie]

I'm a stay at home mom so I'm at home 90% of the time so if they are making a fuss I could go out there and quiet them. My midwife has a lot of hens (well, relatively speaking I think she has 15 or so which seems like a lot to me!

) and when we took the kids to see her "farm" the chickens really didn't make a ton of noise. The turkey was dancing around and gobbling and one hen made some noise when she laid an egg but overall I didn't notice an appreciable amount of noise. Her silkie rooster crowed a few times, but he was fairly quiet as well. We hear dogs barking at any time of day around here...

 

[LindsayB]

My 2 easter eggers do the egg song after they lay an egg, but it usually only lasts 10-20 seconds. Not too bad. I'm a stay at home Mom so there are some days my kids sleep in and I do too.

I take full advantage of that! BUT...our outside girls hate it...they will make soooo much noise until I walk outside and open their run...I'll walk outside still half asleep......and they'll be growling and pacing back and forth at the gate. lol

 

[Christie Rhae]

Hens can be kinda noisy in the morning. Your neighbors will hear them for sure. It is not as obnoxious as a rooster but they will hear it.

 

[mikki717]

My EE's are pretty quiet, although I do have one "barking" chicken, an EE. She is not a dominant hen, but when I have treats, and she is in the group behind me, she barks and I turn around. She has me trained well.

My RIR hens however let the whole neighborhood know they are working hard on eggs!

 

[CottonDandyBubbleFun]

Depends on the breed, how they were raised, and what they're doing.
Docile breeds are quite unless you have a rooster, I've found that more active breeds
are noisier but not all the time I've had an ameracauna who was very quite and affectionate
because I spent alot of time petting her but my other amercaunas are grumpy and hate being held.
What they're doing also contributes to the different noises they make, like laying an egg for instance.