Noise Pollution!!!!

[RIVERA69R]

My chickens just started to lay exciting but boy are they LOUD does anyone have any ideas to keep the noise down. I know you cant stop them from singing the egg song

but is there any ideas on how to maybe contain it no complaints from neighbor but a little worried thanks

 

[Uppity Peon]

They quiet down when terrified. Maybe a pack of barking dogs will solve the prolem.

Bur seriously, I don't think there is much you can do but get used to it. And share your cackle-berries with the neighbors.

 

[ROC4K]

hmmmm stop a hen from clucking.....

I'd like to offer advise but this issue is going to be tough. I think some breeds are more vocal than others..and may just come down to bloodlines as well. I have several ladies that just don't stop talking. We call it Bridge Club. The ones in the coop aren't to bad...compared to the uprights indoors

Give a gift of eggs to anyone in earshot.


Father of 3 girls (5-5-11) and Husband to 1. Surrounded by ladies from sun up til next dawn.

 

[RIVERA69R]

Quote:
Yeah like i said i know you cant stop them from saying what they got to say but i would like to muffle the sound a little maybe insulate the coop with hay bales or plant privacy bushes around the run or something to that nature

 

[cgmccary]

Not much you can do. I give my neighbors eggs. Nobody has said anything about the hens.

Most mornings, my hens wake me up to their chorus at about 5;30 a.m., all 21 of them. It can get loud and lasts about 5-10 minutes. What is strange is that it is as if someone cuts it off. As suddenly as it begins, all of them in unison, it stops in unison.

 

[bleuquila]

heh, I registered here to ask basically the same question. This morning I got my first 2 eggs!

But the girls are LOUD! I only have 3, and the americauna is quiet, I think the Delaware and Cuckoo Maran are the squawking culprits. I feel bad since they seem to wake up around 6 - 6:30am ! A lot of people around here have barking dogs in the yard, but I still feel guilty

I usually try and get up myself and go outside since they will run over to see what treats I have! Of course that doesn't help when I want to sleep in!

I will of course offer some eggs to my immediate neighbors (duplex, so our yards are right next to each other) when all of them are producing and I have some extra.


-- always figured that roosters are the noisy ones and that having hens would be no problem, noise-wise

 

[cmom]

I was going to suggest offering your neighbor some eggs.

 

[swtamour]

I darken their coop until about 9am so when they make noise, my neighbors should be up by then. I have only 3 RIR and they are noisy but less when it's dark in their coop and they still lay eggs.

 

[justuschickens]

Quote:
My four Americanuas are quiet too and so I didn't think anything of adding two more chickens...little did I know some hens get quite loud. My Buff orpington and her friend who were raised together and came to us together pace and squack for each other when the other is laying an egg. A friend of mine who grew up on a farm here in Iowas said her Mother told her their chickens only talked when they were laying an egg and they were saying "look what I did"
We get any where from three to seven eggs a day so they collect quickly in the fridge and we share with our neighbors and make sure our chickens living conditions are above adequate just in case we have left someone out and they decide to report us for the noise because the only thing animal control would probably do is come in and check to see that the chickens are being properly taken care of. Their environment is clean and they have fresh food and water...we would be doing this anyway and there really isn't much you can do to keep the girls from talking. I have noticed the more kitchen scraps we provide them with the happier they seem to be and the less complaining they do though so maybe that is an idea. Keep them occupied with a tasty treat or something interesting to peck or scratch. Someone in here somewhere said in the winter he hangs a cabbage from a rope to give them something to play with as well as enjoy eating in their coop. I suppose the same could be done with lettuce. Just drill a hole through the head of lettuce with a screw driver or knife and run the rope through and hang it where they can reach it.
If anyone has any real answers I would love to hear them too because I worry about the same thing -noisy noisy little chickens!

 

[BorderKelpie]

I don't know if it will help 'camoflauge' the noise, but how about hanging some nice wind chimes around the coop? (Maybe that can scare off some predators, too). And, always be willing to share eggs, most people accept bribes well.