4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[Jenstuds]

Hello

 

Would like a bit of advice please. Had our chickens (ex-batts) for about six weeks now. All going well except they are getting increasingly noisy in the mornings. Fortunately they don't do the full on crowing noise that often but do make quite a lot of squawking sounds.

 

We've been leaving the eglu door open as they used to make quite a bit of noise in the eglu in the mornings, as well as there being some pecking problems. But now when they are in the run they are getting increasibly loud. I'm not sure why they have started doing this - perhaps this is their nature and they were more reserved before. But it's very stressful as I'm conscious of the neighbours (our eglu is sited about 20m from any house, but the sound does travel) and also worried about what may happen when it gets to summer and they start getting up earlier.

 

Any suggestions or ideas? Be good to know if others have this problem or if it might just be my birds. Thanks.

 

Jenny

[quickcluck]

Hi Jenny......

 

If they are getting themselves up in the mornings is there food waiting for them in the run? As they are usually starving first thing!!!!

[Jenstuds]

Yes, we top up every evening (and have noticed on the couple of times we didn't that they were especially loud that morning.) But usually they have plenty of food and are just making a noise for the sheer hell of it.

 

Would be interested to know if others have quiet chickens? Is it the breed that makes the difference? Any advice on keeping them shh'd would be welcome as I'm dreading a neighbours complaint.

 

Jenny

[quickcluck]

Hmmmmmmmmm its a tricky one some suggest covering the eglu with something to try to keep it darker in there for longer!

[Busybird]

I too have noisy chooks. They are particularly loud when:

- one is in the Eglu laying an egg (I wonder if the others wonder where she has gone )

- they hear a car or voices in the driveway (their 'let me out NOW' noise)

- they catch sight of me through a window ('it's the food lady!')

 

The only way I can get them to be quiet is to let them out of the run. When they free range they tend to be too busy to take much notice of anything else. The are also rather too good at escaping from the garden which is VERY worrying.

 

Probably not much help there but you're not alone having noisy girls.

[Hen Watch]

When you say noisy in the "morning" - how early do you mean? Whilst people are still asleep or breakfast time?????

 

My girls tried this on 18months ago by waking up at 4am sunrise and making a racket.

 

I now always close the eglu door at night and only let them out at 7-7.30am (bit later Sundays). They very quickly got used to the routine and I never hear them before I let them out. I figure that by 7.30 people are getting ready for work etc and won't be so disturbed by them. The only time the door is open is when I go on holiday and then I figure if they are noisy it's only for a week.......

 

Some on here have used coverings to make the eglu darker too (don't cover the vents though).

 

Are your chooks all very early layers???? Again, last summer I had a 1 months spell of terrible daytime squawking whilst they queued for the nestbox at lunchtime. I ended up putting a ceramic oven dish (need one that fits in through the egg port) with bedding on the roosting bars as a temporary nest box and things got better. Then 1 month later their laying pattern changed and I stopped using it. Obviously you can't block their roosting bars at night with this idea, but you could pop one in when you open them up in the morning.

[Jenstuds]

Thank you. Think my situation chimes with that of busybird quite closely. They are at their noisiest when they are in the run and think they might have a chance of getting out. They quieten down considerably when free ranging. Think might be risk I am training them to be noisy as often I go out and let them free following a bout of noise - perhaps this explains it's worsening in the last week or so.

 

It's not desparately early (fortunately) so perhaps I am just paranoid about disturbing the neighbours. I am a bit of a late riser so when I hear them going for it at 7.30am I think that's bad but hopefully our neighbours are up and out by then. Am going to look into the covering for the summer as I'm very worried they will making a racket much earlier as dawn comes earlier.

 

Thanks for the advice everyone, much appreciated.

 

Jenny

[TheCoop]

Our 3 are usually pretty quiet in the mornings, until they see me in the kitchen, then they know I'm coming to let the out and sprinkle a handful of seed for them - then low level sqwaking ensues!

 

I like to think they are just happy to see me (not because I bring them food!), because they have full access to their food all day & night.

[cliveb]

My two can be heard gently bokking from 6:00 am onwards. The earlier its light , the earlier they get.Also the longer I ignore them, the louder they get.

 

I too have found the only way to stop the noise is by letting them out into their run to free range. Then they are quite happy digging around and dust bathing.

 

I wouldnt have it any other way, there must be alot of worst ways to be woken than by a chicken letting you know thay would like to go out.

[Kittycat]

Hi there

 

I only picked up my 3 girls on Sunday (and have spent most of the past 3 days outside completely fascinated!) and I, too, was worried about the possibility of noise.

 

It's early days yet but, so far, I have found that the girls are very quiet in their Eglu and when let out simply make soothing clucking noises. However, when our light Sussex lays an egg she shrieks at the top of her voice for about 10 minutes - fortunately (at the moment) she is laying at about 9.30am by which time I figure any neighbours should be up and about anyway.

 

I can't remember how long you've had your ex-Bats but maybe they are still just settling in and a little stressed/excited about the change of scene? Or maybe they are just used to associating any human presence with the prospect of food? I can't imagine their previous owner giving them any attention beyond filling up their food bowl. Maybe you could try hanging some new things around their run (some people have suggested CDs) so that they are more interested in exploring and pecking than in making noise for the sake of it.

 

Sorry, being new to chicken keeping I'm not being very helpful but I wish you luck!

[WitchHazel]

Our girls are quite noisy in the morning. If we leave them in the Cube with the door shut, they make quite a racket so, now that the bad weather has passed, we've gone back to leaving the door open so they can get up when they like.

 

They are now fairly quiet at first, but then start making a racket at about 7am. It's not too bad at that point, but then one of the girls (our eldest, Delilah) starts making this very mournful wail, which increases in volume.

 

She's definitely worse when one of the others is in the nest box, trying to lay an egg.

 

I think it's that when the Cube door was closed, we let them out at 7.30 and then let them out to free range at about 8.30-9.00. Now they are getting themselves up, they are doing so much earlier - and still expect to be let out to free range an hour or so after getting up (IYSWIM).

 

So, since yesterday we have not been letting them out to free range until 10.30, I'm hoping that they will get into a routine of Get up>wait four and a half hours>get let out to free range.

 

I hope that they get into this routine quickly and stop this whingeing.

 

We'll see!

[Ecky]

I have read many times to cover the eglu with a blanket (leaving the ventilation open of course) to pretend it is still dark and hope they don't notice the light. Does anybody know how to cover the cube up and leaving the ventilation open? My ones are quiet at the moment, but it is early day and I want to be prepared.