Really LOUD noisy hen, as loud as a rooster! What to do??

[Tippy Toes]

I have a black Astralorp, Priscilla, who actually throws tantrums!
She's wanting breakfast and will make an awful racket until I come down with their smorgasbord of mealworms, porridge, banana, fermented seeds and lettuce. It's just like when children start off, "mum... mum... mum... Mum! Mum! MUUUUUUUUUUUUUMM!!!! Lol. I wonder she doesn't damage her vocal chords when she gets to the last, loud, extended baaaaaaaaaaakkkk!

Priscilla will tell me when something is not right... she is the 'neighbourhood watch'. If a chicken is over the fence (happened a couple of times), gone under the deck ... or whatever, she will let me know! I have apologised to the neighbour (with a bottle of wine) and they said it doesn't bother them (thank heavens).

All my girls announce the arrival of an egg. They're very proud and if I'm about, I go out and praise them. It usually calms things down.

Unfortunately, there is nothing you can do to keep them quiet. My chickens are never locked up in their coop. I did have to keep them inside it when the tall fence was being built and they certainly let me know they had 'cabin fever'. I would not ever lock them up other than for their own safety.

They put themselves to bed around dark and get themselves up in the morning. I used to lock them up but a series of events had me introducing one new chicken... always thwart with upheaval to the pecking order. As she was still young and smaller, I was worried that if they were in an enclosed space, they could damage her, or even kill her. So little Prudence was the reason I left the coop open, initially. We don't have foxes near where I live and the yard is fenced against dogs. I have two cats myself and they interact quite happily with my chickens.
There are snakes here. I did have one chicken die of fright when a large python draped itself over the coop door. We took the python to a nature reserve nearby (but far enough away so it wouldn't be able to return). I keep an eye out for snakes and especially now that the weather has warmed up with the arrival of spring, and if I notice eggs missing, that will be a good sign.
So, all a verbose way of saying... take a treat to your neighbour (chocolate, wine or both ) and hope that your girl settles with time. Good luck with it all.

 

[Rae Rae]

Our Buff Orphington is really loud as well. Sounds like she is being murdered in the back yard every day. It is horrifying.

We have 3 girls all three different breeds. The Buff is 2nd in the pecking order. They run free in our back yard and go into the secure coop at night.

The last time this started happening (I know it sounds strange) but I used The Dog Wisperer's (Caesar Milan) techniques where, when they started acting out, I took a "Calm Assertive" position and showed them who is boss (AKA flock leader). My technique was to put my hands over their wings, and gently but firmly hold them to the ground while standing over them. I would firmly look into their eyes and say "No". Then when I would feel them calm down (you can feel their heart beating) I would gently release them. This is not just a technique but you actually have to take on the "Calm Assertive" demeanor and know in your heart that you are their boss, not the other way around.

I know this sounds very strange, but for a very long time it worked. They were quiet as mice for about a year. I found that working on the first in command (alpha girl) worked the best - because she became more calm and as a consequence the others followed.

But now - my Buff is loud again - I think I have lost my mojo and they can sense it. They are strangely in tune with my emotions (as I believe all animals are).

The trick (last time) is that I started treating them like chickens and not pets. I would still give them their greens, and other treats that they liked to eat but I would not do it with an excited disposition. I think you can get away with that when you own dogs, but chickens are a little more bossy and need to know who is their flock leader, otherwise they will literally run amok.

Just a thought - hope it works. I am going to try again to get my flock leader mojo back The alternative of finding them another home is too heartbreaking for me.

 

[zenriot]

I know this thread is old, but I have the same problem. I did not read through every answer, but I have found playing them music quiets them down. I suggest classical or soft music like massage music. Seriously, not a joke, they seriously go quiet when I play them music!

