Loud hen

[Meltheskier]

I have an urban flock of four and we have one REALLY loud hen who gets her day going at sunrise (currently around 5:15am). She's super loud for a few hours and then settles down for the day. We are allowed the hens per the city, but I don't want my neighbors to hate me. Any advice on how to maybe teach this hen to be quieter?
We've tried keeping her locked in the hen house until 7, but that didn't seem to help...

 

[Pork Pie]

No advice to offer but I've had similar hens - drove me crazy (and the neighbours, I'm sure) - they've all had a date with the crock pot.

 

[micheleomal]

Unfortunately some chickens and breeds are louder than others. My speckled Sussex drives me nuts with her cackling in the morning. Wish I could offer some suggestions.

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I have an urban flock of four and we have one REALLY loud hen who gets her day going at sunrise (currently around 5:15am). She's super loud for a few hours and then settles down for the day. We are allowed the hens per the city, but I don't want my neighbors to hate me. Any advice on how to maybe teach this hen to be quieter?
We've tried keeping her locked in the hen house until 7, but that didn't seem to help...

Hi, welcome to BYC!

I have 2 hens that announce very loudly from the highest point they can get that they are going to lay an egg that day. They will stand up there and preach a whole sermon. I actually LOVE it! My hubby thought something was seriously wrong with one of our goats since he hadn't heard it before. And I got a nice laugh. My neighbors are far enough away and it doesn't happen at 5 am. My roosters start crowing around 3 am but don't get let out of the barn before 7 as a courtesy to neighbors. I think it muffles the sound *some*.

Honestly I've watched it so much.. and my EE who does it, uses it as a distraction. She creates all kind of noise and attracts a bunch of attention for quite a while and by the time you are ignoring her, before you realize you can't hear it anymore, she has slipped away into a secret location to lay her egg! So it really is, at least for her a way of keeping her nest hidden and safe from predators... she thinks. And it might work in nature.

So I have to mention last night on the trail to our bonfire we must have been passing a nest of some kind because a bird scolded us and then flashed it's wings and flapped around on the ground acting injured trying to lure us away from where we were passing by. It's so special to see nature doing it's thing and protecting their young!

I honestly don't know if there is anything you can do to change that behavior. I might suggest rehoming. Or at least go talk to your neighbors and let them know that you recognize a possible issue and see if they would like you to work to resolve it or it doesn't bother them. Seriously I can't stand loud crows, jays, or neighbors yapping dogs that early. But my point being that it *might* not be a problem. Or not anymore than some other things (dogs).

For me, I love my neighbors and plan to be here a while as do they. Angry neighbors are not delightful and I try to put myself in their place. But since I have killed them with kindness, they ALL know if they approach my properly (without attitude) I will do whatever it takes to make it right. However that sometimes includes them being patient and having a goal date to correct the issue. For example when I got fresh weaned goats they screamed at the top of their lung for like a month before they settled in. One neighbor was irate (cursing) thinking their peace had been ruined FOREVER instead of being able to sometimes hear the sea lions or the waves crashing. I would have felt the same way. But when I went and explained what happened and that I too do not plan to live with screaming goats forever and if they didn't settle down within X number of months that I would do the responsible thing. I have ZERO issues with my neighbors despite the fact that every other neighbor of that one is basically at war with him. Of course it might need to be a more reasonable time frame depending on the animal/neighbor/and situation.

Life is too short. Take eggs when you go to chat with a neighbor.

One last thought... you might consider finding a way to make their coop darker for that period of time since chickens are creatures of light and light is what actually wakes me up in the morning. Probably them to. And chickens can see UV so they also sense the sun several hours before it actually rises. Yes, this last one is a very good thought process... I think!

Good luck!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Sorry so long... the settling comes after the egg has been laid for us. If they are still cackling they haven't yet done their business.

 

[rosemarythyme]

Unfortunately some hens are just very loud compared to others. I have a Welsummer who sings the egg song for herself and all the others, and her voice carries at least a quarter mile (I can hear her singing while I'm out jogging). I second the advice about talking to the neighbors and seeing what they think before you rehome her.

 

[Meltheskier]

Thanks for all the advice! Our next door neighbors on either side are fine, we just have a house right behind us and they are getting increasingly annoyed with their early morning wake ups We are going to be re-homing the hen this weekend. She'll get to be a free-range chicken with more land, so hopefully that'll be a better fit for her. Thanks for the advice!