Stopping Chickens Clocking

[Carls3168]

Hiya,

Does anyone know how to stop chickens clocking? 

Thanks

[Jesse]

what do you mean by clocking, or do you mean clucking? I'm not sure you can stop a chicken from clucking, it's a chicken thing!

[CityChick]

IMHE they do make different noises....

Normally I get a happy little "buk, buk, buk" noise when I go to see them, which I think is really sweet (but with 4 spoilt pet chooks I might be a little biased )

When they've laid an egg, mine are more noisy for a minute or two afterwards. Which goes more like "buk, buk, buk BURGHKAAAAA!!"  And one of mine likes to do this before she lays an egg too

Mine are also much more noisy if they are worried, more like an alarm call, eg when there was a cat sitting on the fence trying to decide if they were fair game for dinner, or if the safer option was to run away!!  This went more like "BURGHK, BURGHK, BURGHK" (with all 4 chickens trying to look as big as poss and out-staring the cat!!)

And mine do try to train me to give them nicer food by kicking up a fuss about 3pm.  Its a battle of wills, which we both like to think we're winning

Mine would also kick up a fuss to be let out when its light and the sun comes up.  But I've found blackout lining over the windows of the shed they sleep in fools them into thinking its still sleepy time

Do you have a particular problem that you are battling with - maybe if you give some more details it would be easier to suggest something that might help?

[kitty]

are they clocking on too early?

or too late?


are you paying them enough?
chickens like the odd tea break too.....


living in the country likes wot i do i would like chickens to stop clucking,cows to stop mooing and get rid of that blinkin green stuff.whats it called?o yes...grass-


just kiddin'!
cluckins what chickens do best....

[Carls3168]

Sorry, I think I didnt explain myself right! 

I mean Clocking as in `sitting on eggs`... got plenty of chickens and chicks now and dont want anymore, so want to chickens to stop sitting! 
I'm sure I read that putting them under a dark basket on a bare floor for a day stopped them - although this seems a little extreme to me!!!

[CityChick]

Ah, now I understand.  I never heard it called that before, I know it as a chicken being broody...

If you keep taking the eggs away, you won't get anymore chicks, so that's one problem solved.

To discourage a hen from sitting on the nest you try to give them the opposite of what they want when broody: so rather than warm and dark you want somewhere light and cool. 

With mine I picked her out of the nest box each morning and put her in a separate area within the main run.  This was an old "indoor dog cage" so it was very light and cool (I did cover it so she didn't get wet if it rained).  I put food and water in there for her for the day, and put her back in with the others at night.  She wasn't very happy being confined on the first day, but by the third day she wasn't broody anymore.

I've read some people put them in a bath of cold water to cool them down really quickly but personally I think that would be too much of a shock...

[Jesse]

I agree with what CityChick has said. There are some bizarre suggestions out there which I personally wouldn't do to my hens. I find keeping them off the nest for a couple of days does the trick. I've also found that collecting the eggs regularly thought the day helps to prevent them from becoming broody too often, it seems that if they see a nest full of eggs they get the urge to sit, this suggestion doesn't prevent broodiness altogether but it seems to slow it down somewhat

[littlegem]

some breeds are more broody than others, silkies for one! i agree, keep taking the eggs away! you might get pecked but its ok! just remember which birds are broody for when you want to incubate, use those ones!