How to keep a hen quiet?

I'm directing a skit, split up across 5 days, with teens, for kids. The script called for a stuffed chicken, and I decided to use a real chicken. We were trying to keep it a secret from the kids until the last moment, so it would be a surprise. It worked fairly well, but the hen in question was getting quite loud backstage (probably made worse by the chicken sound effects we had to use). We tried covering its cage, giving it water to drink, and taking it out and holding it.

So I thought I would try to figure out how to keep a hen quiet... and all the stuff I am finding it about how to keep roosters quiet. Anyone who has kept chickens, knows that hens can be quite loud too.

Any ideas?

Even a happy or sleepy hen is going to make noise. I don't think there's a reliable way to, long-term, keep a hen quiet. Short term - any of the things you mentioned would do.
Keeping her in the dark, as long as she's had some time to run around beforehand, would make her more inclined to be quiet.
Making scary (to a chicken) noises would work, too. She knows she's very edible - but that's mean.

I would hope she has water available all the time as well as food. You're using a living critter as a prop.
Holding her and making sure she's involved (as much as a held chicken can be) will, as long as she's well-handled to begin with, keep her quiet. If she's not well handled, she's more likely to get extremely noisy with being held.

Other than temporary things, there isn't really a good way to keep individual chickens quiet. If you had two chickens in a cage, you could keep them occupied with each other by giving one toy or treat and they'd play tag to see who got to keep it most.

Sitting in the dark, being held, being given something to do, are all things you can try. They'll all work for short periods of time.

Ours used to go absolutely dead silent when a hawk went over . . . perhaps not the best idea for backstage though

Food is the magical word ....

Thanks for the replies. We did avoid food for the 90 minutes she was there. She comes from about 10 minutes down the road and we only had there for practice and the skit, and then sent her back home. But she had water and attention the whole time, and we tried the dark area later on. Maybe we should bring some sunflower seeds or something next time... we were just hoping to have fewer bits of chicken exhaust around :)

While not practical for you in the short term, I wonder if acclimating the chicken to the crate/confinement prior to having it backstage might make it more comfortable (quiet)?

Anyone ever crate train a chicken before?