Locking Bar Eglu Classic

[kiwichick]

Poor you. Why is it we chicken owners worry this way? Do dog owners do the same? The last few days I've covered the Eglu with the triangle shaped cover to see if it helps and I've been fortunate enough that the girls have been quiet until almost 8.00am. Or maybe I've been tired enough to sleep through their noise Whatever, it's been bliss.

 

Could you arrange two neighbours/friends to look after them while you're on holiday? One to do the morning shift and one to do the night shift? Maybe you could use your holiday as a training exercise for the hens. Get whoever locks them up to cover the Cube with a tarp and then have them let out at 8.00am. You won't be home to hear them squawk, I doubt the neighbours will hear them if they are in the cube, and the hens might learn that noise does not equal freedom.

 

Good Luck

[BarbaraJ]

My chickens are on the back and we sleep on the front so i don't think i would hear them to be honest (i'm sure kids would let me know if they were loud though)but hubby lets them out at 7am and he says he has never heard a noise until they hear the door to run opening. Then he hears quiet muffled muttering. I wonder if its the light getting in as we have a wooden coop with just air vents at the top so no light gets in really.

I hope to god they don't start squarking in the morning i would panic though most of the neighbours like their noise.

 

Also after reading lots of advice on here before getting them i don't let them out to free range till at least 11am so they get used to being in their run in the mornings. Also i don't talk to them when i go out unless i go in the run, just potter about and they are generally fine.hopefully my hard work pays off

They moaned a little today when i tricked them back in at 6pm with corn because there was 2 days poo in the garden i wanted to clear up. They are used to going to bed themselves then i shut them in such creatures of routine

[Paola]

Your chicken run looks fab BarbaraJ [/code]

[..lay a little egg for me]

My experience is the same as Barbara's. We also have a wooden coop which is very dark inside. There is just that muffled muttering until we open the pop hole. In fact, ours don't even seem to want to announce the laying of an egg. No loud bok bokking even when the neighbour's Jack Russell was running around their enclosure. Are we just lucky?? (that's tempting fate eh?)

[BarbaraJ]

Thanks Paola, i keep thinking hmm maybe an extension lol

 

Mine have made that awful bok bok loud alarm call when next doors cat comes in but only once or twice so far, wow didn't know they could make a noise that loud!!!

[chickflick]

have had same problem

cure=cover backof cube with old groundsheet which blocks out the light making sure it covers sides and back(and shut door at night).They now wake up at 6.30 -7.30 ish onwards which i can cope with not the 5am i was having .

I think the cube transmits a lot of light through the grey plastic panels.

[Tanvi]

Hello SharonX,

 

We're having the same problem with my two chickens and am desperate to hear that there is a solution. Did the water pistol thing work? How did you do it? Did you also do it in the morning at 5am?

 

We planning to go on holiday for the long weekend, and were going to ask a friend to just feed and water them and collect the eggs, once a day. We've started leaving the eglu door open at night anyway. But what with all the shrieking it's going to really mess up all our neighbours' weekends - feel very guilty. What to do?

 

Thanks,

Tanvi

[Couperman]

Ours create a racket when laying and when they see us come home from work.

 

We leave the cube door open so they can get up when they like.

 

The do make a horrible low pitched schreeching noise that seriously gets on my wick when they want to be out and it is always rewarded with a blast of water. They never make a sound when I am armed with a hose pipe.

 

I never unleash them unless they are quiet either. I haven't got them totally trained yet but hey, it's only been a year!

 

Kev.

[Tanvi]

Will definitely buy a water pistol today.

 

Thing is, we leave the eglu door open at night nowadays, so they can just wake up and eat and drink when they want. And our curtains are shut, so I don't know how they know we're in. But I guess the fact that we've been bullied into getting up to let them into the garden has reinforced it that it's worth shouting and braying (really!) even if they can't see us.

 

So water pistol at 5am. But then what? Walk away without releasing them and risk having them start again just when I reach my bed, or, water pistol and then release?

 

Gosh, our earlier two were saints compared to these new ones. They just bobbed up and down to be let out if they saw us but never shouted!

[Couperman]

I think there are scientific formulae which apply here;

 

a + b = a^2 +a

 

the second formula is

 

a - b +c = a/2

 

where;

 

a = bad chicken behaviour

 

b = reward.

 

and c = water pistol

 

 

if only the second one worked

 

Kev.

[..lay a little egg for me]

Will definitely buy a water pistol today.

 

Thing is, we leave the eglu door open at night nowadays, so they can just wake up and eat and drink when they want. And our curtains are shut, so I don't know how they know we're in. But I guess the fact that we've been bullied into getting up to let them into the garden has reinforced it that it's worth shouting and braying (really!) even if they can't see us.

 

So water pistol at 5am. But then what? Walk away without releasing them and risk having them start again just when I reach my bed, or, water pistol and then release?

