Noisy Hens- Advice Wanted!

[gracenut123]

Hi all,

We have been raising 4 hens since they were chicks, they are just over 6 months old now. They have recently started to lay and with that they have become quite noisy throughout the day, & it is not just the “egg-song” (please see attached video). Ever since the chicks were old enough we let them roam the yard and basically be free range up until now. We’ve decided we want to confine them to a run in the back of the yard with plenty of room for them.It’s been three days and since we have started doing this one hen in particular has been crying/begging to be let out of their coop around 6:30-7 am and then throughout the day begging to be let out of the run. She does this almost every hour of the day and is the loudest/most frequent in the morning even after she has laid. It is mostly one hen that is consistently making this noise, we have labeled her the "problem child" but the others often follow suit once she gets started.

In your experience do you think they will ever quiet down once they acclimate to the new run or is it too engrained in their heads that they always get to free range? We understand that they will make sounds during laying time but we never expected hens to be so incredibly noisy throughout the day. One solution that we were thinking was to rehome the noisiest hen and hope that the rest remain quiet. Although with that we run the risk of another hen taking over that job.

We live close to some neighbors and are worried that the noise is going to upset them as well as drive us nuts in the process. We are very attached to them and do not want to have to give them up, but if this continues we will have to rehome them.

Please see attached video to see the sound that we are talking about… this isn’t even the loudest example.

Any advice is welcome!

Noisy Hen video

 

[nchls school]

There is no attached video.

 

[gracenut123]

There is no attached video.

Thank you! Let me troubleshoot and i'll comment back once I get it up.

 

[rosemarythyme]

You need to upload the video to youtube or some other hosting site, and then post link. Can't upload videos onto here.

 

[gracenut123]

There is no attached video.

Video is now linked in the post!

as well as here it is : Noisy Hen video

 

[gracenut123]

You need to upload the video to youtube or some other hosting site, and then post link. Can't upload videos onto here.

Thank you! Video is now linked in the post.

Here it is: Noisy Hens

 

[Northwest_Wannabe]

Our hens always make that noise in the morning before we let them out to free range :'( I think she just wants to be free again

 

[sourland]

Welcome to BYC. As you have discovered they dislike being locked up once they have had their freedom. It may become necessary to rehome the noisiest bird.

 

[Secondof9]

What breed are they? In my original flock I had one Dominique that was incredibly loud and never stopped talking throughout the day, as well as 2 Wyandottes that were loud. I first re-homed the Dominique and a few weeks later both of the Wyandottes. All 3 were just too loud! One would make the sound I can only describe as a prolonged scream!! And I have one "sensitive" neighbor. I kept my Buff Orpington and added a Barnevelder, a Pyncheon bantam (that I thought was a Polish) and 2 porcelain D'uccle. They're nice quiet girls. Good luck with yours. I know how hard it was for me to let go of my girls.

 

[gracenut123]

Welcome to BYC. As you have discovered they dislike being locked up once they have had their freedom. It may become necessary to rehome the noisiest bird.

We are realizing now that it was our fatal error to let them free range all that time. If it comes down to it we may rehome and try again with some girls that will stick to the run from the start. Would be very sad to let these hens go but it may be necessary in our situation. Thank you for the reply!