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Need quiet poultry

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3.6K views 22 replies 17 participants last post by  okiemom  
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#1 ·
I think chickens would be just the ticket for a survivalist except the rooster would attract passers-by. Is there a way to raise chickens for a couple of years, getting eggs, meat and fertilizer - but without alerting bad people that here are a bunch of chickens?

Or maybe another bird would be better suited?

putts
 
S
#3 ·
Quail are fantastic for areas where quiet birds are necessary, but all chickens give off just about the same amount of noise. Mainly, hens only make the 'egg song' after laying, or an alarm call when they're panicked/see a predator. The latter is probably a good reason, because that will alert you. But there isn't much of a way to avoid the egg song, apart from getting only meat chickens.
 
M
#4 ·
I don't think a truly quiet chicken exists. If you are really that worried about roving gangs of hungry neighbors after the apocalypse, I think rabbits may be your only choice for livestock period. Most everything else I can think of is pretty talkative--chickens, turkeys, geese, ducks, goats, sheep, cows . . . they're not quiet.
 
K
#5 ·
My buff orps are quiet, so are my golden comets and barred rocks. Stay away from Black Australorps if you want a quiet chicken. Ironically, my Black Australorp roo is basically silent. A darn good rooster, but the girls are LOUD. They scream over everything (and they have a sound like a screaming infant). The waters too warm WAAAAAA The food is getting low WAAAAAAAA a butterfly is flying too close to the coop WAAAAAAAAAAAAAA Yeah it's that bad.

However, I agree. If you want a quiet animal during an apocalyptic type situation, may want to stick with rabbits (or you can take turns guarding the coop... booby trap it, move it to the furthest corner of your property away from the road, dunno... gotta be creative. During that type of a situation, it wouldn't matter what type of livestock you have because people will likely attempt to loot your house anyway and find them.
 
M
#6 ·
Perhaps you could go for deterrence instead of silence. I'm thinking about geese.

A lot of people are afraid of geese. I know that sounds silly, but I've seen statistics showing that more people are afraid of geese than of dogs. And I've seen it in action, too. A flock of angry geese--and they get angry about intruders--will deter most people (and many predators). It will also alert you.

Just a thought. Geese get very protective of other poultry they grow up with, especially ducks.
 
#11 ·
Mulegirl said:
I don't think a truly quiet chicken exists.
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Go down the supermarket aisle ... those chickens are pretty quiet. :)

As far as protecting your livestock from roving marauders, hiding in silence just isn't going to work. You can smell woodsmoke for miles and miles. You can see light for twice that distance.

You want to protect your chickens at night, better pluck them off the roost and bring them inside your bunker when you seal up tight at night.

OR be prepared to do what livestock owners have done for 10,000 years ... be prepared to defend them.
 
#13 ·
I've seen a lot of designs for houses and such in Germany where you had livestock on the bottom floor and people quarters up on the second floor. The house and "barn" area could be locked up tight, and you had the added benefit of the heat from the stable below drifting up through the floor and into the living quarters.

You get used to the smell of livestock, and a clean barn don't smell very bad at all. Smells good, I think. Better than going into a gas station bathroom at any rate.
 
M
#14 ·
Are there quiet poultry? Mine are not quiet and I am currently rooster-less. Between their hen quabbles over pecking order and the morning declaration of "Attention! I have laid an egg!", it's never quiet around here.

Rabbits, on the other hand... Rabbits are very quiet. Except when they do the happy dance around their cage at feeding time.
 
#15 ·
My quail are very quiet (as others have mentioned). I have also had good luck with Black Copper Marans hens. They were very calm, though they would join the Ameracaunas in the morning song, though none of them seemed to sing the egg song. When you consider that chickens were illegal in my municipality, you can understand why I was so happy that they were pretty quiet. The crazy thing is that the crows and seagulls made far more noise than any of my critters!

Some people here on HT raise pigeons or doves... Those might be good options. Muscovy ducks are also a great choice since they only hiss when agitated. No one hears a hiss and goes looking for the source!
 
V
#17 ·
Ernie said:
I've seen a lot of designs for houses and such in Germany where you had livestock on the bottom floor and people quarters up on the second floor. The house and "barn" area could be locked up tight, and you had the added benefit of the heat from the stable below drifting up through the floor and into the living quarters.

You get used to the smell of livestock, and a clean barn don't smell very bad at all. Smells good, I think. Better than going into a gas station bathroom at any rate.
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I've seen those old paintings/drawings! Great idea, and, we could actually do that in this house. Our house has the main living space and bedrooms on the second floor, makes it feel like a tree house. The first floor is a garage, laundry room and guest room. When people drive up to the house we go out on the deck first to see who it is or just talk to them from up there. I like the security of the design.

I have wondered about securing chickens in a SHTF situation, they will suddenly become very valuable. Our chicken coop is in a very vulnerable location.
 
#18 ·
Hmmm. An interesting problem. You don't want to snuff out your ability to repopulate.

You could keep a normal noisy flock, then silence the roosters when TSHTF. Or you could raise a bunker rooster. (No one's there to hear you when you scream--er--crow). Or maybe a combination of the two. The problem is, they start getting that scrawny little crow when they are too small to service a hen.
 
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#20 ·
Awnry Abe said:
Hmmm. An interesting problem. You don't want to snuff out your ability to repopulate.

You could keep a normal noisy flock, then silence the roosters when TSHTF. Or you could raise a bunker rooster. (No one's there to hear you when you scream--er--crow). Or maybe a combination of the two. The problem is, they start getting that scrawny little crow when they are too small to service a hen.
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I like that idea there Abe. If TS never hits the fan I could still have my chicken ranch. I have a preference for chickens because they can help with the gardening.

If TS did hit the fan, the hens alone would probably keep me in eggs for a few years. I could wait till then to look around for a rooster.
 
#22 ·
The quietest thing about guinea fowl is that sweet little ma-greep ma-greep sound that they make when all is right in their world. Unfortunately, very little is EVER right in their world and they start making that awful screeching sound when a plane flies over head or you look at them funny. When we were down to our last guinea hen, she even startled herself from time to time!
 
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