I’ve read that a hen, upon laying an egg, will utter a loud cry that has been variously translated as chicken speak for pride (“Hey, look what I just did!”) or relief (“Thank God that’s over with!”).
But it wasn’t until we’d had our three hens for a while that I finally heard this sound up close, and realized what it was.
Our coop and pen are located in a back corner of our lot quite a ways from the house, although they are visible from our patio. In our first few weeks of ownership, I heard an occasional loud squawk, but only while I was in or near the house. Looking over to the pen from a distance on those occasions, I saw that nothing was amiss, so I assumed a neighborhood cat had sauntered a bit too close for the chickens’ comfort, and set off their alarm bells.
It wasn’t until a few days ago that I learned those weren’t alarm bells after all. At least not of the “predators in the hood” variety.
A teenage family friend and I had just finished feeding the hens when she lifted the lid at the back of the coop that covers the nest box, which is where the hens lay their eggs. Snow, by far the noisiest of our hens, was in the box, so we gently closed the lid to avoid disturbing her.
Minutes later, while we were still near the coop, we heard a terrifically loud squawk - more like a deafening goose honk - in the nest box. Snow then ran out of the coop and into the pen to join the other hens, Stella and Nala. When we lifted the lid to look into the box, there, nestled in wood shavings, was a newly laid egg, still warm to the touch.
I may not know much poultry lingo, but that honk will never leave me scratching my head again. It’s a sound that, once heard in context, does not require a Chicken to English Dictionary.
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