noisy chicken

henny · noisy chicken

Hi there, I have had three chickens for over a year now and all has gone well. Over the past few months one of my Orpington ladies has started to be rather vocal !!
I live on a new housing estate so not where people normaly keep hens, I don't want anyone to get annoyed with them so am keen to find out why my hen has become so loud. I am considering re-homing her if she dosn't calm down.

She isn't laying and has some feather loss but looks healthy has bright red lobes etc ?? Any ideas would be welcome.

Regards Emily x

Sassinak

Some chickens are naturally vocal I'm afraid.
They like to announce to the world when they have laid an egg or found something tasty to eat and there is very little you can do about it

mike and louise

Is she starting to sound like a cockerel, some hens can go through a 'sex change' due to a damaged ovary, it is uncommon but can happen.

henny

Hi there, yes she is sounding a bit cockeral like. They do make the usual noises to announce laying etc...but this chicken is going beyond this and I suppose you could descibe the noise as an attempt to crow

Sassinak

Best bet is to keep an eye on her head-dress etc and watch to meke sure they don't grow. That and behaviour are the clearest indication if one changes sex

henny

Thanks - is she likely to start looking like a He ?

Sassinak

They can do a complete feather change. It even happens in pheasants and peacocks. They grow a wonderful full tail

henny

Wow have never heard of that before - will keep an eye on her. Do you know if she is likely to revert back to normal ? I don't suppose anyone is interested in a big Orpington lady with gender issues

Sassinak

Once changed, they can never change back and unfortunately they are not fertile as a cockerel.

A link to a really interesting page which explains much more clearly than I can lol

http://www.feathersite.com/Poultry/BRKChange.html

areader

Hi there,

I have a little duck that last year changed sex - she turned from a brown mallard cross duck into a lovely mallard cross drake. Her voice has changed into a squeeky quack!

Alice.

Julie

It's actually very common that in the absence of a cockerel, the dominant hen adopts the role. They crow and behave like the cock in every way and it doesn't need to be a physical problem that starts it, it's a dominance thing.
Just give the neighbours a few eggs every now and then and they'll begin to enjoy your hens as much as you do, with a bit of luck

henny

Hi there, yes she is quite dominant and also the largest of the group.
I have bought a young Brahma to add to my troop although havent introduced her yet - not sure how it will go with one broody ( and moody) and this other one trying to crow

Here is me trying to be discreet with my chicken keeping !! All this information has been very helpful so thanks for replies

Julie

Whatever the outcome, adding her will disrupt the pecking order - it might even be helpful if that crowing hen gets demoted

The broody hen will also need to re-establish her place when she emerges form her clucky sulk. This might be the perfect time to introduce the newbie. How many hens have you got?
One of our black rocks was crowing and displaying (many years ago) and she reverted to normal hen behaviour when we got a cockerel.

I wonder if the hen behaving like a cockerel can trigger some of the others to go broody? I'm only guessing, not speaking from any authority, I must add. It has set me wondering though.

henny

Hi, yes it is all quite interesting.
I have four hens 2 Orpingtons ( one of which has crowing problem )
1 silver laced Wyandotte ( broody ) and newbie is a 18 week old Brahma

Yes maybe putting her in with them now could help things. I had planned to try and set something up so that all hens couls see each other before being in same run. As space is tight it would be quite tricky, do you think just putting her in at bedtime one night will be OK ?
Thanks for interest

Julie

That's what a lot of people do. I usually just put them in and keep an eye on them in case of excessive bullying. The thing is, we have space and they can free range within the bounds of our holding. That means they can get away from one another and integrate at their own pace. It probably doesn't have much relevance to the sort of instance where all the birds might be in a run or a very small garden.
The last lot of newbies - six in all - came when we were down to three elderly hens who barely laid an egg between them. We had a cockerel who lived in the house with the old girls too. We put the new ones in the other empty hen house and shut them ito the attatched run for a few days until they had settled in, during which time, the cock and his old wives were calling to the new girls and vice versa although they couldn't really see one another because of all the fruit bushes dotted in between. Then we let them all out to free range and over the next few weeks they began to mingle. The cock deserted his wives for the nubile young things and moved into their house - typical bloke

and then the hens followed him one by one.
i guess what I'm saying is that if you do the best you can, working with what you've got, to let them take it at their own pace, it's probably going to be amicable.

henny

Ok thanks, will let you know how it goes

Sassinak

Be prepared for squalking and flapping.
Don't be tempted to dash in and seperate them at the first peck. At some point they will have to sort out their differences, so seperating them just puts the moment off. Obviously if they are causing severe damage to the new bird then you might have to seperate them and try a subtler approach, but I have got away with some outragious mixes over the years.
As soon as we get the new hut sorted I will be mixing all my Pekins together for the winter. The cockerels fight like fury for the first day or so, but soon settle down and live in relative harmony. It is partly to cut down on my work in winter (it is much easier to keep 3 or 4 large waterers defrosted than 1 dozen or more small ones), partly to give some of the pens a rest and partly so that they keep each other warm.

Julie

Aren't they just a nightmare to defrost, especially the galvanised kind with the twist off tops.

Sassinak

I have so many broken plastic ones where I have got a bit too enthusiastic trying to lever the frozen top (bottom !!) off

Julie

We use old washing up bowls and shallow feed buckets now. The drinkers are around somewhere but the bowls are easy to wash out and you can just lift off the ice in one sheet in the winter.
Algae in animals water containers is one of my pet hates. Gordon says I'm stupid because they drink out of puddles, but I like to see a clean water bucket.............I daren't look at the pigs bucket, I'd be washing it every hour

henny

I have just got a super glug from omlet, will be interesting to see how it fares in the winter

very easy so far to fill up and hens seem to have sussed out how to use it!!