Naughty Hen

[EmmaG32]

Hi there, looking for some advice please. I am relatively new to keeping chickens. I have a small flock of 4 hens which are a mix of Silkies and Peakins.
They had been getting on well so far, but recently one of the Silkies has taken it upon herself to start pulling the feathers out from the smaller Peakins and generally making their lives difficult! She has also started a very loud and continuous squawking ‍
I understand that there is a pecking order and this will attribute to the feather pulling and pecking but does anyone have any suggestions on ways to manage the squawking as the neighbors have started to comment on the noise. She’s laying, so it’s definitely a hen.

If I can’t get the noise under control I may have to reluctantly consider re homing my lovely ladies
Thanks xx

 

[azygous]

I have one of those loud mouths. Yesterday she squawked and screamed and yodeled all morning and half the afternoon without letup. She suddenly became a quiet as a church mouse when I let her out to free range.

Have you tried letting your little noise maker out? There is so much more to do outside of a run than inside, and also chickens are much quieter when out in the open since they are fully aware that, as prey animals, they are calling attention to themselves by being constantly noisy and loud.