My hen is crowing - can I make her stop?

[ubermom]

We have a one year old cochin bantam who has been a good little egg layer for us. She was at the bottom of the pecking order of our four hens because of a hurt foot early on. She went broody this spring so we got her some chicks to mother, which she has done a good job with, but she started to bully our silkie to keep her away from her chicks, and now that her chicks are about 2 months old, she has started crowing constantly. It is such an awful sound, and she looks just like a rooster crowing. We're in the city with very nice neighbors who haven't yet said much about our chickens that we're not really suppose to have, but I don't want them to start getting annoyed by the noise (my husband is already annoyed enough by it). We have another hen who squawks a decent amount, but this is different - this really is crowing.

I was wondering if anyone had any advice on getting her to stop, or is this a "phase" she's going through, or do I have to find her a new home? She's my daughter's favorite chicken, so I don't want to have to get rid of her. Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks!

 

[BoerneChickens]

No idea but hoping to learn about this along with you!

 

[KellyHM]

The only way I know to stop a hen from crowing is to get a rooster.

 

[Peppermint]

 

[watersoflethe]

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[enola]

Depending on how badly you want to keep her you can try this.....

PLEASE DO NOT FLAME ME, this poster is asking for help and this is the only thing I know to do to help. Thanks in advance.
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You can try limiting her movement by using strip ties to shorten her steps. This is slightly humiliating to the hen and may help to lower her status in the flock. She will still be able to drink and eat. You may need to lower her nest if the nests are elevated in your hen house.

She is crowing because she sees herself as the flock leader. She is crowing to challenge any chicken/hen/rooster that she thinks needs to know how important she thinks she is. Just like any rooster does naturally.

 

[coopscs]

No idea here either, but one of my hens started crowing last week. She isn't even the dominent hen and I have a rooster, so this is a pain in the neck. She stopped laying, but she never has been a great layer. She took an egg vacation about 5 months ago too, but started back up only to quit again. She only bullies the one girl that she knows she can. Like I said, a real pain, just know you have company....

 

[A.T. Hagan]

She likely has a malfunctioning ovary which is causing her to not produce the female hormones that would ordinarily make her behave as a hen. This is allowing the male hormones she produces to evidence themselves in a way they ordinarily do not thus the crowing.

It's not very common but it does happen. Sometimes it eventually resolves itself and sometimes it does not. All a matter of what is causing the ovary malfunction.

"Whistling girls and crowing hens always come to some bad end." I have no idea why the whistling girls part, but it's been observed long enough for it to crop up in old folk sayings.

 

[Siler]

I read on here somewhere that hens protecting chicks will become so aggressive that their female hormones are lessened enough to allow the male hormones through and thus the crowing. And because she's lowest in the pecking order those aggressions to protect are even stronger in her. I think once the chicks are out of her care she'll stop. Maybe try to help her with her status in the pecking order. I wouldn't say this if I didn't try this myself. One of my hens was at the bottom of the pecking order and so I helped her a bit with feeding her more and shooing away the others. At the bottom she was chased away and allowed less food so I chased away for her and gave her more. Also at night when they all go up to roost I would put her in the best spot in the roost. Hubs built an all new roost so that more than 1 could share the best spot and we'd put her in that area so she wouldn't be picked on. Now she's no longer everyone's whipping boy.

You could also try and give her more privacy so she doesn't feel the need to crow and protect the chicks. Block everyone else from getting to her. Isolate her so she feels protected enough. Also it wouldn't hurt to talk to the neighbors personally and apologize to them and assure them it will stop when the chicks are older. *shrugs* Offer them some eggs when available.

 

[rancher hicks]

It's well documented that a flock w/o a roo has the possiblity of a hen taking over the duties of a rooster even to the point of crowing. This apparently is what you have going on. You may need to give her away and hope it doesn't happen again, or do some research and see if there is a breed that this is less common in.
By the way the crow of roosters do not all sound the same even among breeds. Some are more pleasant than others. I had three and I could tell you who was crowing at any given time.