Solving Omlet Smart Auto Door Timing Issues with Alexa Routines

[Chicken Licken]

What about a radio?? If they are quiet when you talk to them they could be a perfect candidate for radio 2 (or any other station). I guess you could get a transistor radio (or modern equivalent) and leave it in a plastic box by the eglu. I bet you can even get a modern one that has a time switch to come on - I have a mental image of my clock radio packaged up next to an eglu (if only I had an outside power supply!!). Suppose it could be worth a try. Mine are quite noisy but they live at the back of the house and my bedroom is at the front. The fairly busy high street going by drowns up pretty much everything and my neighbours are chicken converts.

[Mirkwood]

why should we feel that we are anti-social because we have chickens, i too get the loud music in summer and footaball, my 2 "pet" hates. thats anti-social man made din!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!not chooks boking. If this during the war "Ooops, word censored!"ody would think any the wiser because people were encouraged to have hens. Ooooooooooooo some neighbours make me mad. i am very very fortunate with my imediate neighbours 1 side had them as children, offered to look after them if the need be, the other side well shall we say a little fib sorted that one out and today he asked me how they were doing

RANT OVER

[The Dogmother]

Sorry to hear about your problems, although if your neighbours haven't complained, do you actually have a problem?

 

I've always had two pekins in my flock, and yes, they can be gobby little madams, but they've never bothered me in the mornings, in fact none of them have unless I've slept in, which never happens.

 

I sleep with the window open too, and the only thing that disturbs me are the macaws living at the top of the road... now they are LOUD!

 

If it's bothering you, may I suggest earplugs?

[KTee]

I hate the dogs that bark with a gap of like 5 secs so you think they have finished drives me insane lived next to one of those for a few years

 

I have EXACTLY that and sometimes in the early hours.

 

None of our hens makes a sound whilst laying.

[chickenanne]

If nothing else works, then just ask your neighbours if it's disturbing them. I'd never suggest keeping chickens is anti-social (obviously!) but if they are waking you up then they might be waking up your neighbours.

Sorry, but just because someone else in the area is too ignorant and inconsiderate to control their dog or turn the volume of their music down doesn't mean that it's fine for anyone to do it.

The chances are that there's no issue - even if they are woken up, they might just think, "oh, its those chickens", and go back to sleep again. But I think if your neighbours feel that you want to be a good neighbour then the chances are they won't get worked up about the noise. After all, anyone and everyone has to put up with some level of noise wherever they live, be it traffic/dogs/children/etc/etc/etc.

[auntie_teleute]

Thanks for all the replies to my original post, unfortunately I do not feel that I can keep my girls due to the noise (I have been working hard to resolve this since last autumn). Neighbours are lovely, and even lean out the window to check the girls are OK, but the noise does wake them and I don't feel it's fair. However I will look for a good home for them and will consider getting a quieter breed to replace them.

 

Many thanks

 

Julia

[The Dogmother]

There aren't many 'quiet breeds' Julia - it really varies from one chook to another and ont he dynamics of a the flock. Usually if one starts, then they all follow suite, so weeding out the troublemaker might be the best option.

[pickles]

i had the same problems with mine, and it wasnt until i moved them closer to the house during the winter that we realised how noisy. Our neighbours thought we had geese!

i read somewhere that they are noisier when they have just laid, they like to tell the world about it.

 

When we first got them they woke us up really early a few times, through double glazing, really shrill jumped out of bed wondering what was going on. We realised that it was next doors cats wandering past them in our garden. the chooks went balistic. We got one of those ultra sonic cat scarers and moved the chickens away from where the cats hang out seemed to do the trick.

 

They were also very noisy in the mornings, when they wanted feeding and some attention. Soon settled down by lunchtime though and had afternoon naps and dustbath together at the end of the run in the sun

[Eyren]

My two pekins have been as quiet as mice since I moved them in with the wyandotte - she seems to have taken over as top hen of the group, and since she only makes a noise when something bothers her (planes flying overhead, etc), they have been following her lead and not making a noise in the mornings. Ditto the other two, who have been moved to a separate ark.

 

Ironic, really, since she's a mouthy little madam when she puts her mind to it!

[sebowyer]

In my experience, they only start to shout once they start laying. Mine were so silent for the first couple of months that our neighbours didn't even realise they'd arrived. Once they started to lay, however, the noise was dreadful. I tried keeping the door shut (they shouted but it was quieter), door open (they stood at the house-end of the run and shouted very loudly), run covered and uncovered (made no difference), food and water in the run (made a small difference) and so on. Their record was 04:50am. Yes, that's before 5am! Not impressed. The routine became

1) hens squawk at day-break

2) I stomp outside, fill up a cup with water

3) I deposit water onto hens

4) I open the run door (if I didn't open it, they'd squawk again as soon as I got back inside)

5) I stomp back inside and go back to sleep. Hens are quiet once they're out of the run, until they get bored, when they start squawking again. I'm currently "between hens" and also looking for a quieter option, or at least one that sleeps until 8am! Bantams sound like a good option - are they quieter or just less raucous?

[Eyren]

Since the original post is about pekin bantams, I'd have to say no, they're not necessarily any quieter! Wyandotte bantams have very loud voices, but OTOH mine isn't a "dawn chorus" girl - a few squawks to let the world know she's up, then quiet for most of the day.

 

It really depends on the individual hen, unfortunately. Some will soon give up if you don't give them any attention, but others seem to be permanently stir-crazy and hate being shut up in the run.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Auntie_teleute, I don't know how many hens you have, but is there one that is noisier than the rest? (I have one that is noisy, the others are like church mice.) Could you rehome one and see if the others quieten down? It seems such a shame to get rid of them if "Ooops, word censored!"ody's actually complaining (although I know how you feel - I'm on tenterhooks when Maisie's squarking).