using a contraceptive implant (made for dogs) to stop crowing...Anyone ever heard of this?

[jonaeselaye]

An update on Maya, it has been around 1 month since he was given the implant.
When he initially got the implant he crowed a lot more the next few days and was very moody for about a week. I communicate regularly with the vet who administered his implant and she said the implant will initially stimulate his hormones before dampening them.
This does seem to be the case because now he only crows a few times a day or some days not at all.

He is a lot calmer now than he use to be. He still mounts my 6 hens but not as much as before and most of the times he just steps on them but doesn't mate with them. Interestingly, we are still getting a few fertile eggs. Though I believe he will become completely sterile after his 3rd implant.

His physical appearance is noticeably different. His body and tail have become quite round. I've attached a before and now photo, his tail looks very different to me. In the first photo he had a long defined tail and now it looks similar to my hens' tails.

Sorry I accidentally posted my message without the images

 

[fldiver97]

Thanks for the update!!

 

[Kiki]

Sorry I accidentally posted my message without the images

View attachment 1615351

View attachment 1615340

Did the feathers in the before picture, the ones standing up, fall out?

 

[jonaeselaye]

Did the feathers in the before picture, the ones standing up, fall out?

Yes I believe so, I've been finding a lot of dark long pointed feathers around the enclosure and I'm sure they are his as he's my only dark coloured "normal feathered" (not silkie) chicken.

I'm not sure if the feathers in his now round tail are the regrowth or if that's just how his tail looks without the long standing feathers.

 

[aart]

How old is he again?
IIRC too young for a regular molt, could the implant trigger a molt?

 

[leighks]

An update on Maya, it has been around 1 month since he was given the implant.
When he initially got the implant he crowed a lot more the next few days and was very moody for about a week. I communicate regularly with the vet who administered his implant and she said the implant will initially stimulate his hormones before dampening them.
This does seem to be the case because now he only crows a few times a day or some days not at all.

He is a lot calmer now than he use to be. He still mounts my 6 hens but not as much as before and most of the times he just steps on them but doesn't mate with them. Interestingly, we are still getting a few fertile eggs. Though I believe he will become completely sterile after his 3rd implant.

His physical appearance is noticeably different. His body and tail have become quite round. I've attached a before and now photo, his tail looks very different to me. In the first photo he had a long defined tail and now it looks similar to my hens' tails.

Glad you posted an update,
I’m very interested to see how things go as time goes on. So little info on this topic, it’s nice to have this resource!

 

[jonaeselaye]

How old is he again?
IIRC too young for a regular molt, could the implant trigger a molt?

The vet believes he is around 6 months old but we aren't certain. You may be right because he never had any bald patches or anything, it's only his tail feathers that seem to have fallen off so maybe it is the implant. I managed to find a better photo of his body today

Glad you posted an update,
I’m very interested to see how things go as time goes on. So little info on this topic, it’s nice to have this resource!

Yes also found that it is hard to find information about the implant on roosters, even the journal articles/studies I found were mainly on ferrets and other animals. At this point I believe it could be a good option for people wanting to keep their roosters as pets. He started crowing almost 2 months ago but when we asked the neighbours the other day if it bothered them, they didn't even know we had a rooster. The coop is only metres away from our neighbours which are all boundary to boundary townhouses so if he crowed a lot they would definitely hear him.
However because of the cost and because some roosters need a few doses, I don't think it's an economical option for those who sell meat birds and eggs

 

[jonaeselaye]

Hi all,

I was wrong about his tail feathers. He looks very much like a regular rooster now with a nice huge tail. His crowing is almost non-existent, the past week I've only heard him crow once and it was because one of the sheds got accidentally locked in the shed (we use to leave the door open because sometimes they like to lay in there but it was a windy day and it slammed shut). He started crowing because she was missing and he didn't stop until I figured out where she was and let her out.

In terms of aggression he is very tamed. He never has an issue being picked up, handled or cuddled - even by strangers. Whenever our friends come over they get excited to see chickens and he has no problem with them approaching him and patting him.

HOWEVER....he is not infertile.
It turns out our silkie hens have become very good at hiding their eggs from us. We came home one day from work one day and found chicks in our backyard.

 

[leighks]

Wow I wouldn’t have guess he would still be fertile! Glad you posted the update. The chicks are adorable!
It will be interesting to see how he does now that spring is starting. Will the implant still keep his hormones low or will he crow and mount the hens more? I know my roo got his surge of hormones (and attitude!!) in the past week or so. Keep updating and let us know how things go!

 

[marley10]

Hi everyone,

I have a 3-year-old hen that over the past 3 months has started looking and behaving more and more like a rooster. She's now got saddle feathers, growing iridescent tail feathers and tiny spurs starting. She looks like a young rooster now.

Long story short, she's been crowing for a couple months. Started irregularly and not very crow-like and now she full-on sounds and crows like a rooster all the time. The avian vet says it's probably a tumor on her left ovary (mature female birds apparently only have one functional ovary). I've decided to try the Deslorelin implant. If it doesn't work we will have to get rid of her because of the city laws here.

I thought people might be interested in the results, so I thought I'd post updates as it goes. I'll post some pictures separately later.