One of my hen's has started making a strange noise.

[Karen Glatz]

I have 9 hens and a rooster. My 2 year old Welsummer hen has started making a kind of Ayyyyyyeeeeeee noise several times per day.

The first time was a very hot day and I thought she might be in distress and overheated. I gave a blueberry and ice block, used my squirt gun to douse them all with water, and stayed to watch them for an hour or so. Everyone was panting, but not holding their wings out. She didn't seem any more stressed than the others, but did make the strange noise several times. And many times since.

It's in the 70s today and she just did it again. She is low in the pecking order so I often chase everyone away so she can get a share of treats. There is plenty of feed, berries, watermelon, yogurt, mealworms, oyster shell, a 2000 sq ft run to dig and toss, a dust bath, plenty of shade (where it's probably 10 degrees cooler), water and any thing else I can think of. She's nicely feathered. She seems to run around normally and is laying normally. She clucks and talks like the others too.

But still I'm worried about her. Anyone else heard that kind of noise.

 

[sourland]

Chickens have a large vocabulary. A tape of the sound would help to identify what she is saying, and why she is saying it.

 

[Karen Glatz]

She doesn't make it frequently enough to really catch it on my phone.

Imagine kind of yelling aiiiiiiieeeeeeeeeeeee lasts about 2 to 3 seconds. I haven't noticed any behaviors associated with it. It's not a quiet sound, which is why I ran out the first time I heard it.

 

[chrissynemetz]

I think..... I might have a buff Orpington hen who does that when it's very hot. She makes the most horrendous noise. The first time I heard her I was checking for eggs and she was in the run. It scared me to death! Sounded like a dying moose.
I don't know if it's the same sound your hen is making, but your description of it sounds just like my girl.