Will our chickens always be this LOUD?

[switters]

Our 6-month old pullets just started laying. And they are telling EVERYONE in the neighborhood about it! Starting at about 5:00 AM they make a huge ruckus. I can hear it in the front of our house about 300 feet away, so I'm quite sure our neighbors behind us and on both sides can hear them even more clearly - since they are closer than that. We have nine gals, and when they all get going it's something to behold. It doesn't bother us so much, but we're worried about our neighbors. We live in a semi-urban area and although chickens are legal here, there are ordinances that prevent loud noise at certain hours (including 5:00 AM). Will this noisemaking will quiet down a bit as the girls get older, or is it something we (and our neighbors) just have to get used to?

 

[Buff Hooligans]

Swit, my girls set up a ruckus often enough during the warmer weather - hardly a peep in cooler weather.
And in our neighborhood, it echos between the houses. But since all the neighbors were forewarned by the
Town, they can't complain about it. Plus, many people find chicken noises charming, so long as they're not roosters.

 

[switters]

It's winter here in the SF Bay Area, and they're loud. I mean really loud. I love chicken noises myself, but if I were trying to sleep and they were right behind my house I might get a bit irritated. They are legal here, but we'd like to maintain good relations with our neighbors if possible.

 

[Mahonri]

So with the holidays and all we have TONS of people at our house... when my wife cooks, it's a major production. So yesterday I give away about 5 dozen eggs, that leaves us with a couple of dozen. Well by the time she's almost done cooking this morning she sees that she's just about out of eggs and sends me to the coop for more.

I get out there and my hens can't just all use a different nest box. I have 7 large boxes and there are hens on the perch waiting to get into one box and they are cackling up a storm. Only got 4 eggs out of that trip but I'll get a dozen more before the day is out.

Good thing it's an enclosed coop or I would have complaints.

 

[switters]

We have an enclosed coop but we let our girls range. We've been thinking of keeping them in there the first half of the day until they lay, and then let them out to forage in the afternoon. However, our coop is not soundproofed in any way. So we'd have to get some foam insulation or something like that to reduce the noise.

 

[meadrian]

I'm in the Bay Area, too and one of my girls started in one morning being LOUD and I swore I'd have the neighbors poking their heads out to complain. They didn't. One even told me she liked the sound of the girls in the morning.

However, I'd been going out early, in the dark, with a lantern to clean, refill food, water, etc. and that would get them up and squaking. Now I do all that in the evening so I don't wake them. They're up around 7:00 am and I give them some greens hanging from a suet container that keeps them busy poking at it and talking less. Or I throw some millet seed for them to peck at and it keeps them quiet for awhile. At least it keeps them quiet until a reasonable hour.

Do they do this every morning?

 

[Andi]

You know I've been concerned about this also. I have 4 girls and this is their first Winter. I thought the girls would be quieter. I'm worried about the neighbors, too. I live in passive-aggressive country. Don't get me wrong, I like almost all of my neighbors, but none of them would tell me if there was a problem. They'd just gossip amongst themselves and we wouldn't hear about it until the sheriff would show up. That's how we found out we had a dog barking during the day while we weren't home. Kinda puts a sad sense of relation between us.

Most of my neighbors are retired farmers and probably find it nostalgic, but I'm worried. I also want to know if they will get quieter as they get older. Is it the breeds? My 2 EEs are the quiet ones. My California White is the noisiest (or most talkative) followed by my BA, who sounds like she's doing long complaining. Not as loud, but long and insistent.

I really thought having just girls wouldn't be a problem. Was I mislead? Will I be having to expect to be buying off my neighbors with eggs? It sure would suck to have to eat store bought eggs so I can supply my neighbors to keep them happy.

 

[meadrian]

This is my girl's first Winter, too, so I don't know if they get quieter. I think it partially depends on the breed, EE's and Wyandottes tend to be quieter. But also depends on the individual chicken. Mine were quiet until they started laying. We're still waiting on one, but she's a GLW, bottom of the pecking order and so natually pretty quiet. Once my other 2 were laying, I get the "chicken song" to varing degrees of noise levels. Sometimes they're totally quiet.

That's really too bad about your neighbors. There are 3 barking dogs in our neighborhood, one right next door, so if they complain.....let's talk about the dog, too. But so far so good and like others have said I want to keep a good relationship with my neighbors.

Is it legal to have chickens where you live? If so, how can the sheriff get involved? Where we live noise level complaints can come after 10:00 pm. The police don't respond to anything before and our girls are always in the coop. Mornings are the issue. I figure if you can keep the noise level down till around 7:00 am, there shouldn't be a problem. And like I said, I do it through food. Keep them busy pecking for awhile and they stop talking.

 

[Andi]

There's not any ordinances in place where I live. Its in a village. The neighbors are close, just like in town. There's not a noise ordinance either, but the sheriff needs to come out if there is a complaint. The embarrassment from having the sheriff pull up to the house is bad enough.

I usually wait an hour to bring the girls breakfast out. Maybe I'll have to bring it out right away. I'm not sure what I'll do come Summer. I can't just keep giving them treats to last for hours every morning. They'd never eat their feed.

 

[meadrian]

Yeah, I'm a little concerned about summer, too.

Would they peck for their feed?