Loud chicken!

[All Ball]

Chooks4life, thank you so much for laying out the steps you took! I will work on implementing them systematically.

One of the challenges with my hen is she is usually making the noise to try to draw me out of the house for treats and companionship. I think she is quickly learning that she can continue to make the noise from the far end of the yard where it's much harder for me to get her with my squirt gun... She is very obstinate and demanding, but she is also pretty smart, so hopefully she will pick up on my intentions.

 

[chooks4life]

You're welcome and I hope it works. They are indeed pretty smart on average and will continue to ignore you if you are not able to reinforce your command. Positive and negative reinforcement works on them too; if one chicken stopped doing something I told it to stop and then busied itself doing something else for a few minutes, giving a reward like a treat seemed to help strengthen the redirection of behavior. Of course, giving a treat too soon would be quite counterproductive! Best wishes.

 

[4UrbanHens]

My Rhode Island Red, Scarlett makes a noise that does not sound anything like what's on the video. She's the only one of my 3 who does this. Ginger, the smallest of the girls is laying and does not make any noise except a little muttering. Ruby also lays and does not do this. I've checked for eggs whenever Scarlett starts the squawking, but no eggs. She just started squatting about 3 days ago, but she's been screaming like this for a couple of weeks. They are all 19 weeks old. Help...

Hi there! So glad to see someone who has brought this up! My silver-gray dorking, brown leghorn AND barred rock do this every single morning when the sun goes up! I have searched the internet to no end in hopes of a "cure." I am starting to think it is what Chooks4Life says it is, attention seeking. My hens are extremely spoiled and spend a great deal of time outside the cage. Every morning they yell/scream/craaw/roar (whatever you want to call it... but it's awful!) and it makes me cringe. I live in a residential neighborhood where chickens are NOT allowed and am scared they are going to draw attention to themselves. They have only just begun this awful screech about a week ago and they have also just started laying eggs. Can anyone shed any info on how this may be stopped? Thanks all!

 

[chooks4life]

If you rush out there with treats to distract them they will rapidly learn to scream to get treats. That's one big no-no. Whatever you do, try to keep your stress levels as low as possible or it's counterproductive.

Noisy animals will somehow pick up on your stress levels amazingly well and respond by becoming noisier. The more you stress the noisier they tend to get, since even if no other reaction from you is observable, it's still a reaction successfully obtained. It's probably got something to do with their boring, caged lives --- if the main activity they see daily from outside the cage is in response to their noisemaking, that's stimulation received in reward for their noisemaking, and they do crave stimulation.

I've dealt with noisy animals of various species over the years, and if you don't give a rat's proverbial, they quickly learn to shut up or try other methods of getting attention. If you respond with stress, even if you don't give them treats or interact directly with them, they have still achieved something just by the fact that you reacted --- they've gotten recognition, attention, and while it seems pointless it's still often all they need to keep repeating the cycle.

If they have food present from dawn onwards this should quieten them, whereas if you have to supply food (or water) anew daily, they can rapidly learn to yell or complain until you hurry up, when there is an absence. Sometimes the so-called 'egg song' is their main entertainment for the day.

You can try using a water squirter or some sprinkler attached to their cage which you can turn on, out of sight, whenever they go off, but of course this will end up making mud which can help make stink if the soil is unhealthy. If you personally have to visit them to administer punishment there is a risk that they will up the ante and begin screaming, not just yelling, and become more vocal, for longer, and louder, and anxious too. It sometimes works to stand there with a squirter and target the ring leader since there is almost always one who leads the chorus. They can learn to quit, usually. But some are particularly stupid or determined.

A time-out box often helps with some but not with others. This is preferably a box with a solid top half and mesh bottom and lower walls like an upside-down cat carrier, so if they prefer to stand and scream they're hurting their own hearing due to the acoustics; most hate that and stop, though some will lower their heads to continue with better range. For the truly determined individual that won't work at all.

Sometimes exposing them more helps, sometimes concealing them more helps, in terms of general cage structure. If they feel exposed they may quieten down to avoid attracting predators, but conversely some will become louder under such circumstances. We used to thatch the mesh walls with pine boughs for winter to stop excess wind and the chooks would become very quiet and secretive in their now darker, more jungle-like cage. Not that they were usually shrieking though, or being overly vocal anyway. Similarly, cage enrichment can help by distracting and stimulating them. If they like to stand and scream at any given point, walling it off can also help.

I often suggest people who want to keep chooks move to a place where they can do so in peace; I know it's not easy for everyone but I've moved house so many times throughout my life it seems almost like a non-issue. You get practiced at it I guess and not owning a house helps. This will potentially be an issue that crops up again and again if you continue to live in suburbia.

Best wishes with your conundrum.

 

[brijetterom]

This is what my Rhode Island red does in the am. It is so loud! It starts about 7am. I am sure the nieghbors don't like it. What can I do toe train them to not do it.

When I go down there and love on them and see what's going on they seem to quiet up a bit.

 

[chooks4life]

This is what my Rhode Island red does in the am. It is so loud! It starts about 7am. I am sure the nieghbors don't like it. What can I do toe train them to not do it.

When I go down there and love on them and see what's going on they seem to quiet up a bit.

Yep, they're training you to come out and do what they want. It's natural enough and not necessarily malicious, but obviously in suburbia can be a serious issue. Once they start making noise to get what they want, and succeed with getting what they want from you, it's a very strong lesson learned and it can be very hard to get them to un-learn it.

I've shared pretty much all the tips I have on handling this in the previous two pages, and others have shared info too, so reading through this thread will give you all the advice I have to offer on this subject.

Best wishes, and good luck!

 

[laurielaurie]

OMG, my sex-linked (who looks exactly like a RIR) makes that exact same sound all day long. We call her the pterydactyl! I tried using the no-crow collar from Mypetchicken.com. The woman on the phone said that other customers have had success with it on their hens, but she just kept trying to pull it off and I didn't have the heart to leave it on her. But it might be worth a shot!

 

[chooks4life]

lol I haven't heard of the no-crow collar being used on a hen but that does make sense. Will be interested to hear how your experiment goes, if you let us know sometime.

Best wishes.