I live in a downtown suburban area, and am surrounded by neighbors. I'm lucky to have a big back yard, and I thought chickens would be fun and easy. 
I did a LOT of reading about them and spent a lot of time on the backyard chickens forum. I got three chicks. Building the coop was a MAJOR pita and far more expensive than I anticipated, even using the cheapest materials possible. We had to get rid of one of the chickens a few months back because she was extremely high strung and would run from one end of the yard to the other, shrieking her head off and acting crazy. I am very sensitive about annoying the neighbors. The ones we share the most fence space with are very cool, hippie types who encouraged me to get chickens, so at least I don't have to worry about them. Anyway, now the other two are bock bock bocking so loudly that I just keep them locked up in the coop for most of the day. That usually keeps them quiet, and will at least muffle their noise. I read so many stories of quiet, peaceful chickens pecking away happily, while the neighbors were none the wiser. Why did I get such nutty birds?? They have food and water, and ample coop and pen space. Oh man, they destroyed our yard like crazy, so now they are confined to their pen-when they aren't shrieking, that is. DS loves them, though, and they are very gentle birds with him. We have a Buff O and a Black Astralorp. I sincerely regret getting them, but my question is, is there absolutely anything I can do about the noise level? I feel that this a very silly question-how on earth do you get a chicken to shut its beak?? We also only get half the eggs they lay, since one the damn birds likes to drop its eggs *while up on the roost* 
I wouldn't mind all of these annoyances so much if they would just keep quiet. Any suggestions?
I did a LOT of reading about them and spent a lot of time on the backyard chickens forum. I got three chicks. Building the coop was a MAJOR pita and far more expensive than I anticipated, even using the cheapest materials possible. We had to get rid of one of the chickens a few months back because she was extremely high strung and would run from one end of the yard to the other, shrieking her head off and acting crazy. I am very sensitive about annoying the neighbors. The ones we share the most fence space with are very cool, hippie types who encouraged me to get chickens, so at least I don't have to worry about them. Anyway, now the other two are bock bock bocking so loudly that I just keep them locked up in the coop for most of the day. That usually keeps them quiet, and will at least muffle their noise. I read so many stories of quiet, peaceful chickens pecking away happily, while the neighbors were none the wiser. Why did I get such nutty birds?? They have food and water, and ample coop and pen space. Oh man, they destroyed our yard like crazy, so now they are confined to their pen-when they aren't shrieking, that is. DS loves them, though, and they are very gentle birds with him. We have a Buff O and a Black Astralorp. I sincerely regret getting them, but my question is, is there absolutely anything I can do about the noise level? I feel that this a very silly question-how on earth do you get a chicken to shut its beak?? We also only get half the eggs they lay, since one the damn birds likes to drop its eggs *while up on the roost* I wouldn't mind all of these annoyances so much if they would just keep quiet. Any suggestions?
Thinking of my chicken in terms of a "freeloader" has me cracking up...Yeah, that bird has a pretty good life-she's not just out there to strut around and poop all day-I want my eggs! I will see if DS can take out that roost. Yes, I should give them some stuff to do in their pen. When they were allowed to roam around the yard, they had lots of things to get into, but they would still bock like crazy anyway. Now they have access to two separate areas, one is really big. Yet they just prefer to stay right in front of the gate, pacing and attempting to break out. They are quite picky about table scraps, too. They don't like cabbage, but I've never tried to tie one up, either. I'm going to try tossing kitchen scraps out there when they get loud again, and we've got some sand I could give them to scratch it. Hmmm....come to think of it, there are several raccoons that come out at night to hang around the coop. Can the chickens tell if 'coons have been around, and would that freak them out?
