Omlet Smart Autodoor - New in box

[Shelley]

5.45am this morning the girls were pacing the run like caged tigers. There's food - both hard and mashed pellets - in the run and water so why are they making so much noise? It definitely seems to be attention seeking. I took down some green leaves and they've quietened down, but I don't want to get into the habit of feeding them at 6am. I'm also worried that the neighbours will tire of the noise. What to do? At the moment I leave the cube door open overnight so they can move into the run when they want. Should I consider closing the door until I'm ready to let them out?

[Mercedes55]

Is it possible that something spooked them? I keep my hens shut inside their Eglu at night, bit of a squeeze for 4 of them, but they seem fine and they don't make any noise at all. I don't leave food in the run at night either as I think it could encourage vermin, although I do leave the water, but I guess I should really take it out. I let mine out between 6.30am and 7.00am and they take a couple of minutes to come out as they still seem half asleep.

[patsylabrador]

I shut mine away at night and cover their coop with black out curtains. They stay quiet and I get them up at around 7.30am. The black out curtains are brilliant and worked from the first night I tried them. It's all to do with first light which is around 4.53am at the moment.

[lotz2612]

We have 1 wooden shed in which we keep the majority of ours (the others reside in smaller wooden arcs) They all go up to bed around the time it gets dark and you dont here anything from them until its time to let them out (ours are late risers and go out about 9oclock most days!)

[Lavenders_Blue]

First light is 4.53am at the moment?!

 

Could someone please tell that to my Dorothy who got herself up at 4.35 this morning and then proceeded to bok bok her head off for about 15 minutes until the rest of the girls could stand it no longer and got up to join her

 

She has a dreadful habit of getting up way earlier than the others and then squawking because she doesn't like being on her own!

[Mercedes55]

First light is 4.53am at the moment?!

 

Could someone please tell that to my Dorothy who got herself up at 4.35 this morning and then proceeded to bok bok her head off for about 15 minutes until the rest of the girls could stand it no longer and got up to join her

 

She has a dreadful habit of getting up way earlier than the others and then squawking because she doesn't like being on her own!

 

Poor you being woken up by that, not sure I would be very happy hearing that so early either

[jimnpaula]

First light is 4.53am at the moment?!

 

Sunrise is about that time, but of course it's getting light before then. Making it darker for longer with covers or shutting them away would probably help a bit.

 

Maybe it's an ex batt thing but I don't have this problem. We don't usually go out to see them until after 8am so maybe they've learnt it's not worth shouting for us The cube door is open and food & water available all the time, and most have taken to sleeping on the mezzanine outside since the weather got warmer.

 

P

[Lavenders_Blue]

Paula - you are lucky, mine are ex batts too!

 

I just seem to have an insomniac hen

 

I did used to get up as soon as I heard them to let them out and keep them quiet, but after checking with my neighbours, one of whom said they couldn't hear them and the other said she used to keep chickens so she didn't mind the noise I now let them get on with it (and shut the window!)

[Mercedes55]

I don't think it's necessarily an ex batt thing as mine are ex batts and they are very quiet, in fact I doubt the neighbours even know we have them

[kfc]

We have two Goldlines (not ex batts) and Cornelia shouts every morning, usually when Kimberley is in the nest laying, I have come to the conclusion it's a "hey get up and let us out into the garden" or that she doesn't liking being left alone in the run (she didn't seem to do it when Fanny was around to keep her company), poor Kimberley never gets to lay in peace now!

 

It's usually around 7.30 - 8am, or at least that's the time I hear it.

[Roobaloo]

It could be you have early rising neighbours that are triggering it...Next time they do it...ignore them (well, spy out a window to make sure they're ok...but don't let them see you!!) Just take some eggs or chocolates round to your neighbours later on!!

 

I get up at 5am at the moment and the girls are already eating (they have an eglu with the door open in a WIR)...but if they hear that I'm up, Suki will start shouting and banging the mesh with her beak because she wants to come out!!! Problem is that I used to let her!!

 

So now I ignore her and only open the door when she's quiet...but for that initial moment when she sees me, she can't contain herself.

[Jac and Rory]

Could it be a fox passing by in the morning? I close the cube door at night for that very reason and open up again about 7 am. They appear to sleep on in blissful ignorance that the fox is around. If I leave them access to the run they are up and early and screech at top volume when they see the fox (and poor little Anna poos her pants!).

[Chicken Mad]

Mine shout out loud if I don't let them out of the eglu early enough e.i. before 05:30am. The bock-bock-bocking goes on and on till they are released and then they start showeling the mash in and shut up! Though Gladys tends to use the same sound to announce that she has layed!

[Mercedes55]

I take it back where I said mine aren't noisy. This morning they have suddenly decided to be very vocal. I'm sure the neighbours know now that we have hens

[lizzywood]

Hi,

 

We have two Welsummer bantams that are now approx 16 months old and have experienced a variety of ‘noises’ from them since we got them last Easter!

 

When we started on our quest for the ‘good life’, we had a standard Eglu and run. They were still quite small last summer and did nothing more than an occasional peep peep, so noise didn’t really seem to concern us. As a result, on warm nights we would leave their door open, so they could come and go as they please! As they matured through the months, their peeps changed into more distinguishable hen boc bocs, although they were fairly muted. Just before we moved house this April, they came into lay for the first time and with the lighter mornings, they began to announce the sunrise ……….at 5:13am most mornings! Then, living in a terrace with a very small garden, it was like, OMG and I found myself sitting with them in my jammies ssshing them. After a few days, my husband and I thought that was a crazy thing to continue, so we decided to close their door and open it at a reasonable hour when the neighbours might not be so bothered. This change seemed to work and for a while they were as quiet as mice, until once day, we heard a goose like sqwork coming from inside the Eglu as if demanding to be let out. We then tried dangling veg on strings to amuse them in the morning along with a blackout sheet which worked well.

 

Since the move, we’ve installed a ‘Tony’ WIR (it is AMAZING by the way – well worth the money and I’d highly recommend one - they now have sooooo much space!) with the Eglu inside. Initially, we continued to cover their house with a blackout, as we weren’t sure what the new neighbours would think but actually they’ve been pretty good, both the hens and the neighbours, so we no longer use one! As it’s so hot at the moment though, I have put up a nice big brolly over the run which I leave up day and night and I think that has also made a difference! …but these days, from about 7:30 or so, depending on how clear the sky is, we occasionally hear a ‘goose’ (as we call it), although they’re fairly muffled being inside the house. I let them out at about 7:45 and sit with them for half an hour or so, sitting on the floor of their run, hand feeding them as they clamber over me and they’re as good as gold! They occasionally make some noise but it’s never sustained, so we tend not to worry too much!

 

Happy henning!