How Quickly Does Albendazole Work?

[Cyber Chook]

Can anyone advise on whether it's possible to get my girls to quieten down? I'm sad, but at a point where I'm even considering re-homing them.

 

Basically, I've had my five girls for a year. I live in London, in a road of terraced houses, with big long gardens at the back, which back on to a road of maisonettes (ie 2 households to one house). My chooks are in a Cube and walk-in run at the back of the garden, nearer to the maisonettes than us.

 

The problem is noise. We have double glazing and it still wakes me.

1) They holler and squawk when laying, usually when there's a queue, I think. Could I provide another laying area, if so, how do I do that?

2) When they see a cat they bok-bok. I thought they'd get used to cats , but they haven't.

3) A pair of magpies is handily nesting in the tree next to their run. When they start chattering, my chooks start their bok-bokking.

4) Fifi has a loud raspy voice even when just 'talking'.

 

Honestly, I'm tired of it. In fact no-one's complained, but I just worry, and can't block it out when the girls start up. Some people who want a lie-in or work nights must surely be getting fed up. Yes, I know, I'm probably getting a bit paranoid about this . There are too many neighbours to ask if it's a problem for them, or hand out gifts of eggs.

 

Two are noisier, but if I re-homed them, would another hen step forward into the role of town crier?

 

It might not even actually be a problem for my neighbours, but nevertheless, the point is that I've tried but can't relax about it. Well, I can, but on and off. I feel as if I'm always half-listening out for them, especially early mornings. I'm sleeping like I used to when my daughters were babies.

It's been better since I covered over their Cube, and shut them in overnight, but as soon as I let them out the problem's there again. I'd say maybe it happens around 6 or 7 times a day.

 

There must be something I can do, but what?

 

Any advice, help, suggestions, very gratefully received.

 

Caroline

[Doodle]

Caroline, we must have been writing our posts at the very same time. Please see my thread too. I have the smae problem, so you have my total sympathy. I hope the good folk on here have some magical suggestion for us!

[Jules.]

How would you compare the level of noise to say a dog barking?

 

I worry about the noise my girls make too, & only let them out at 8am, but this moring ES let them out at 7am & Petra makes the most horrid loud squarky noise as usual, demanding to be let into the garden Needless to say I ignored her & cringed.

 

Next door had a dog until it died earlier this year, & it was left outside nearly all the time & bow-wowed at the gate to people walking past. It set my teeth on edge, but at least it was noisier than my girls ( who incidentaly are quiet as mice at the mo). I used to think no one could complain about my hens because of the noise the dog made, but now its gone there can be no comparison with the hens noise v the dog noise.

But the good news is I have kept hens for nearly 2 years now & not had a noise/smell complaint

 

I think we are more aware of the noise our hens make because they are ours, IYSWIM.

[The Dogmother]

I agree with Jules; one of mine shrieks like a seagull when she's laid an egg

 

I've spoken to the neighbours and they assure me that the girls make far less noise than neighbouring children and a dog which backs onto us. I wouldn't worry unduly unless anyone complains.

 

You're obviously a good and conscientious neighbour, but they honestly make less noise than you think.

[chelsea]

 

You're obviously a good and conscientious neighbour, but they honestly make less noise than you think.

 

I agree. I am completely obsessed with keeping my chickens quiet and according to me they are noisy girls. OH doesnt think so and says its all in my head and that it cannot be heard over the garden fence....in fact our neighbour (who we rarely see) spoke to us over the fence last weekend and said that he hardly hears them which I hate to admit proves my OH is right!

[The Dogmother]

It's a bit like when your baby is crying in the night and you're convinced that it'll wake the whole street!

[beergibbon]

One of mine is uber noisy and I'm also considering getting rid of them. It starts around six in the morning and maybe shrieks every 10 or 15 minutes until about 9.00, only stopping when I go outside. Very stressful and am worried about the neighbours.

[Seagazer]

Sometimes mine are noisy - egg announcing or just a general shriek of 'help I'm worried' and its often quite early in the morning.

 

The way I look at it is that there are lots of really noisy birds where I live, they are only 3 more noisy birds. Probably most of my neighbours don't even realise they are chickens and just think the magpies/jackdaws are being really loud.

 

That said I do go down and tell them off if its too early!

 

I would try not to worry about it. As you've said you haven't had any complaints so it can't be that bad.

[Hen Watch]

If they are alarm calling in panic or egg announcing then there is a reason to their noise. But if there is no reason that you can see at all and they are being little madams, I have been known when I had a problem 2 years ago, to squirt them with water. Which takes their mind off the bok boking. Water gun??????

[Cyber Chook]

Doodle, I'll go in search in a mo for your posting. I thought I'd have relaxed about it, but I feel worse now than I did when I first got them.

 

I didn't expect to be sitting here this evening feeling cheered, however, and laughing so much. I love the word 'squark', that describes Fifi's unladylike, rasping racket perfectly (my friend calls her the chav), and Claret, yes, the "seagull shriek" is also spot-on.

 

This same friend has a dog, and she says "when he barks I cringe sometimes, but hey, we live with other people around us and we all make noises!". I know, I know, but I remain convinced my girls must be being cursed by the neighbours when they start up at some ungodly hour...

 

Jules and others, you're quite right, I think the dog a few gardens along makes more noise, and they often seem to let him out for a late-night wee and then forget to let him back in, and they don't seem too bothered by disturbing their neighbours.

 

I can't open the windows on that side of the house in case they wake me, and yet if they don't make a noise, I'm half-awake listening out for them to start . I'll try to chill out about it... easier said than done...

 

Are bantams quieter ?

