Are There any non-crowing rooster breeds?

[Erin K]

With all the specialty breeding that goes on with chickens I demand someone work up a gentle non-crowing rooster. I'll be ready to order him next spring. Thank you.

JK

sorta, I mean if that can be arranged it would rock.

 

[dixiebeast]

Quote:
I agree my bantam crows a loud shrill crow...all day...and my BLRW only crows a deeper crow about 4 times at sunup and never again all day!LOL

 

[brghtii]

Oh I am so confused on the crowing bit. My rooster crows even though his every need is well taken care of. I need to check out your blog. I had three roosters and they would answer eachother and now there is just one. However if he doesn't leave my 19mo alone he will be someones dinner. She is HORRIFIED of ALL the chickens now.

 

[SycolinWoodsChickens]

Oh I am so confused on the crowing bit. My rooster crows even though his every need is well taken care of.

Roosters crow period.

Seriously, I had a SINGLE rooster last year with 20 hens of his own. He had every thing he needed food, shelter, protection, entertainment and was never threatened or bored at all. He crowed from 3am until the sun set daily. He was a mean evil cuss who tasted great after a swim in the crockpot.

Now I have two roos who crow a few times a day mostly at sunrise and that's it. It's much, much quieter in our house now.

I'm sure the OP was not trying to imply that roosters who crow are living miserable lives. I wouldn't worry about it. In fact if my rooster didn't crow I'd think something was wrong.

Just my $.02.

 

[Atrayu]

thanks so much for all the replies. There were some great comments. I have so much more to learn.
I think I am going to reflect a little more on whether to get a rooster or not. This site is an amazing teaching tool and it is so wonderful to find people who have a diversity of experience and knowledge in this area.

 

[OlyChickenGuy]

Quote:
Remember that wants and needs are only part of the equation, the other part, and the part that many people ( for some reason especially Americans ) tend to struggle with is exerting dominance. Dominance is not shown through aggression or violence or pain, but rather strict boundaries. You make a set of rules and STICK to them, and you enforce them. Never hit or kick your birds - physical contact is strictly for "rerouting" behaviour, which is why it's good to have treats on hand or simple commands to follow so that when you discipline them you have something you can ask them to do and quickly reroute that behaviour. Chickens are extremely eager to please "higher-ups" on their social order, and once that "higher-up" is you, you'll notice them constantly checking in with you.

My two campine boys would CONSTANTLY do something, then whip their heads around to me to ask for acceptance. They would jump up on the edge of their brooder, then look at me. Jump down, look at me. Walk a few steps, look at me. And their eyes were bright as they would seek my approval. I eventually began doing agility-like training with them. I would take them outside and run with them, I taught them to jump on command, play dead, all sorts of things, and I was really looking forward to getting them an actual obstacle course set up, but they were adopted out before that point.

Whenever my boys crow these days I ask them to sit and stay, then don't give them a release command until they've lost interest in doing whatever it was they were doing, then a treat and a release to go back to the pen, and they'll walk right in. At this point I can even keep the door open while I'm out there, and they might venture out a bit from their designated area, but they'll generally stick to it, and when I tell them to go home, they will.

I also taught my eldest boy "no rape". If a hen made protest, I would discipline him and sometimes give him a couple of minutes of "time out" ( you never want to give a "time out" that's much longer because their attention span will quickly end up forgetting why they're there, but chickens are smart enough to figure out cause and effect, so you CAN use longer "time out"s to your advantage, it just takes a lot of dedication, repetition, and consistency of time versus severity of infringement ). It got to the point that when a hen would protest I'd just shout "No rape!" from the other side of the room or even the yard, and he'd let go, and soon if a hen so much as backed up, he'd let go and walk away.

I hope this has helped somewhat, I don't want to make too long of a post since it's not REALLY what the topic is about, but I DO want to make sure that more people have safe homes for roosters. The biggest danger to their well-being is their not being given a chance to show how well-behaved they can really be when their humans step up and take charge. An aggressive rooster is most likely fearful due to the constant vigilance they have to exert when they feel that they have to be in charge. When you take charge, it's saying to them, "Don't worry, mate, you can relax now. I've got it handled."

It's not an overnight change, and as I said, I understand that not everyone has the kind of time that's necessary for such behaviour modification practices. Sometimes you get lucky with a perfect temperament, but without structure you can never be certain they'll stay that way. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It's all just luck when you don't assume some amount of responsibility for their behaviour.

 

[Country Heart]

Quote:
I'm with Erin...it would rock!

 

[KDK1]

Quote:
I'm in... sign me up for two!

 

[Atrayu]

LOL! I think someone could make a lot of money off a developing a breed of non-crowing roosters! That is the #1 reason why I hear about people having to get rid of them.

 

[colebarnhart]

Quote:
Remember that wants and needs are only part of the equation, the other part, and the part that many people ( for some reason especially Americans ) tend to struggle with is exerting dominance. Dominance is not shown through aggression or violence or pain, but rather strict boundaries. You make a set of rules and STICK to them, and you enforce them. Never hit or kick your birds - physical contact is strictly for "rerouting" behaviour, which is why it's good to have treats on hand or simple commands to follow so that when you discipline them you have something you can ask them to do and quickly reroute that behaviour. Chickens are extremely eager to please "higher-ups" on their social order, and once that "higher-up" is you, you'll notice them constantly checking in with you.

My two campine boys would CONSTANTLY do something, then whip their heads around to me to ask for acceptance. They would jump up on the edge of their brooder, then look at me. Jump down, look at me. Walk a few steps, look at me. And their eyes were bright as they would seek my approval. I eventually began doing agility-like training with them. I would take them outside and run with them, I taught them to jump on command, play dead, all sorts of things, and I was really looking forward to getting them an actual obstacle course set up, but they were adopted out before that point.

Whenever my boys crow these days I ask them to sit and stay, then don't give them a release command until they've lost interest in doing whatever it was they were doing, then a treat and a release to go back to the pen, and they'll walk right in. At this point I can even keep the door open while I'm out there, and they might venture out a bit from their designated area, but they'll generally stick to it, and when I tell them to go home, they will.

I also taught my eldest boy "no rape". If a hen made protest, I would discipline him and sometimes give him a couple of minutes of "time out" ( you never want to give a "time out" that's much longer because their attention span will quickly end up forgetting why they're there, but chickens are smart enough to figure out cause and effect, so you CAN use longer "time out"s to your advantage, it just takes a lot of dedication, repetition, and consistency of time versus severity of infringement ). It got to the point that when a hen would protest I'd just shout "No rape!" from the other side of the room or even the yard, and he'd let go, and soon if a hen so much as backed up, he'd let go and walk away.

I hope this has helped somewhat, I don't want to make too long of a post since it's not REALLY what the topic is about, but I DO want to make sure that more people have safe homes for roosters. The biggest danger to their well-being is their not being given a chance to show how well-behaved they can really be when their humans step up and take charge. An aggressive rooster is most likely fearful due to the constant vigilance they have to exert when they feel that they have to be in charge. When you take charge, it's saying to them, "Don't worry, mate, you can relax now. I've got it handled."

It's not an overnight change, and as I said, I understand that not everyone has the kind of time that's necessary for such behaviour modification practices. Sometimes you get lucky with a perfect temperament, but without structure you can never be certain they'll stay that way. Sometimes they do, sometimes they don't. It's all just luck when you don't assume some amount of responsibility for their behaviour.

???? WHAT???? You had a chicken that you trained to "jump on command" and "play dead", and you gave it up for adoption, are you crazy????? WTH, you could've gone on Late Night talk shows and made big bucks with that chicken!!!