Patridge bantam chicken poorly foot?

[chicken mum]

I have four chickens and they have been incredibly quiet since i got them, apart from the lovely clucking around the garden or cooing when I am with them. However, they have recently taken to proclaiming to the world at 6am every morning that they are awake and HUNGRY !! Is this normal ? Does anyone else have hens that do this every morning ? Does anyone know how to stop them as I am really worried about my neighbours complaining. I leg it down there every morning and they stop as soon as their grub appears but I am knackered ! I am really woried that I will have to give up the ones who are making the noise as it is only two that are currently doing it - it started off with one and now it is two so I presume they will all end up copying the original noisemaker. HELP !

[Jules.]

I shut my cube door for that very reason, & only let mine out about 7.15am.

[chucknette]

Hi

 

As Jules says I also keep my cube door shut and make it as dark as possible so that they dont know that the sun is up.

 

I open the door at about 7.15am and I rarely hear anything from them until this time.

 

The only time they were aware anyone was about was when a neighbour was talking quite loudly to their dog at about 7.00am which made them think they should be up but this only happened once.

[Janty]

I close the doors and cover the cubes with a thick blanket to keep mine quiet in the mornings. The brahmas are particularly bad at keeping themselves quiet.

[chelsea]

I shut my cube door for that very reason, & only let mine out about 7.15am.

 

 

ditto

 

Shut them in and show them who's boss!

 

We had enough of them running rings around us (they do with everything else) but we and our neighbours need our sleep. We've put a black lined picnic blanket over the top of the cube (not covering ventilation holes) and this keeps them quiet until they are let out.

 

If you keep to a routine your hens will get used to it.

[Hen Watch]

Ditto here also. Shut my girls eglu door every night and open it at 7-7.15 ish.

 

Used to love leaving the door open 24/7 until last year a spate of dawn chorus 4 am wake up calls shook the neighbour hood and I had to take action.

 

The girls got into the routine OK and don't murmer until doors opening time.

[Bondinho]

How do you cover the cube with a thick blanket but not cover the ventilation holes? Surely you need to peg it to the mesh on the run so it would have to cover the whole of the cube house inc the holes??

[hanson]

What about when it gets really really dark in the mornings in winter and doesn't get light until about 8am. I'm worried that I'll still need to open the door at about 7.15am in the morning as I'll have to go to work and that the hens will be making lots of noise for my neighbours when I'm not there!

[chelsea]

How do you cover the cube with a thick blanket but not cover the ventilation holes? Surely you need to peg it to the mesh on the run so it would have to cover the whole of the cube house inc the holes??

 

 

I have it spread over the top and down the back, the front ventilation slit on the RHS of the front of the cube is left clear and the back gaps at the bottom of the cube (by the trays) are left uncovered also. The only gaps that are covered are at the back at the top of the cube, this blocks out a bit of light which keeps it darker in the cube and keeps them quieter.

 

I dont have an omlet run.

[Bondinho]

What about when it gets really really dark in the mornings in winter and doesn't get light until about 8am. I'm worried that I'll still need to open the door at about 7.15am in the morning as I'll have to go to work and that the hens will be making lots of noise for my neighbours when I'm not there!

 

In this case then you don't have to shut the door at night as they won't be getting up 'til it is light anyway, you don't want to wake them prematurely by fiddling with the door!

 

Thanks Chelsea, I'll have to get a dark cover for next "summer" and try that.

[dancing cloud]

I had to close the Cube door in summer (remember summer?) after a 4.45 wake-up one day Even I didn't love them at that time in the morning!

 

My little monsters still jumped up and down inside their Cube and shouted for their breakfast, but at least the Cube contained the noise. I added a cheap tarp to cut down the light and we achieved a workable time of 6.00 let-out. Thankfully, the neighbours never heard them - I checked .

 

Now that mornings are darker, there have already been a couple of times when I've opened the door and just been looked at by the bleary-eyed monsters, so I expect they won't want breakfast much before lunchtime in winter

[Helen&Lee]

I started leaving the cube door open last spring and had no problems until I introduced two more chooks... no bullying, but one of my Brahma's seemed to find her voice and started to shout at 5.15am.

 

I tried shutting the cube door but the awful and extremely loud noise very early next morning put me off trying that again - you would have thought I was trying to murder them.

 

It is slightly better now and as the mornings get darker she has a repreive until next year.

 

Last winter though, I was opening the cube door at 6.30am before I went to work and they would all scramble out to see what treats I had for them, they probably took themselves back to bed when we'd gone!

[choppish]

i leave the grub in the run permanently.

 

 

although theystill make a moise wanting to go free ranging. ...but i resit untill 2pm!

[Christine Budd]

Ours made loads of noise when we introduced 2 new chucks but have calmed down now. We were waiting for a neighbourly deputation but it didn't happen.

We also leave the food in the run overnight, but in these darker mornings only one hen is up at 6.30 when I leave for London! We feed them layers mash when we are at work as we have been told it takes them longer to eat! We let ours free range after lunchtime (my OH comes home for a while then to feed dogs & fish and collect eggs).

 

Good luck!

[Valkyrie]

I am quite lucky (so far) in the mornings. I always let them out just before 9, but they did whinge a bit when we moved the cube to the winter position and the sun shone through the ventilation slit - fortunately it wasn't too loud and I only heard them when I got near the cube. We put some carpet over the top and that seems to have worked. My problem is the "ooooOOOOOHHHHHHHHHH" at 1.30 in the afternoon because they want to get out of their netted area and under their favourite tree. I used to let them have the rest of the garden at 3pm, but probably they think it is already 3 because of the nights drawing in sooner (and they go to bed much sooner too). I have also stopped the treats to twice a day because they whinge every time I go outside, although they seem to know that there will be nothing in the washing basket for them! They haven't even started laying yet - can't wait to hear them then! The only other times they have really yelled is when the hedgehog came out during the day once or twice, and another couple of times was down to a sparrowhawk, but then all the wild birds were creating too. Another oooh moment was the other day when a woodpigeon had the cheek of wandering around their tree and Cheyenne now chases any pigeons she sees on the ground!

[chicken mum]

Thanks for all that info. I think that you have hit the nail on the head. My hens started making all of this noise shortly after we got a new hen. I had not linked it but as per the above post, it seems to be something that sets them off. I had no idea that chickens could be so loud ! They are like miniature foghorns ! I will try the darkened blanket idea as that seems to have been successful for other people. Hopefully the darker winter nights and mornings will get them into a routine and they will be quieter anyway. I will make sure they know who is boss as well ! Thanks for the ideas everyone.

[Jules.]

hope all the advice works for you.