[Tricia]

Hi, I am a new forum user and have been reading about your various experiences of noisy hens.  I have 3 ex-battery (caged) hens and have had then for 3 weeks.  They have been laying since the start and other than being very underweight and missing a lot of feathers, they are great.  However, one of them has started to lay her egg very early in the morning and the unholy row she makes has led us to thing about eating her. The hens are much closer to the nieghbours than to us and we can here her with the windown closed.  Some of you said that it may get better.  This one is getting worse.  With the clocks going back tonight, it will be 6.35 when she starts on Monday morning.  I do like the idea of black cloth over the window.  I will do that today.  However, their door is left open for them to get out.  Otherwise they have to stay in until 8am - a number of reasons.  Someone wrote about an automatic door opening system - Hello!! What is that??  I do like the idea.  Anyway, here I am with my first real problem.  Otherwise I sure love these girls.  Tricia

[doganjo]

Tricia, shut them in - won't do them any harm to stay in till 8 am - mine aren't out till 9!  And do black out their window.  Reducing light is supposed to reduce the number of eggs, but it possibly prolongs their life.  That might help.  You could also line their shed and put polystyrene between the lining and the outside wall.  Two benefits to that - keeps them warm in winter/cool in summer; reduces the noise.  I did that with a puppy shed with great success.

[darkbrowneggs]

I think hens take just over 24 hours to produce an egg, each day the egg coming a little later than the last, so theoretically she should lay a little later each day/  Also the shortening days should help as hen won't get up until it begins to show light.  Darkening the windows will reinforce this, and though you will get less eggs though the winter if you eat you won't have any eggs at all from her.  A good layer is a good layer - hang onto her unless eggs are of no interest to you.

All the bes
sue
dark Brown Eggs

[daddymatty82]

plus chickens are noisy animals people buy them thinking they are only noisy if they get a cockeral and its a proven fact that chooks of both sexes are noisy  mine are noisy they are closer to the neigbours than me and i can even hear them from the shops which is a 2 min brisk walk from home  if you dont want noise dont have chooks simple as if your going to eat her what will you do with it as they will be no meat on there so maybe a soup maybe kill and chuck in bin feed the dog? If you want eggs  they lay when and where ever they like all we(humans) do is try to train them  to lay in nest boxes all she is doing is what comes natural for a chook to do.

[HappyHippy]

Hello Tricia and welcome to the forum 

I agree with everyone else - hens are noisy  Blacking out the windows will help though. Don't worry about keeping them in til 8 - that sounds like a good idea ! The automatic door openers are quite expensive (think the cheapest I've seen was around £100) but search the forum for 'automatic door opener' and you should find a thread with some web links.
Also, I wouldn't even contemplate eating an ex-battery hen - you don't know where it's been and what it's been fed 
HTH
Karen

[doganjo]

Mine aren't noisy at all!  Occasionally one crows when laying an egg but not very often.  I have ex batts and LS.

[knightquest]

Hello Tricia and welcome to the forum 

Keep 'em in - ours don't come out 'til 10 on Sundays. I wouldn't eat one. Probably wouldn't feed one to the dogs either for the reason mentioned above.

Give them time to settle down as three weeks to a bird from those conditions to yours isn't long and they may quieten down anyway.

Carry on enjoying,

Ian

[faith0504]

hi and welcome from moray 

[Daisys Mum]

Hi and welcome from the Scottish Borders, I don't let mine out until about 9 o'clock in winter.Blacking out the windows is definately a good idea but I would not recomend lining the shed with polystyrene because if you get redmite you will never be able to get to them to kill them (I speak from expensive experience there)

[little blue]

I wouldn't even contemplate eating an ex-battery hen - you don't know where it's been and what it's been fed 

and there's not a scrap of meat on them anyway...   

welcome to TAS. 
and 8am is plenty early enough - we found that some of our ex-batts will lay outside if theyre let out early-doors, almost as if it takes them by surprise!   in the summer anyway.

[Sylvia]

Hello from Devon Have your neighbours said that your hen's shouting annoys them? I worried about my cockerel until all neighbours but one said they actually liked to hear him!
Have a word with your neighbours first and explain her poor sad life I feel sure they'll understand.

[Pomona]

Hi and welcome 

Yep, hens can be really noisy and a bit of a shock if you/your neighbours aren't used to it.   

We have an automatic door opener and it's just wonderful.  It's on a timer (much like the timer for lights with the 24hour clock dial thingy) and we just set it to open at 8am and close again when it's dusk.

When our three start getting noisy, we employ distraction tactics, so we put out a scattering of mealworm or seeds or a tomato or cabbage - basically, something for them to peck at and keep them occupied - and a bit quieter too 

Hope you find a solution that works, it's incredibly stressful when you're worried about the neighbours' reaction.

[Tricia]

Wow!! thank you al for yoru welcome and your replied.  I was kidding about eating her.  I love them too much.  And you are right about there not being much meat on her.  What I did do eventually was go and speak to all the neighbours and not one of them had heard her in the mornings!!! It was a good plan since these neighbours are on another street and I would never have had natural opportunity to meet them.
Hen in question, has quietened down a bit, either that or I am not so bothered by the noise.

I now have a new query so I will see you in another posting.  Thanks again, Tricia

[moorlander]

Would seem a shame to put the poor old dame in the pot. You say you leave door open because otherwise they can't get out until eight. Shouldn't worry. If they are not cramped they will muddle around til then. In the winter. mine stay in until after nine and they are OK. During the snow they haven't even shown their faces - like most of the humans!
I've got ex-batts and they are great characters. Their initial joy in their new palatial apartment was thrilling to watch. Now, of course, they take it for granted. I keep them on as pensioners until they drop but overall they pay their way.

Best Wishes

[JDS]

Hello from Texas.
Are you sure your hen is not raising a ruckus because she is wanting to set a clutch?

Jeff