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Are anybody else's chickens very noisy? Mine make huge amounts of noise early in the morning, a few hours before it gets light. They get a bit quieter when I let them out of the house, but still could not be considered quiet. I'm getting worried the neighbours are going to start complaining (i think I would if they weren't mine!).

I thought they would get up with the light, so I've got a couple of theories..

- They get woken up by the light from a nearby window when I get up in the morning for work. On the weekends they are still getting up at this time due to habit, even though it is still dark. Once they are awake they aren't too happy with it being dark, so get noisy.
- They get woken up by the noise of the drain from the shower, which is fairly close the their run. Same reason for the noise as above.

For most of the day they are pretty quiet, it's just early mornings that are an issue.

They are lohmann browns, and apart from this issue it's great having them around :)

My hens (bovans nera and rhode island reds) are only noisy when they are agitated - if they feel threatened. Otherwise they have a mild cluck sometimes, and the Big Fella has the occasional crow, but nothing else.

In my experience hens tend to make a big song and dance every time they lay and egg... like woohoo! look at me!

maybe they lay first thing?

My poultry range is about 60 metres from our back door. Our loo is outside and we turn a light on to get there at night.

Our birds start singing out everytime we switch the light on, and the rooster is the one that gets them going! I figure he is on sentry duty or something. He sees movement and has to alert the dozy troops... just in case, you know...

I did a 'stealthy' morning today, and made my breakfast in semi-darkness with the blinds shut. Hardly a noise :) The shower got a few clucks, but not much of the previous 'screaming', so I guess the light is the main culprit.

This only works with the house door open though, or they make plenty of noise until they get out of there!

One more question - do they poo less in winter?! There seems to have been a remarkable drop in poo levels

I think mine poo the same all year round!

No change in poo levels here!

kind thougths
Deb

I always think they produce more of it in the winter, but that is only because mine are wimps and prefer to stay indoors when it is cold, so all their droppings that they would usually leave outside in the run are actually in the coop instead.