 

[Brynne42]

I know this sounds crazy, but unless I figured something out I was going to have to rehome my favorite hen, Basil. She was SO loud. All the dang time. But she’s the sweetest of my 3. I tried a spray bottle (what I read on here), but then I decided to think like a chicken. Without a roo, one of them will think they are at the top, and act as the leader. So I decided to act like a roo and put her in her place. When I let them out in the morning, they all come up for cuddles. But for Basil specifically, I started holding her down to the ground a little more firm, and slightly pull on her neck feathers. She seems a little distressed, but nothing too bad, she lays as usual and still likes my company. But she has stopped causing a ruckus. It’s only been a few weeks, but so far- not an abnormally obnoxious sound from her. I truly hope it stays this way, or else she’s gotta find a new home. Hope this method helps!

 

[Funnyfarmsilkies]

I know its been a while since you posted but i just saw it...i was looking up on how to keep my chickens more quiet. So what happened to your chickens? Mine are starting to be loud too but i got more and have been giving them treats so i think i will have to stop doing this. Recently started putting them in a dark garage in the morning. Seems to work but dont really want to worry about always doing that. I am thinking i might have to sell my noisy ones but those are also the friendliest ones.

 

[totallycrunchy]

Hello to all!

We are new chicken owners. We have 2 hens, a buff orpington and a silkie, and we keep them in our coop outside. We have had them since March, and they have become our beloved pets. We see them every day, we pick them up, they love the attention, and we love having them. They bring us a lot of joy (and just recently started laying eggs), and we give them treats a couple times a day, scratch seeming to be their favorite. Unfortunately, all of this seems to have created a noise problem we didn't anticipate.

We live in a neighborhood where homes are fairly close together. It's not illegal for us to have hens -- keeping them is allowed in our city, but if they become a noise problem to our neighbors and they start complaining about our hens we would have to find new homes for them. Our chickens are smart & they love our attention so much they figured out that making a lot of very loud crying will get us to go to see them & give them treats whenever they want us to (it seems they own us rather than the other way around). The problem is they now have started doing this at around 7:00 a.m. and we're very concerned we'll start getting our neighbors upset. The noise they make is VERY LOUD - my buff orpington in fact makes a noise which sounds very much like a very loud goose !! Going out there to see them only stops it for about 10 minutes - after that they go off again. We can't always go out there to see them all day long, we work, we have errands to run just like anyone else, so I'm not sure what we can do.

I fully realize we unwittingly created this problem by giving our hens so much attention. But I really did try to do my best to read as many books & forum posting here at this site for months & months before taking the plunge and getting a few birds. In all of my reading I don't remember reading *anything* about excessively noisy hens possibly becoming a problem in a living environment like where we are (roosters, YES, tons of references to that problem, but I don't remember seeing a single thing about hens who are very much just as loud as roosters are -- seriously, no rooster I know of could top my buff orpington's goose scream!).

This morning at 7:00 a.m. my buffy starting going off again. Not knowing what else to do & wanting to try to create some sort of deterrent, I went out there & sprayed her several times with a water spray bottle. She panicked and ran trying to get away from me. I really feel bad for that and don't want to do that again. We spent so much time trying to get them to trust us, and now here I was trying to make them fear us. That obviously isn't the right solution.

I might be able to sound proof the coop to some degree, but it still needs to have windows so they can get air, so that wouldn't really help that much.

Please, if anyone has any suggestion or knows of a solution for how we could modify their behavior, please let me know.

Thanks.

We are having the *exact* same problem, and the same living situation and have treated our 4 hens the same way. We have 4 lavender orpingtons which we thought was a quiet breed. Our one hen Plum is the biggest loudmouth and it’s stressing me out so much. I don’t want to piss off our neighboors and also I’m super noise sensitive myself and it puts my anxiety thru the roof. Plum sounds like a growling monster. Ugh! Hope someone has sugestions. I realize we have created needy pampered girls, but my intention was just to enjoy loving up on them and have them be friendly (which they are) They all go crazy when they catch sight of us and start being super noisy