 

PS I like the water gun idea actually, Katy, and it would have the added bonus of relieving my increasingly aggressive urges

[southernchicken]

I love the water gun idea .

 

I have been living in my home for over 3 years, only to find out that 2 doors up have 12 chickens and have done long before i moved in with my 3 girls.

 

It's only now that i can hear them, because i know they are there.

[rachelg]

Interesting and very funny as I have also posted something on this site about being worried about the noise my chickens make. The seagull noise and the early morning announcements are something I have been wrestling with nearly every day!!! There is a man (a rather fussy neighbour) who stands at his bedroom window as I run across the garden in the morning to get the chickens to be quiet!

 

However, I was advised to cover the run with bedsheets to block out the light and also shut the chickens in their house over night, it worked this morning so I am hoping that this will be the end of it! The chickens were a little confused this morning but soon settled down and there was no noise until I removed the sheets and they had finished feeding, by which time it was a very acceptable time for the noise.

 

We live in an area with lots of birds -seagulls, crows etc, all of which make quite a lot of noise and I am hoping that people think the chickens (which in my view do not make chicken noises when they are shouting) are in fact the seagulls!!!

 

Good luck and please try my suggestion before you rehome

 

Rachel

 

Sam'n'Ella

[Jules.]

Are bantams quieter ?

 

NO! My Petra is my littlest bantam who make more noise than the rest of my chooks

She is my fave chook though.

[Ain't Nobody Here]

I used to keep a box of pine cones and conkers on my bedroom window sill and chuck one at the run when the girls started squarking . Handy for a weekend morning when you're wanting a lie in .

[joybelle]

I`m often going out to shut mine up at 6am the other morning it was 5.30am!!

 

I squirt them with a water pistol they soon shut up

 

joy

[maggiesfarm]

Seems a bit obvious but have you asked your neighbours what they think? (Not trying to be funny here) You do think your chickens are being a pest but my neighbours actually like the noise my girls make, they thinks it hilarious they have so many different "voices".

 

Where we live we are far more bothered by the noise of a main road and other peoples dogs than by my chooks.

 

Hope this helps.

[Patricia W]

I have a lovely elderly neighbour in his late 80's and he says people who complain about chicken noises ( including my cockerel) have lost their inherited soul. Chickens take us back to our roots, he says.

 

He's actually next door but one, and would really like us all to donate the end strip of our gardens so we can link them together so we can ALL have chickens! He also suggests we all club together and get some sheep/goats and graze them on the grass verges.

 

( Guess who always gets eggs!)

 

Tricia

[The Dogmother]

What a lovely man!

[cluckbok]

I personally wouldn't ask the neighbours anything, it will sound like you think there's a problem. Unless they complain I wouldn't worry too much (although easier said than done).

 

Ours have made the odd loud "bok bok" but not very often but they have done it at 5.30am and it does make you jump out your bed in a mad frenzied panic! The water pistol idea sounds great and so does what you are already doing, covering the cube with blackout. The dog opposite us makes a racket all day long, "yap yap yap!". It would be ashame for you to part with them after you had them a while now. Some people don't mind the sound of the chickens, it's like being in the country. I've not got any suggestions on keeping them quiet. Is there run covered? cause sometimes ours panic if they hear a plane etc but with the run covered they don't mind it. We've got the full winter shade on our eglu run.

[urbanchick]

This is the third post I have seen about noise problems!! I will copy and paste my answer again:

 

I really feel for all of you with this problem. When I added my ex batts to the existing hens all hell broke loose and last summer there was noise from 5.45, despite the cube door being shut, and the neighbours called the environmental health. I went through EVERYTHING that has been suggested and nothing worked well enough. The picnic blankets were ok but were smelly after being out in all weather.

 

The solution I have finally found is VERY effective and has completely solved my noise problem. I use an olive green pvc coated tarpaulin (which is blackout) to cover the cube and run. I lock them up at night, cover them with the tarpaulin (use the bungee clips that come with the Omlet shade) and get up to let them out at 7.30. It works 100%

 

My girls can compete with a cockeral when they get going. I don't think people understand just how bad the noise is unless they've been through it themselves.

 

You can buy the tarpaulin at tarpaflex.co.uk or tapaulins-togo.co.uk. I bought the 3x3m which perfectly fits the cube plus extension.

[Cyber Chook]

Yes, covering the Cube and closing its door at night has made things a lot better for the past 10 days. I'm a late riser, so they don't get let out until 8 - 8.15am, by which time they're muttering, and at the worst, shouting. But as they're sealed in, and the noise is less, I don't feel worried about the neighbours at that time.

 

Urbanchick and rachelg, it's the spooking at every cat and magpie, and the sky falling down, that is the problem really, as it goes on throughout the day. Silly birds . I think the boss chicken is just a particularly flighty gal, and the others go, ooh, there must be something we really ought to be screeching about as well.

 

I'm hoping people mistake their racket for the honking of the geese that fly over every day on their way to the lake at Ally Pally. This is another reason I don't want to go and actually ask neighbours if it bothers them - best not to draw their attention to it, as someone else said here. My nice next door neighbour had never noticed, until I asked her, and the other day she said she'd heard them ever since

 

That's so funny that you had a neighbour with 12 chooks and you never knew it. In fact that makes me feel very reassured actually. Yay!

 

I've got an olive green tarpaulin too, very cheaply online, and the same dimensions. It colour co-ordinates nicely with my green Cube, which is so important to the modern miss chicken.

 

Thanks everyone. I know this is an ongoing issue for lots of us. Every now and then it seems to loom larger and LARGER in the imagination for some reason.

 

Caroline