Strange Chickens????

[DarleneE]

I think I must have the strangest chickens in the world!!?? I have an Easter Egger and a Barred Rock who are 8 months old. When one of them is laying an egg, the OTHER one will just go crazy singing what I believe to be the "egg song"!!?? I thought chickens laid an egg and then THEY sing their little song?? Why in the world would mine sing for EACH OTHER, when each is laying their egg?? Its really a problem here since we are in the suburbs, in a housing sub-division where the houses are fairly close to one another and you can clearly hear this loud cackling all over!! We're also not even supposed to HAVE chickens here according to our homeowners association, though my next door neighbor also has a chicken, THANK GOD... or he'd be the FIRST to complain and report us!! Anyhow, I was just wondering if anyone else has encountered this problem and is there anything I can do to curb this behavior a bit?? Thank you for any help/answers you can give me.

 

[sunflour]

I have some that sing when others lay. All 6 of mine sing a chorus almost in unison when something around their run changes…like a new plant, something moved in my yard not even close to them. You can train chickens to do quite amazing things, but don't think you can change mother nature.

 

[chikkenfriend]

Not so strange. Our girls used to do the same. Our girls lay like clockwork and most of them about the same time. They used to scream at each other saying 'get outta my box!"

Of our 4 nest boxes, only one ever had any eggs! Our solution? Curtains. Now we get eggs in 3 boxes. One still ain't good enough for them.

Before

After

Hope it helps! Good cluck to ya! :cd

 

[sunflour]

Not so strange. Our girls used to do the same. Our girls lay like clockwork and most of them about the same time. They used to scream at each other saying 'get outta my box!"

Of our 4 nest boxes, only one ever had any eggs! Our solution? Curtains. Now we get eggs in 3 boxes. One still ain't good enough for them.

Before


After


Hope it helps! Good cluck to ya!

Mine have curtains and they still sing the egg song.. But never thought about it …the get out of my box did stop when I added the curtains..

 

[chikkenfriend]

Mine have curtains and they still sing the egg song..  But never thought about it …the get out of my box did stop when I added the curtains..

Yes, OP has the 'get outta my box' song, I think.

 

[DarleneE]

Oooooh so it may be a "get outta my box" song?? Wow I hadn't even thought of that!!?? Well... Hmmmm now curtains would be difficult out in the yard cause their nests (and notice I say "nests", cause there are TWO of them, one for EACH!!) are just those plastic bins!! They have two out there. The first one was blue, now we added a bright pink one and that's the one they BOTH use now!! The blue one NEVER is used anymore!! Guess they like the bright pink?? Although my Easter Egger rarely even lays out there.. she instead wants to come back to the nest in the coop, esp if it's later in the day, as I suspect that plastic gets too hot for her. She has a big problem with the heat here in Florida.. she's always panting poor girl!! However, also it's odd they'd be saying " get outta my nest " cause they RARELY lay at the same time!!?? My Barred Rock lays every 24-25 hours always. But my Easter Egger lays a little off.. She lays like every 28 hours!!?? I don't know why that is either!! So... I guess in summary, I'm asking if they'd sing that "get outta my nest" song EVEN IF it isn't time for them to lay and in fact often times the one singing has already laid her egg!!?? Thanks for all the interesting comments!! I LOVE learning as I am a first time chicken mama and just love my girls to death!!!!

 

[sunflour]

Oooooh so it may be a "get outta my box" song?? Wow I hadn't even thought of that!!?? Well... Hmmmm now curtains would be difficult out in the yard cause their nests (and notice I say "nests", cause there are TWO of them, one for EACH!!) are just those plastic bins!! They have two out there. The first one was blue, now we added a bright pink one and that's the one they BOTH use now!! The blue one NEVER is used anymore!! Guess they like the bright pink?? Although my Easter Egger rarely even lays out there.. she instead wants to come back to the nest in the coop, esp if it's later in the day, as I suspect that plastic gets too hot for her. She has a big problem with the heat here in Florida.. she's always panting poor girl!! However, also it's odd they'd be saying " get outta my nest " cause they RARELY lay at the same time!!?? My Barred Rock lays every 24-25 hours always. But my Easter Egger lays a little off.. She lays like every 28 hours!!?? I don't know why that is either!! So... I guess in summary, I'm asking if they'd sing that "get outta my nest" song EVEN IF it isn't time for them to lay and in fact often times the one singing has already laid her egg!!?? Thanks for all the interesting comments!! I LOVE learning as I am a first time chicken mama and just love my girls to death!!!!

Check out Youtube videos, there are quite a number that have chicken egg songs.
If you mean the plastic bins are on their sides, giving a roof to it, then you could attach curtain over the plastic bins duct tape might work. Curtains don't have to be elaborate….you could use an old towel, empty feed bag or something else you have on hand. but better if it doesn't ravel if you don't want to sew. I use old blue jeans for mine. Just cut wide strips up from bottom and leave it several inches above the bottom of the bin.

It would be interesting to see if they show more interest to the blue bin if you just add curtain to that one?

 

[chikkenfriend]

Is the pink one more shaded? It could be heat. Or maybe it's prettier! Get another pink and put it in the shade! You might be on to something. Also, how far apart are they? Too far? Too close? I don't know but your ladies might be telling you something there too. Just a thought.

Our girls love their privacy. Maybe try a blind of some sort and see if they like it. We used a big box before I built our coops. (They lived in the garage for a week or so). The box helped. They seem to feel more secure when they can't see anyone. I just moved the nest boxes to a corner and set the box next to them. Instant privacy.

:yiipchick good luck!

 

[sunflour]

Is the pink one more shaded? It could be heat. Or maybe it's prettier! Get another pink and put it in the shade! You might be on to something. Also, how far apart are they? Too far? Too close? I don't know but your ladies might be telling you something there too. Just a thought.

Our girls love their privacy. Maybe try a blind of some sort and see if they like it. We used a big box before I built our coops. (They lived in the garage for a week or so). The box helped. They seem to feel more secure when they can't see anyone. I just moved the nest boxes to a corner and set the box next to them. Instant privacy.

good luck!

Screening them and making sure area is comfortable…good idea.
Some like privacy, others will lay simultaneously in the same nest. Perhaps no one told them that pink = girls and blue= boys is a cliche?

 

[chikkenfriend]

Screening them and making sure area is comfortable…good idea.
Some like privacy, others will lay simultaneously in the same nest.  Perhaps no one told them that pink = girls and blue= boys is a cliche?

Right on! My wife says I look good in pink!