Summer = Windows Open @ Night = Loud Chickens In Morning!

[Nifty-Chicken]

Just thought I'd vent to my BYC friends!

We've been getting summer heat which means we open our windows at night to let the hot air out and cool air in. This morning I was trying to sleep in but was woken by two hens fighting (squawking) to get access to the same nest box that another hen was using (yup, doesn't matter there's another perfectly good available one next to it).

We're in a pretty residential neighborhood so each year I get worried that my neighbors are also opening their windows at night and experiencing the same morning yelling matches. I figure if it is waking me up then I'm sure it isn't making them too happy.

Hopefully I can find a way to get them to use the other box or find another way to keep them quiet... if it doesn't drive the neighbors crazy it will drive me into having a firm chat with the louder girls in the bunch!

 

[gryeyes]

I've got the same problem, but there's an additional source of noise in the evenings until quite late: tree frogs have found my goldfish ponds. People did not believe how loud they were until I recorded them on my cell phone to play it back for them.

And Carl the rooster is so very good about waking up his girls every morning, then standing on top of a coop to announce his Rooster-ness.

So I feel your pain.

(My neighbors once told me it was like living next to the Pirates of the Caribbean at night - I have solar-powered twinkle lights in the trees, the waterfalls in the two ponds run 24/7, the tree frogs are audible all the way over there, and then, during the day, there are the Happy Chicken sounds.)

The lady of that house absolutely refuses to take eggs for free - she pays me for them!!

I still think she might be lying about not being bothered by the rooster....

 

[hcammack]

Yep I have the same worries about my three roosters I live in a very suburban neighborhood so the boys go in to boxes to sleep and then come back out at night. Then again its hot enough so most people have there windows closed with AC on here. No one has complained and I have had roosters for 9 months now! I am very surprised I have had up to 4 roosters at once but I think as long as they are locked up at night then it fine. One time I did forget to lock them up and I was up at 3am scolding crowing roosters ha ha. Hope your girls figure out there dispute my hens all lay in two boxes I don't have very many so its not to much of a problem.

Henry

 

[hcammack]

Quote:
Feel the same way about my neighbors ha ha they are to nice to say anything but for the month long roosterless period they are excited but I assured them don't worry I am going to pick up some new breeding roosters in two weeks so It won't be long till they are back

 

[Enjaytoo]

Quote:
Oh good, I thought I was all alone on having to crate up boys every night and let them out every morning. Its really a challenge with the pheasants but man are they LOUD at 5am if I don't. Glad to see I am not completely alone

 

[sonew123]

Quote:
Oh good, I thought I was all alone on having to crate up boys every night and let them out every morning. Its really a challenge with the pheasants but man are they LOUD at 5am if I don't. Glad to see I am not completely alone

All my chickens get locked up at night-they are all let out at 7:30 am except on weekends. I let the neighbors sleep in until 8am-then I can't take the muffled sadness of crowing saying "Mommy...let us out!" So even though there is alot of property between all my neighbors-we live on a pond and that carries FAR! I have 16 nesting boxes-10 of which they never use ( Im moving it!) and they love 2 out of the remaining 5-it's war at 9am with 20 hens making a beeline for the 2 boxes!

 

[Serrin]

No, y'all are not alone in locking the boys and girls up for the night. I do it myself. But right now I do it for two reasons. #1) To prevent coyotes from getting to my flock. There has been a pack of the little evil doers in the lower meadow, yapping and carrying on till all hours for the last fortnight. Reason #2) as with everyone else, I'm trying to give my neighbors and myself a break from five little boys who have discovered they have vocal chords and what they should be used for.

The big girls usually don't start their egg laying until well after 10:00 AM, so that doesn't bother anyone in the neighborhood. Plus the coop is insulated due to harsh winters around here. Keeping everyone locked up until about 7:00 am works like putting them in a nearly sound proof chamber. We also have a very large margin of space between us and any of our neighbors. They all swear they don't hear any of the boys unless they happen to be outside at the time.

I'll just have to take their word for it.

 

[Matt A NC]

If I don't hear the boys crow I wake up. I don't sleep much and when I do I am normally only half asleep. That is really odd to explain. I am asleep, but I know it and can still hear everything that is going on.

Anyway... They go through a crowing session around 4am every night. I listen for all 8 before I drift off again to lala-land. Each has a distinctive crow. It helps that the dutch are only about 50 feet from my bedroom window. They are the quietest.

If I don't get up at daylight to open the houses I start to hear the girls complain. That reminds me I have to get up in 5 hours, goodnight.

Matt

 

[Nifty-Chicken]

I live in a pretty urban / suburban city so I'm sensitive to the chickens being noisy. I'm always the one commenting that it is the peeps that keep roosters illegally in the suburban areas that create problems for those that want to raise just a handful of hens.

Of course, hens aren't mute, so there's still some considerations to be made. We have great neighbors and very good relationships, and I'd love to keep it that way.

Maybe I'll just need to experiment with some new nesting box placement and maybe even some inner coop sound-proofing.