bizzylizzy Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Hi everyone, our chooks have woken us up again this morning!!! This has been going on for a few weeks now. We were thinking of getting rid of them and starting again. Is this unfair? We don't want the neighbours to start complaining as we live in rented accomadation. To be honest if I heard this racket every morning I would complain. Is is just a phase that they are all going through? I have noticed a few people saying that theirs are getting up really early. Any help gratefully received. Bizzy lizzy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Egluntyne Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 It is related to the time of year and the weather. There are a few threads with suggestions for remedies, such as draping the Eglu or coop with blackout fabric, keep the light out hopefully cause them to wake up a little later. If you replace these hens with others, the chances are that they will greet the dawn too, I'm afraid. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patsylabrador Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 I can definitely recommend black out curtains. They made an overnight difference, the chickens don't realise it's first light until I take them off, even with all the racket made by wild birds. I got mine from Amazon, other people use picnic blankets. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Black out certainly works - and shut the door overnight so they can't get up till you let them out. As the others have said, it's not your particular chickens, they are all noisy at this time of year. Try a few eggs to the neighbours too. I found I was more concerned about chicken noise than my neighbours - who liked the sound! Tricia Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 I don't think getting different hens would make any difference. Some hens are noiser than others, but it seems to depend on the individual (not the breed), and there's no way of testing whether a new POL pullet will be a clucker, a squawker or a hysterical bok-bokker! Good advice above about keeping them quieter in the mornings. I would just add that we all tend to be a bit hypersensitive about our hens and neighbours. They probably aren't as noisy as you think they are, and you might be worrying unnecessarily. Hope you can use some of the tips above to delay the early-morning call. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillybettybabs Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Betty woke us up at 5.30 all week end, I was going to let them out but then decided that i didn't want them to get into the habbit of demanding, So i put some ear plugs in and closed the window until 7ish then let them out. She's calming down now, the little darling Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkysmum Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Betty woke us up at 5.30 all week end,I was going to let them out but then decided that i didn't want them to get into the habbit of demanding, So i put some ear plugs in and closed the window until 7ish then let them out. I'm sorry to put the spanner in the works but is it reasonable to expect neighbours to "put in ear plugs and close windows". This issue has been on the agenda for as long as I have been a member of the forum and one which I think we can be a bit unrealistic about. I know it's a valid arguement to say that hens are no noisier than dogs, planes, kids on bikes etc but to be honest I wouldn't want to be woken up in the early hours ( and it will get earlier yet) if I worked long hours or worked shifts and staggered about sleep deprived because of noise coming from my neighbours property. Whatever that noise might be I really think we have to be mindful ( as I'm sure we all are) of everyones needs including our respective neighbours sleep needs :! : I am sorry if this all sounds negative, harsh or worse as I really don't intend to cause offence. However I have told the story more than once of my friend who is in exactly this position, who dreads early mornings & who cannot open her window because her neighbours keep many extremely vocal hens Apologies also for lengthy post Axx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chucky Mama Posted May 25, 2010 Share Posted May 25, 2010 Any noise that our girls might make in the mornings tends to be drowned out by the geese that make a very noisy flypast at the crack of dawn Sorry, that's not a great deal of help is it You have been given good advise but if you can't sort anything out with these then replacing them really wont make much difference. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lillybettybabs Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 Betty woke us up at 5.30 all week end,I was going to let them out but then decided that i didn't want them to get into the habbit of demanding, So i put some ear plugs in and closed the window until 7ish then let them out. I'm sorry to put the spanner in the works but is it reasonable to expect neighbours to "put in ear plugs and close windows". This issue has been on the agenda for as long as I have been a member of the forum and one which I think we can be a bit unrealistic about. I know it's a valid arguement to say that hens are no noisier than dogs, planes, kids on bikes etc but to be honest I wouldn't want to be woken up in the early hours ( and it will get earlier yet) if I worked long hours or worked shifts and staggered about sleep deprived because of noise coming from my neighbours property. Whatever that noise might be I really think we have to be mindful ( as I'm sure we all are) of everyones needs including our respective neighbours sleep needs :! : I am sorry if this all sounds negative, harsh or worse as I really don't intend to cause offence. However I have told the story more than once of my friend who is in exactly this position, who dreads early mornings & who cannot open her window because her neighbours keep many extremely vocal hens Apologies also for lengthy post Axx I wasn't talking about my chickens not my neighbours as i don't have any! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 I have been woken 2 mornings on the trot at 4am by a tom cat (not mine) singing his heart out - if this were Britains got talent it would be 3 XXX. This morning just after he'd finished his caterwauling a magpie starting clacking outside window - I lept out of bed and shut window to frighten him. Tonight I will have some water to chuck out window on said cat. My gran used to chuck the contents of chamber pot on offending cats worked a treat. thankfully we have en suite Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mollie333 Posted May 26, 2010 Share Posted May 26, 2010 Replacing your chickens wont work. Drape a dark coloured (not too thick, not to thin) sheet over the eglu/coop windows/run. put some food and water in small containers in a place where they can't be nocked over, incase its a matter of food, that there getting up early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
