Take part in study on PFAS 'forever chemicals' in eggs

[Jenthelibrarian]

Hi all

 

I have been a chicken owner for just about one day now, and mostly so far so good!

My two big worries, what would the cat think, and how would I make them go to bed last night, seem to have solved themselves. The cat and the 'clucks' had a staring match until the cat lost interest, the chickens very obediently went to bed all by themselves and we just shut their door - hooray!

 

Totally unexpected issue this morning, though...

My husband went out and opened up, checked food and water, all good.

Shortly after he left them to it the two of them set up the most terrible racket of loud clucking and calling. I went running out, assuming they were being murdered at the very least, but nothing obvious was going on.

Terrifed of upsetting the neighbours so soon I fed them grapes and chatted to them for a bit.

 

So: is this normal? What might have set them off? Anything I can do about it?

I don't want them to learn that screaming their heads off leads to food rewards.

Can you throw a cover over them, like you can to silence a parrot?!

 

They've been fine since but I'm a bit of a nervous wreck!

[Cinnamon]

There is no such thing as a daft question,just ones you know the answer to & ones you don't

 

To be honest,they are settling in as much as you are,so anything could have set them off - another animal,a loud noise,a plastic bag scutting past in the wind.

They WILL soon learn that noise = treats,as many people have found out,so you need to be hard hearted & just leave them to it,I am afraid.

If the worse come to the worse you could let them out yourself slightly later than your husband might (although a large amount of people leave the door open 24/7 so the hens can come & go as they please)

[SueChick]

I agree - they are like naughty kids reward the good and ignore the bad behaviour.

 

Mine were much noisier than they are now on the first day and I was so worried about the neighbours. Didn't help that there was a thunderstorm the first night we got them and they were terrified!

 

When they start laying just casually bribe the neighbours with a box of fresh eggs every so often - works a treat!

 

Hope this helps and have fun!

[fluffy chick]

Mine kick off at all sorts of things (egg laying of course) but other stuff too, generally for no reason I can see

[cheekymonkey68]

Hi Jen,

 

I think my chickens are actually more noisy than I thought they'd be. There are the normal everyday chicken clucks and bocks, and then there is the triumphant I laid an egg chant which is jolly noisy and goes on for at least a minute, fortunately only my speckledy does it at the top of her lungs!! Luckily my speckledy is also the one that I'll hear trumpeting if anything is going wrong ..I had my neighbours dog attack a couple of weeks ago and if it wasnt for Twister I may not have been able to save them all.

I was extremely worried about my neighbours, but after a word with them I found out that they absolutely love the chickens and wished they could have some themselves !!! They actually cant hear as much as I thought they could.... try not to panic until everything is settled in a couple of weeks.

As chooks are a natural sound, and not much louder than the wild birds tweeting most people dont mind them so much as say a barking dog.

 

Happy chicken keeping and I'm sure they'll all calm down when they are used to each other and you :) Congratulations on your new feathered family !

[Jenthelibrarian]

Thanks for the kind help and advice, much appreciated.

 

This afternoon my husband was showing a neighbour and their kids our new set-up. Good news! They hadn't heard, or hadn't noticed, the morning's performance. Their nice, sensible little girl is keen to be recruited as 'junior chicken keeper' so they will be someone to feed and water if we want to go away.

 

Best of all....Andrew opened the egg-port door to show them how it works and found a beautiful, perfect brown egg!

 

I'm sure I will be back for more help and encouragement, until then many thanks!

 

Jenny xx

[jackian]

Congratulations ..Welcome to a wonderful world of chiocken keeping.

On ly one of mine make a loiuder than normal noise and that was when we introduced new girls.,There was so much racket I went around to a neighbour to say sorry..she had not even noticed ..and I live in a terrace block .Car stereos , lawn mowers , cars reving ,dogs barking .make more noise than my girls I dont worry like I used to .

[Monty14]

Two of ours make a loud 'squawking' sound when they awake and often when they spot anything odd in the garden. Our neighbours have said they don't particularly notice the chicken noises but have said they enjoy watching them out of their window and have offered to feed them if we go away. A box of eggs every now and then certainly does no harm!

[Gloss-Hen]

Cats are usually more scared of chickens then chickens are of them okay I say that but small chooks such as bantams and chicks should be protected from neighbouring cats