At last! How to stop your rooster crowing - maybe

[Phoenixxx]

I asked my question re: training roos to be silent/silent on command and someone here (byc) posted this link: http://olychickenguy.blogspot.ca/2010/10/005-further-exploration-into-crowing.html

I read it and it is absolutely BRILLIANT! I figured, based on general trainability of chickens, that training a roo to "shoosh!" HAD to be possible and it is! According to the article, though, this is achieved by asserting yourself as the dominant... In light of this, I've opted to just "deal". I need a strong dominant/dominants in my flock due to the fact that we are not predator-free here and almost half my birds refuse to remain cooped; therefore, I need my big boys to be - well, big boys

 

[Miss HennyPenny]

Well, I have no intention of trying to stop my cockerels/rooster from crowing. I love the noise they make. I do think one of my young boys is still on summertime though. He will start crowing from 4am even though it only starts getting light from around 6am. Then the older boy joins in!

 

[LyrebirdJacki]

My uncle actually cut the tongue out of his rooster years ago (I know, very cruel) and after a month it managed to start crowing again.

A friend of mine has invented a "collar" which works by preventing the bird from being able stretch out and expand the throat as they would while crowing.The bird can still eat and drink like normal, as she has it currently on her silky for a week now and he isn't crowing. I only see the downside being that once you remove it, the bird will crow and I don't like the idea of having it on for the whole bird's life.

I have only seen a picture of it on the silky but she says its a bit of cloth with velcro sewn on so you can adjust the size easily.

 

[Studio2770]

Why would he think cutting out its tongue would work? He should know a rooster doesn't need it to crow. Stupid decision and did it for nothing. I would want to try that collar in the future if we get a roo. I think the rooster wouldn't crow because it may have trained itself. One of my friend's dog doesn't have her electric fence collar on anymore but still won't cross the barrier. BUT, it depends on the animal.

 

[LyrebirdJacki]

Why would he think cutting out its tongue would work? He should know a rooster doesn't need it to crow. Stupid decision and did it for nothing. I would want to try that collar in the future if we get a roo. I think the rooster wouldn't crow because it may have trained itself. One of my friend's dog doesn't have her electric fence collar on anymore but still won't cross the barrier. BUT, it depends on the animal.

It was one of those wives tales he heard. People usually try anything, and well working in an abattoir when he turned 15 and currently running a cattle station he never thought twice about things like that. I didn't like it when I heard that he did it, but i've heard worse from people....worse one for a chicken I heard was some moron told people that if you stuck a screwdriver down the throat of a chicken really quickly, all the feathers would fall out. Disgusting if you ask me. Anyway it was just something I know someone tried to stop crowing, and well I'm pretty sure saying that it didn't work wont have people trying it.



She put up a photo on facebook of her collar on the silky. I hope that it will be like with the dog collar. I recently had my dog with one and I put it on him (turned off) when he gets really over the top with his barking and he goes dead quiet. All I really needed was the first day with the collar actually turned on and he knew he wasn't supposed to bark or it would zap him. However with the rooster one it isn't going to hurt the bird at all so I don't think it will enforce the bird to stop, just prevent it while wearing it.

I'm going to buy a few from her ($5 each) and give them around to a few friends to try out. She has about 20 other people going to try it on different sized roosters before she actually goes to get it made and sold on ebay. I am pretty sure that you will get a determined rooster who wont take no for an answer

To be honest I also love the crowing, and so does a few neighbors of him, however I have one that tried to have all of my chickens removed just because of the rooster. It's not my fault that I can't move house to somewhere rural either. I usually just grow a rooster up to the point that he crows and give it away, but get as many chicks from him as I can.

 

[cmedeiros17]

I sent you a PM LyreBird

 

[QuoVadis]

Did anyone eles try those anti-crowing collars? I luve in the city, and one of my chicks turned out to be a rooster, but he is such a sweet heart to me and takes care of his hens so well, I really dont want to get rid of him. I think anything that would reduce crowing would be great

 

[LyrebirdJacki]

Did anyone eles try those anti-crowing collars? I luve in the city, and one of my chicks turned out to be a rooster, but he is such a sweet heart to me and takes care of his hens so well, I really dont want to get rid of him. I think anything that would reduce crowing would be great

Didn't work for a bantam I picked up, he was overly desparate to crow and I wasn't willing to choke him. My friend copied the design for her polish frizzles and got it working on 2, but the third is like my bantam and just kept crowing like mad. Depends on the rooster. There are videos of the collars working and videos of the collars just making the crow sound a little muffled, but not completely getting rid of it.

Lucky dip I guess. I got birds louder than roosters and my neighbours never complain about them, but when ever I get a rooster in my yard for even a day (just to fertilise eggs, then I take him back to the farm), I get one old b#tch peering over my fence and writing notes in my mailbox. But it's always worth trying it out as it might be working on one more rooster that is saved from the chopping block.

 

[Klutch]

Put these on him


Teach him the lyrics to I'm a man

 

[purplesquirrel]

My roo is about 18 weeks old and a huge jersey giant x, and has just started mating with my hens.
Before long, he was doing that sideways shift to try and shoo me away, and if that didn't work, he'd attack my hands or legs, to the point of drawing blood!
For a week or so I started feeling rubbish that he was treating me this way after I hand raised them all...

And then I thought, no screw this, he's a chicken! I'm a human and I'm a lot bigger than him, I AM THE BOSS OF HIM
So when I went out in the morning to feed them, he tried his pecking and kicking, so I gave him a quick slap across the back of his head, and he didn't know WHAT to do.
I carried on feeding them and talking to them, he walked away for a bit, making alarm noises and making all the hens confused and nervous (as they enjoy my company and a good cuddle).

The next day he hesitated, but then tried it again, I was disappointed because I didn't want to spend every minute in the garden concentrating on asserting dominance....
He viciously pecked the inner part of my forearm, and it bled under the skin instantly, within an hour it was a big purple welt.
As soon as he pecked me, I lunged at him staring at him and slapped him across the face, he ran up the garden looking startled. I turned my back on him and carried on feeding and talking to my hens and stroking them. I made him feel left out and he wasn't happy because his actions had left him outside of the family ring and hungry!

I felt bad for slapping him but he hurt me first!
After that things were very different. Sometimes he'd strut at me as if he was planning to shoo me off or attack, and then I'd stick my neck out and stare at him, keeping really still, opening my eyes as wide as possible (like a crazy person)...and he'd back away again making bitter 'mumbling' cooing noises, like a child wanting the last word.

Now he's fine, but I have noticed, when I'm sitting/standing watching my hens for a bit, I'll see him watching me watching them, and then he'll strut over to one of them, whilst still having one beady eye on me, and then mate with them...which is a bit creepy.

As for his crowing, he never crows near me and only when I've gone in and he's heard the back door shut. He has a brother who is below him who crows too - right next to my face in fact, but never shows ANY aggression.