 

Gosh, our earlier two were saints compared to these new ones. They just bobbed up and down to be let out if they saw us but never shouted!

 

Pistols at dawn, eh?...choose your seconds! Who will gain satisfaction? Fie Sir Tanvi!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I posted about my noisy girls elsewhere - does this sound familiar to all of you?

 

http://s243.photobucket.com/albums/ff181/Vvicki/?action=view&current=Picture003.flv

[Egg Lou]

Oh my god! Hope I don't offend anyone but are they really as loud as your video every morning?? Getting my first chooks in a month and if this is the norm I think I will be getting my first complaint in 1 month and 1 day, first council visit in 1 month and 2 days and moving house in 1 month and 3 days!

 

Please tell me this is not a daily occurance

[kiwichick]

Thats hilarious Aint. One of them sounds like she has bokked herself ho"Ooops, word censored!".

 

FWIW - mine only make that noise for about a minute in the morning, regardless of whether they have laid or not. The noise I dread is the relentless and long drawn out boooooooooookkkkkkkk, booooooooooooookkkkkkkk.....

 

Who knew they could do it for hours without letting up? Do chickens have voiceboxes?

[Shelley Cockell]

Great - I'm having this problem on occasions and my son just had his 5th birthday and got two super soakers - sure i can reach the run from the bedroom window with them!

 

Notice that the Omleteer (sorry can't see your name now!) who started this thread is from Rainham in Kent. Hello - I live in Cliffe - anyone else localish?

[BarbaraJ]

lol mine have done that a couple of times, though i run out and shh them after a bit. Luckily it hasn't been early yet so people are generally at work.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

No, they don't do it every morning and it doesn't last long - they'd been at it a couple of minutes before I got the camera out and stopped soon after I finished filming them. It generally seems to be once a day so I don't worry too much (although I do go out and shush them if I'm here ).

 

That was at 7.10am - so hopefully all the neighbours were awake by then .

[Egg Lou]

Thanks ANH

 

Sounds like it might not be quite that bad then

 

I haven't told my neighbours yet and wasn't planning to just yet.. but may have to re think that

 

They do sound fun though.. just not early in the morning!

[Couperman]

ANH,

 

That is the 'we just laid an egg each therefore everyone should know' noise.

 

Not the really annoying 'let us out you're evil' one

 

Kev.

[prettychic]

1 Of me ex bats does the exact same noise on that video in the mornings!! ive only had them a few days & hide when they sqaurk coz im so worried about the neighbours. There fine doing the day. x

[Shelley Cockell]

ANH - are you sure they don;t have hiccups???!!!

[SharonX]

Hi Shelley! You are very close, haven't seen anyone on here that close to me, I think Essex is the next nearest??

 

Well, still having bad mornings and the odd break. That video was funny Aint, mine do do that, but more when they have laid or have been startled. The noise I'm talking about sounds more like a load of sea gulls! They are dead quiet at the moment so they must be planning something.

 

I think people are right on here though, that they have been spoilt and have had too much their own way and just want out of the pen from first light to dawn, which obviously isn't possible so I am trying to 'retrain them' Noise does not = feedom & noise does not = treats! The water pistol works for a nano second to be honest. They all shut up, run and then start again.I have been going into the garden and ignoring them and not letting them out as soon as they start, and things are slowly improving, but just when you think you are getting somewhere they let you know they're not impressed! They didn't come out at all yesterday because of the rain and boy did they let me know they had the hump. Still very quiet this morning though..........

[Helly Welly]

Reading this thread did make me giggle. I can just picture loads of chicken owners sneaking around their houses so the chickens don't see them

 

We have a large walk-in run and leave the cube door open at night but if they don't get any attention by 730am they tend to let you know.

 

They are usually let out by 9am, when we first got them we would let them out really early as we were worried about the neighbours but they soon got into a routine.

 

They do make a noise during the day, when they've laid or seen a cat, but to be honest, the neighbours will just have to put up with it. We've complained about their noise often enough

 

OH suggested that if they complain, they would have to keep a log of incidents, just like they suggest when we complain. Trouble is, the council would be round like a shot because its animals. Grotty kids, they couldn't care less about.

[Tanvi]

So we tried two things. First, we bought a groundsheet from the camping shop and covered the run with only the front bit open. This meant that they only started shouting an hour later (at 6:30am), and more intermittently. Then, when finally I went to let them out - after 8:30! - I first squirted them a few times with the new spray bottle everytime the shouted, and then let them out when they were quiet. My husband was very glad to be relieved of his 5:30am chicken-release duty.

 

Not sure about the water spraying either. When the really noisy one came towards our house after doing her egg, demanding something to eat, I went after her with the spraying, but they just seemed to get louder while they ran to the end of the garden!

 

Not solved this one yet...but glad to hear I'm not alone!!