Why do my chickens holler and scream so much?

[peepsnbunnies]

I feel your pain, Dave!! I have a black rosecomb. Belgian d'Uccle, rosecombXd'uccle mix and a belgain d'anvers. They all cluck loudly like that when they lay an egg, sometimes they all cluck at once when someone lays an egg. Sometimes it drives me nuts cause they will go on and on and on.

:|

 

[ChickaChickaBoomBoom]

Quote:
Ironically, I'm sitting down to read this after one of my hens decided at 6:30am this morning to "crank 'er up" again. When i went out, the other hen was in working on laying her egg, so the best I can do is quietly entice the loud girl with some cherry tomatoes, a back rub, or just "shhhhh"-ing to try to take her mind off her friend.

Now she's out running around the backyard, staring in the sliding glass door, or chasing the visitor birds away from "her" birdseed feeder - but at least she's quiet!

-Dave

 

[thndrdancr]

Dave

I really sympathize. I listened to your video and man oh man.

My girls are soooo quiet, they "talk" a bit in a low (very low) almost purr, buts bout the sum total. The loudest they ever got was when my hen decided to crow one morning, but even that was quiet compared to your hens. Maybe I raised them from chicks and since they werent a part of a "flock" to begin with, they dont know how to be chickens, cuz they really dont make "bok,bok, cluck, cluck" noises.

I feel for ya.

Jill

 

[peepsnbunnies]

I have already been out twice quieting them down. I have close neighbors too and try very hard not to let these girls be a nuisance to them. The only noisy ones I have are the ones already mentioned. I have silkies and showgirls and they don't make a big deal when they lay an egg. They seem to be much more laid back and quiet.

 

[chickbea]

All my girls have been noisier when they are young. It gets better as they get older.
My only other thought is that something is scaring them - maybe shadows going overhead?

 

[ChickaChickaBoomBoom]

Quote:
I know in my case that sometimes a cat will be nearby and they get going, but for the most part, it is now pretty obvious that for the hour or two that one is sitting in the nest working on an egg, that the other is letting the world know of the impending arrival.

If I could just develop a system where I can lay in bed and release cherry tomatoes as needed, it'd be helpful. As it is, i end up jumping out of bed, throwing on some clothes, running downstairs, grabbing some sort of treat, and then running out to quiet them down. Not jumping out of bed would be wonderful!

-Dave

 

[ChickaChickaBoomBoom]

Just to add: I don't blame the chickens. I know I'm the fool for getting them when I'm 20 feet from my neighbors window.

-Dave

 

[lindseykoehler]

Oh no...this sounds just like my situation! I too jump out of bed at 6:00am to let our 3 hens out because I don't want to wake up the neighbors. We have a particularly aggressive and noisy Delaware hen and she makes the biggest ruckus!!! My husband built the coop next to the fence - about 15 feet from our neighbor's bedroom??!! So I feel especially bad in the morning! Man do I feel sorry when we go on vacation!

 

[ChickaChickaBoomBoom]

Quote:
I think we're leading parallel lives.

-Dave

 

[ChickaChickaBoomBoom]

Quote:
I don't think that's crazy at all. In fact, I've thought about that a lot. Obviously there is some Pavlovian reaction going on, because they now come running from anywhere in the yard when I walk out towards their run.

Having said that, their laying times seem to cycle later in the day over the course of the week, then start over early, so many days the clucking starts (presumably) after I've left for work, and therefore there isn't any "reward" for shutting up. I can only imagine how long it goes on, but hopefully the 9 eggs I gave to the neighbor across the fence yesterday will help smooth things out a little.

The rest of the time, they are very quiet, or at least not loud, so it really is geared towards the egg-laying (when I'm not generally around) or a nearby cat (hit and miss), so I'm hoping I'm not creating enough of a pattern for them to remember.

On a sidenote, I've noticed that they are much quieter when they have the entire yard to roam in, versus just the rabbit area or - gasp! - their run. However, for the second day in a row, we only received one egg versus two, so now I'm wondering if there is an egg or two somewhere that will surprise us later? We'll see...

-Dave