Alohacayo
Songster
I’ve mentioned a few times about the (currently about 8/9 months old) welsummer that just makes a racket. She’s always been this way, and it’s been funny but also frequently annoying. She also rarely makes actual chicken noises. She barks (visitors & we mistake her for the dogs), she makes a knocking noise (that’ll make you get up and check the door), and every so often she’ll bawk.
The other 3 hens are “normal”, regular quiet chicken noises, but in general a whisper, esp compared to the barker.
She’s been laying eggs (6/wk) for months. She’s healthy and as far as we can tell happy.
What I’m curious about have you noticed the hens making more or less noise depending on what you feed?
Probably more noticeable in a really small flock, small backyard setting.
This last week, on accident, I noticed that Carla is silent all day if she has greens. They make their normal quiet noises, but there’s no complaining and yelling or bawking.
They’re fed a 20% layer pellet free choice, water is always available (self filling cup+horizontal nipples), grit & oyster shell free choice… in the desert, so native vegetation is sparse, but they get about a cup of soaked scratch + whatever is getting tossed from the fridge in the morning. Plus a handful of whatever “greens” I’m messing with, when I messing with them (romaine, spinach, cabbage, various growing herbs, rose leaves/flowers, sprouts). Housing is an open air 120sqft hoop coop w/vines & bamboo surrounding it, an 8sqft “nest house”. Shredded bark/wood chips abt 10” thick on ground. 4 hens, Carla, not-Carla (cream legbar, same age), Lucy and Ethel (the polish, abt 7mo old).
The last 10 days, there were days I didn’t give them greens (didn’t have any that were chicken ready)… and those days she was all sorts of (normal for her) noisy. The last 3 days I actually made a point of a full handful am/midday/an hour before dark, and they’ve all been silent. (They’re still eating abt 1# a day of pellets, so normal on regular food and egg production.)
My mom (and at least 5 other elderly relatives) watches them from the camera and she actually called me up to ask what was wrong with the girls (ie Carla) because they weren’t making any noise. Which is what started the thought process.
I definitely plan to continue this course of action, because it’s been really nice not getting barked at by a chicken named after my sister (
mom named her & not-Carla, I had nothing to do w/it except laugh).
So tell me about if anyone has noticed similar? And, hopefully, puhleeeease tell me it’ll continue?
The other 3 hens are “normal”, regular quiet chicken noises, but in general a whisper, esp compared to the barker.
She’s been laying eggs (6/wk) for months. She’s healthy and as far as we can tell happy.
What I’m curious about have you noticed the hens making more or less noise depending on what you feed?
Probably more noticeable in a really small flock, small backyard setting.
This last week, on accident, I noticed that Carla is silent all day if she has greens. They make their normal quiet noises, but there’s no complaining and yelling or bawking.
They’re fed a 20% layer pellet free choice, water is always available (self filling cup+horizontal nipples), grit & oyster shell free choice… in the desert, so native vegetation is sparse, but they get about a cup of soaked scratch + whatever is getting tossed from the fridge in the morning. Plus a handful of whatever “greens” I’m messing with, when I messing with them (romaine, spinach, cabbage, various growing herbs, rose leaves/flowers, sprouts). Housing is an open air 120sqft hoop coop w/vines & bamboo surrounding it, an 8sqft “nest house”. Shredded bark/wood chips abt 10” thick on ground. 4 hens, Carla, not-Carla (cream legbar, same age), Lucy and Ethel (the polish, abt 7mo old).
The last 10 days, there were days I didn’t give them greens (didn’t have any that were chicken ready)… and those days she was all sorts of (normal for her) noisy. The last 3 days I actually made a point of a full handful am/midday/an hour before dark, and they’ve all been silent. (They’re still eating abt 1# a day of pellets, so normal on regular food and egg production.)
My mom (and at least 5 other elderly relatives) watches them from the camera and she actually called me up to ask what was wrong with the girls (ie Carla) because they weren’t making any noise. Which is what started the thought process.
I definitely plan to continue this course of action, because it’s been really nice not getting barked at by a chicken named after my sister (
mom named her & not-Carla, I had nothing to do w/it except laugh). So tell me about if anyone has noticed similar? And, hopefully, puhleeeease tell me it’ll continue?
