Loud, Growling Chicken -- what are my options?

[ross1]

Have 5 chickens that are a year and a half old. One is a speckled sussex, which no doubt, is the smartest of all of them.

Sometime in her first year, she developed a loud growling noise (think some people refer to it as the dinosaur noise), and makes this noise when she she wants something. So, if we don't let her out of the run when they want to come out, or if they're not let out of their private free-ranging area into the larger yard, she'll let you know. They always have access to food.

The issue is that we're on a city lot, and this is quite loud. Her routine typically starts by 6-6:30am, and wakes up immediately. There is already an automatic pop door between the coop and run.... but she wants out of the run, and then once out of the run and in their fenced chicken area, then will regularly start the loud growling to get out into the yard. If we don't intervene, this can go on for an hour or more. If we intervene, soaking her with the hose and telling her 'no', it might stop for a few minutes or the day.... but recurs the next day. This is pretty stressful and frustrating.

The chickens have essentially become pets to us, so we aren't interested in culling her, and would prefer to keep her.

I've read a lot of forum postings about loud chickens, and it seems the only humane thing to do is to find a good no-kill home in the country. I've read about the rooster collars... does anyone know if this would help with a hen?

Other ideas? What other options do we have?

Thanks in advance!

Ross

 

[smarsh2]

I think you have about covered it. I don't think the collar would do any good.

here is a point you need to know. every flock of hens seem to have a loud one in the group. it doesn't seem to necessarily, and in my experience has never been, the dominant bird. i believe that you are likely to just create a new noise maker if you got rid of the one you have now. it seems to be part of the make up of a flock of chickens. I can understand your concern about noise, even though there is a lot of noise in most urban settings. i suspect you can hear a dog barking most anytime. but you don't want to be an irritation to your neighbors.

you might consider a solid fence around their pin that would reduce the carry of the noise.

 

[ross1]

smarsh2 - thanks for the reply

Yeah, the bigger issue is that it's turned into a daily occurrence for an extended period, versus an occasional noisiness.

So, you think that if she is removed from the flock, someone will pick up in her place?

Anyone else have any thoughts on this?

 

[welasharon]

Chickens are noisy. My hens make far more noise than do my roosters. I don't seem to have any one breed that is worse than the others. They all pretty much are noisy.