I live in a subdivision and had six chickens (2 ee, 2 white leghorns, 1 br & 1 red). They are all just over five months old, either the br or the red has been laying eggs for about a week. Yesterday I gave up on my one white leghorn and found her a new home because of her constant loud shrieking and yelling. It was constant and awful and seemed to be getting progressively worse. Yesterday we came home and it sounded like a massacre was going on in the backyard. She did finally lay her first egg yesterday and was quiet for all of 5 minutes while she did so. As soon as she was done though it started right up again and continued for at least an hour. Rather than lose the whole flock for disturbing the peace, I found her a new home and delivered her to it late yesterday. This morning, the other white leghorn started in with the ruckus. It wasn't nearly as bad, nor nearly as long but still, it's an obvious disturbance.
My questions:
1. Is this a temporary thing that will go away once they get into the swing of laying eggs?
2. Is this a breed thing? So far the rest of the girls are fairly quiet and it's only been the leghorns.
3. If I re-home this second leghorn will the next dominant one in the flock just pick up where she left off?
4. Do they sell muzzles for chickens?
5. Is there anything else I can do?
The girls are not free range but they are allowed to roam the backyard for several hours each day. The leghorn I re-homed was loud regardless if she was in the coop or out. The one today was only loud in the coop and I waited for her to quiet down before I released them.
Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.
My questions:
1. Is this a temporary thing that will go away once they get into the swing of laying eggs?
2. Is this a breed thing? So far the rest of the girls are fairly quiet and it's only been the leghorns.
3. If I re-home this second leghorn will the next dominant one in the flock just pick up where she left off?
4. Do they sell muzzles for chickens?
5. Is there anything else I can do?
The girls are not free range but they are allowed to roam the backyard for several hours each day. The leghorn I re-homed was loud regardless if she was in the coop or out. The one today was only loud in the coop and I waited for her to quiet down before I released them.
Any information would be appreciated. Thanks in advance.