What is the quietest chicken breed?

[Shelly0723]

My neighbors complained about my roosters so I had to get rid of them. Now that my roosters are gone, 2 of my hens take turns and make a lot of noise throughout the day. We want to avoid the city telling us we need to get rid of all our hens. Is there any chicken breed that is naturally quieter? I have a hen that doesn't make any noise, not even when she lays an egg, instead one of the other 2 noisy hens sings for her . I don't know what breed she is or if she is just a super rare hen that doesn't make any noise and got it from her father who doesn't crow. She is a massive, at least 10 lbs, fluffy white hen that lays light brown, sometimes pink looking eggs. The person we got the egg (gave us 12, but only one was fertile) from has hens and a rooster that look just like her, but he doesn't know what breed they are either. Since the rooster is shooting blanks, I don't want to ask for eggs and have only one hatch like last time. We assume he is shooting blanks because of all the eggs they have attempted to hatch from that rooster, only my hen hatched.

 

[Nym]

Your quiet hen sure does sound interesting, especially the egg colour. Could you please post a few pics so the experts can have a shot at indentifying her breed? I would try for another single hatch .. the end result may be a quiet rooster?

As far as quiet breeds go, my Pekin bantams were pretty quiet until I also rehomed a silkie cockerel that they had co-raised. One of the hens then called out for her silkie baby continuously for months. She has since settled down and taken up a watch-guard position similar to that of a rooster. I also ignored her noises when feeding treats - only giving her any when she piped down. All the best! Keep us updated

 

[Shelly0723]

This is when she was 5 months old. She has since gotten fluffier and a bigger comb

 

[Shelly0723]

This is the egg next to a brown store bought large egg

 

[Nym]

Thank you. @NatJ will know

 

[Amer]

That is a white Plymouth Rock. They are a very calm, lazy breed.

 

[NatJ]

That is a white Plymouth Rock. They are a very calm, lazy breed.

I agree.

2 of my hens take turns and make a lot of noise throughout the day. We want to avoid the city telling us we need to get rid of all our hens. Is there any chicken breed that is naturally quieter? I have a hen that doesn't make any noise, not even when she lays an egg, instead one of the other 2 noisy hens sings for her

Some chickens definitely are noisier than others, and it does seem that some breeds are more prone to it, but there is no breed that you can guarantee will be loud or quiet.

In general, the calm ones that don't get upset about anything are the ones that will be quieter. The active alert ones (often labeled "flighty") will tend to notice things and make noise about them. So breeds described as "calm" or "docile" or "tolerates confinement" are a good starting point.

You certainly could try getting some other hens and replace the noisy ones, but there is always a chance of the new ones being noisy too.

My neighbors complained about my roosters so I had to get rid of them. Now that my roosters are gone, 2 of my hens take turns and make a lot of noise throughout the day.

How long has it been? They might settle down over time, or they might not.

Do you have just the three hens, or are there others that you didn't mention? Getting rid of the two noisy ones might make sense, but you don't want to have just one single hen left alone.

 

[Shelly0723]

How long has it been? They might settle down over time, or they might not.

Do you have just the three hens, or are there others that you didn't mention?

We got rid of the roosters 2 months ago, they all went through a mourning period where they barely ate and were not laying as many eggs for a few weeks (we took the eggs they were laying and hatched them (7 in incubator and 3 with the hen in avatar pic) so now we have 10 more plus 3 more pullets we bought a month ago) and then I switched their feed and they are once again laying like normal but I have a hen that has taken over the rooster role and is making a lot of noise. I have 8 adult hens. The noisy ones are 2 of 4 black australorps. I also have the one in my account image, IDK what her and her 2 sisters are, they look like New Hampshire, the rooster was a New Hampshire, and could have been crossed with Silver Laced Wyndotte, Welsummer or other New Hampshire.

 

[Shelly0723]

That is a white Plymouth Rock. They are a very calm, lazy breed.

Thank you!

 

[NatJ]

We got rid of the roosters 2 months ago, they all went through a mourning period where they barely ate and were not laying as many eggs for a few weeks (we took the eggs they were laying and hatched them (7 in incubator and 3 with the hen in avatar pic) so now we have 10 more plus 3 more pullets we bought a month ago) and then I switched their feed and they are once again laying like normal but I have a hen that has taken over the rooster role and is making a lot of noise. I have 8 adult hens. The noisy ones are 2 of 4 black australorps. I also have the one in my account image, IDK what her and her 2 sisters are, they look like New Hampshire, the rooster was a New Hampshire, and could have been crossed with Silver Laced Wyndotte, Welsummer or other New Hampshire.

In that case, you might be able to get rid of the noisiest few and have a quieter flock.

If there is anything heritable about noise, then hatching eggs from the quietest hens may help in future (except that of course you can't hatch eggs from your hens without having a rooster to fertilze the eggs, so you're probably stuck there. Unless you know someone with a rooster and can make arrangements. Maybe AI for chickens?)

Noticing which of your hens are loudest and quietest, you might keep those traits in mind when selecting new chickens in future.