Very noisy happy egg song...can I train chooks to lay not so early :-)

[villiams]

Hi guys. I was just lying in bed listening to one of my girls carry on doing her very noisy and strung out happy laid an egg song.
It's quite early here and I worry about the neighbours whos home is quite close to my coop ( having lived next door to kids who played drums at 6am I am aware how annoying a consistent unwanted wake up can be) so Im thinking perhaps as the sun is coming up earlier I will try to black out their coop a bit more to see if they will "sleep in" but MY BIG QUESTION is it possible to train chooks to lay a bit later - like could I cover up the nesting box til say 730 or something?
Has anyone had similar problem?
Love some solution ideas

Oh and I have now gone from 1 egg a day to 5 - my girls are loving the warmer weather which is so exciting ( but not for my neighbours lol)

 

[Criticalicious]

I don't know if it's possible to train them but it does seem weird they are laying so early in the morning. Maybe I have lazy bums, but they don't lay eggs until closer to noon.

 

[boskelli1571]

Hi guys. I was just lying in bed listening to one of my girls carry on doing her very noisy and strung out happy laid an egg song.
It's quite early here and I worry about the neighbours whos home is quite close to my coop ( having lived next door to kids who played drums at 6am I am aware how annoying a consistent unwanted wake up can be) so Im thinking perhaps as the sun is coming up earlier I will try to black out their coop a bit more to see if they will "sleep in" but MY BIG QUESTION is it possible to train chooks to lay a bit later - like could I cover up the nesting box til say 730 or something?
Has anyone had similar problem?
Love some solution ideas

Oh and I have now gone from 1 egg a day to 5 - my girls are loving the warmer weather which is so exciting ( but not for my neighbours lol)

How old are they? The time of egg laying will vary as the period is about 26-7 hours, so it won't be a constant. I have never heard of training chickens - the egg comes when it's good and ready, much like a baby.
Can you insulate/sound proof the coop a bit? Planting some bushes on the neighbors side will help to deflect the noise but bear in mind, a hens song is as many decibels as a barking dog, and generally lasts a lot less time.
Bribery is good - give the neighbors eggs

 

[villiams]

Thanks for reply. Appreciate it. I have deciduous shrubs there so hopefully as they leaf up they will help. I do give my neighbours eggs but the ones closest to the coop are a bit odd ( not in good way) so just like to try prevent problems before complaints.
Hadn't thought of sound proofing - might be able to find else to put up along the fence too
Thanks

 

[Chickassan]

Nope, even if you black out the coop and they sleep later they'll just lay on the roost, in the dark.
The best part, the egg falling makes noise which will set all the chickens off.
You can put a very attractive treat bowl out there so they sing a little then go snack.

 

[rosemarythyme]

They lay when they lay... sometimes there's already a couple of eggs when I get up and go out in the morning, other times they're rushing to push one last egg out before it gets too dark to roost.

 

[villiams]

Treat bowl could b a winner. I rushed out at 630 and gave some of last night's leftovers to them and it did distract who ever it was. 740 now and another is at it.
Definitely don't want them to lay in roost so won't try black out.
Thanks for reply

 

[aart]

I rushed out at 630 and gave some of last night's leftovers to them and it did distract who ever it was.

Could be a bad habit start.....they may start calling for treats.
Chickens are noisy, it's just part of the deal.

If they are new layers, they may quiet down after awhile, and lay at more 'appropriate' times. Can take about a months or so for things to smooth out.
New layers are often loud...I had one group of newly laying pullets that were so loud I had to close the house windows so I could work on the phone.

 

[hispoptart]

I'm glad mine don't lay so early, they are so loud I'm sure there would be complaints. I have one that has an extremely loud egg song, the bad part is that when she is done laying and comes out of the coop another one will go in and she continues to sing as if the flock is being attacked! She does this until they have all laid and are out of the coop. Thankfully there are only 3 of them.