Training my hens NOT to be so noisy so early

[Happy Chooks]

An automatic door would help with this. They can get busy scratching around instead of waiting to be let out.

Of course, it's not going to stop a rooster from crowing. I actually worry if I wake up and don't hear my rooster.

 

[whitehousechix]

maybe get a flock block for their coop to keep them occupied until you get out there, or hang a head of cabbage up, something to play with ..also, do you leave food and water in the coop for the night?

 

[Judy]

Quote:
Me, too, exactly.

 

[Nicole01]

My coop is pitch black until I open the door. They don't make a single buk or bawk until I wake them up. I do hear them talk very quietly in their bedtime voices/calls. Having the coop pitch black helps. They don't start their racket until a half hour to hour after I wake them up. The ordinance says 7am-10pm is when hobby farm noise is allowed. My coop is also fully insulated, so it helps keep the noise level down when they are inside. I usually throw two handfuls of homemade scratch and that keeps them busy for a while too. If I let them out of the run to free range, they are quiet then as well. On hot days I do open the door early around 6 am. Good luck.

 

[gryeyes]

Quote:
Me, too, exactly.

Same here!

 

[duckinnut]

The only training done around here was on me! @04:30 rooster starts,lets the neighborhood know the sun will be up soon. @04:45 I get up make coffee before wife comes down,she's mad cause the roo wont stop. @05:15 poke my head out the window,getting bright,no clouds,girls are all talking in the coop. @05:30 drag my butt downstairs with a bowl of scrap veggies,grab a scoop of scratch and head down to the coop. Spread said veggies and scratch open top half of door and say good morn and pull the pop-door rope out they go. @05:45 back in house afraid to make eye contact with said wife,my idea to keep said rooster. @07:30 back at coop,check feed and fill waterers,oh yeah and eggs. Many trips during the morn to check for said eggs. After my lunch @13:00 bring down cut zucchini from the fridge(you know the kind that hide til the are 2ft long and weigh 5lbs) or its cousin the 2lb cucumber that you swear was just a flower yesterday.

They only thing missing is me with a huge palm frond fanning it to keep them cool.

My life has turned into Ground Hog Day,dont know when,how or why it happened. I think the dog may have tipped off the chickens. He has got me trained pretty well too,but thats a story for another day.

 

[R_Chickens]

Our Roo starts just before 5am. I roll over, look out to check that all is well outside and close the window. I can still hear him through the other open windows, but it's not as imposing.

The past week we have been greeted by a flock of 12 turkeys in our yard.

Crows are a frequent annoyance this time of year. Crows REALLY annoy me and they never shut up!

I've waited for the turkeys to go away and shoot one crow on occasion. My hope is they will soon get the point. They disappear and stay away for most of a day.

The other morning I went out with the rifle as the hens were all very noisy and I was concerned something was trying to get into the coop. We are on a large area (86 acres) and have a number of predators. All was well, they just looked at me in my boxers as if to say 'What the heck are you doing here? You aren't due for another hour or so'

I told my DW and DD I didn't realize they were just singing, 'Hi ho, hi ho, it's off to work we go....'

Even though I don't always get up for the day at 5am, I just remind myself, 'Never curse the day.' Any time you get to see another sunrise, be thankful for the blessing! It's not a guarantee.

- JC

 

[stollenmaker]

Training? Probably not! But, we did invest in an automatic door, which is a blessing.

We went with the Pullet-Shut Automatic door and it's a doozy. We don't have to worry about the neighbors with the early morning noise the girls can, and do make when they want out. We also got our life back, in a sense. We can go out in the evenings and not worry about the girls being in the coop and unprotected... the door closes by itself and keeps them safe.

The automatic door is not "cheep" but is well put together and easy to install. I was going to build a version of it that I saw on Youtube... but by the time I'd gotten all the supplies and then tried this method and that and goofed it up all too many times... I knew it would be cheaper to just buy one. It was the right thing to do!

Get an automatic door and save yourself the worry and stress. Chickens should make you happy, not crazy!

 

[vjbakke]

Our girls get let out about 7:30- 8, sometimes I do hear them in their doing their egg song, not every morning. They are always begging for treats and noisy when I walk by. We live close to a park that has lots of ducks and geese so if our neighbors do hear them they probably thinks its a loud goose. I find that if our girls can't see anyone they are pretty quiet. Maybe I got lucky and got the quieter chickens. DH relatives have more than we do and they are so noisy when we are there. Maybe it varies per breed? We have 4 RSL and 1 Dom and 4 EE that are 2 months old so still peeping.

I will add that our coop is inside our garage and is insulated, probably a good reason we don't hear them too much in the morning,

 

[Haleyrbloom]

I think the wild birds are waking mine up. They wild birds are pretty loud.

Sounds crazy, but I thought about putting a rain sound in the coop to drown out the bird noises.

They started bawking at 5:20am.