Hello - me again! Well finally the one of my two chickens that laid last year started laying again last week but they have both been soooooo noisy i am starting to think that the neighbours are getting a bit fed up of it (I live in a residential area!) anyway, i had noticed lately that the one who doesnt lay, who is bullied by the bigger, laying one had started sticking up for herself a bit more and pecking back and standing her ground over the scraps a bit more. Well today she was the noisy one and having just checked, she had laid a lovely big egg but she was sitting on it.... and i had a job getting her off to check if she'd laid..... does this mean that she has finally started laying but has gone broody?? It would be just my luck! Also is it normal for them to be so noisy? Ive had them almost 2 years and tho we have had a few noisy days, i dont remember this! Is it just because they are coming into lay? And what can i do if she has gone broody? Obv i have removed the egg, will she just lay another and sit on that? and do i just keep removing it?
Sorry, I can't be too much help, but here goes.
There is no point in her sitting on eggs if you do not have a cockerel, so yes take the eggs from her and enjoy them. People often put a broody hen in a darkish box for a couple of days to put her off, but I have never tried it.
Your hens will naturally be noisy when they have laid an egg. They like to proclaim it to the world and the neighbours, but it sounds as if the pecking order is changing and that might be the cause. Once that is established again they should generally be quieter.
Hope it all improves and you get lots of lovely eggs.
Old teachers never die, they just lose their class
Ooohhh Sorry to disagree, but it is the opposite. broody hens like quiet dark places to sit and brood their eggs, so if you want to break them of this you will need to put them somewhere they cannot sit down and feel warm and secure. Often people use a dog cage within the hen run, but do make sure the hen has shelter from the elements and access to food and water.
Hens will often sit down for a while after they have laid an egg, I expect it is hard work and they need to get thier breath back, but if each day she stays on the nest a little longer, and squarks at you when you try to move her or get the egg this can be a sign of going broody
Hens normally make a lot of noise when they are just coming into lay, this is to attract a cockerel so the eggs will get fetilized. They will also announce the fact they have laid an egg, again with the idea that a cockerel will rush over to fertilize the next batch, but often they calm down a bit when they realize no-one is about to appear.
Often hens will crouch down in front of you, and sometimes people think they want to be stroked, but they are acutally inviting mating.
All the best
Sue
Interesting responses, all.
We are looking after Fiona's sister's pugs while she is away. They are quiet and rather ponderous dogs. On their first day here they took a tour by the chicken run. The poor chucks went crazy, flying all over, even up against the roof netting.
They seem to have settled down today and egg laying has continued uninterrupted thank goodness.
Never knowingly underfed
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