Short Version:
Ok, I'm at my wit's end with my two girls. For nearly 3 weeks now, they've woken us up around 5:30-5:45 every single morning with loud squawks and sometimes, one even crows like a rooster. We've gotten a call from our poor neighbor about it and now we rush out every time we hear them chatting it up to quiet them down before the screaming starts. But this isn't sustainable. What could possibly be going on for them to be this consistently loud? They haven't skipped a single day. And their egg production is way down.
Long Version (Featuring three weeks of possible problems/solutions and questions.):
The Broody Problem:
It started about three weeks ago with our year-old Cuckoo Marans getting broody. The 4-year-old Ameraucana would squawk angrily in the morning until we kicked the broody one off the nest. It seems the marans isn't so broody now, though she hasn't laid an egg since all this started. (Wondering if this is a weird hormonal phase that will be over soon?) Our other girl is laying maybe an egg every 3 days or so. Before all this, both were laying almost daily (between 5-7 eggs per week each).
The Possum Problem:
Next was the possum problem. We came out to our chicken's yelling to find a possum crawling under the shed by their coop. Well, we caught that sucker a day later and released it into a wooded area. Still, they squawk.
The Rat (or monster) problem:
Yesterday I found them yelling at a very large rodent that ran under the shed when I came out. I've set out traps, but no luck. Could he be the constant antagonizer? Is it normal for them to scream every day at the same time at something like that?
The Food Problem:
The ameraucana is the crower- she used to do it when she was out of food or had spilled it all from our old feeder. So we tried cleaning out the treadle feeder (that originally solved the spillage problem) and placing pellets in there. (I was worried our feed was too powdery and might not be filtering down into the feeder well enough). Will chickens turn their nose up at food they don't like or find unfamiliar or is just plain old? Some of it was leftover from an old bag, so I'm worried it's just stale so I was thinking of picking up some scratch and peck feed that I know they like and replacing it again tonight.
I'm running out of ideas at this point. I've even tried putting a clock radio in their coop to play classical music in the morning to see if that quiets them down to absolutely zero effect. Could they be sick?
They've never been this consistently noisy. I'm hoping for some answer, or that it's just a weirdly long phase that they'll be out of soon. We're going on a long trip next month so it either has to end or we'll have to give them away since I can't put my neighbor through half a month of this madness.
Any ideas or recommendations welcome!
Ok, I'm at my wit's end with my two girls. For nearly 3 weeks now, they've woken us up around 5:30-5:45 every single morning with loud squawks and sometimes, one even crows like a rooster. We've gotten a call from our poor neighbor about it and now we rush out every time we hear them chatting it up to quiet them down before the screaming starts. But this isn't sustainable. What could possibly be going on for them to be this consistently loud? They haven't skipped a single day. And their egg production is way down.
Long Version (Featuring three weeks of possible problems/solutions and questions.):
The Broody Problem:
It started about three weeks ago with our year-old Cuckoo Marans getting broody. The 4-year-old Ameraucana would squawk angrily in the morning until we kicked the broody one off the nest. It seems the marans isn't so broody now, though she hasn't laid an egg since all this started. (Wondering if this is a weird hormonal phase that will be over soon?) Our other girl is laying maybe an egg every 3 days or so. Before all this, both were laying almost daily (between 5-7 eggs per week each).
The Possum Problem:
Next was the possum problem. We came out to our chicken's yelling to find a possum crawling under the shed by their coop. Well, we caught that sucker a day later and released it into a wooded area. Still, they squawk.
The Rat (or monster) problem:
Yesterday I found them yelling at a very large rodent that ran under the shed when I came out. I've set out traps, but no luck. Could he be the constant antagonizer? Is it normal for them to scream every day at the same time at something like that?
The Food Problem:
The ameraucana is the crower- she used to do it when she was out of food or had spilled it all from our old feeder. So we tried cleaning out the treadle feeder (that originally solved the spillage problem) and placing pellets in there. (I was worried our feed was too powdery and might not be filtering down into the feeder well enough). Will chickens turn their nose up at food they don't like or find unfamiliar or is just plain old? Some of it was leftover from an old bag, so I'm worried it's just stale so I was thinking of picking up some scratch and peck feed that I know they like and replacing it again tonight.
I'm running out of ideas at this point. I've even tried putting a clock radio in their coop to play classical music in the morning to see if that quiets them down to absolutely zero effect. Could they be sick?
They've never been this consistently noisy. I'm hoping for some answer, or that it's just a weirdly long phase that they'll be out of soon. We're going on a long trip next month so it either has to end or we'll have to give them away since I can't put my neighbor through half a month of this madness.
Any ideas or recommendations welcome!
