crowless rooster

[diornisextant]

I would like to start a challenge to all of the chicken breeders to produce a crowless rooster .
Many breeds and individuals have reduced volume and frequency of crows and it would seem a possible thing to produce a breed that was derived from quiet roosters. with the increase in urban chicken keeping i I would think that a quiet breed would be highly sought after. The hens across the street from me produce an awful racket that is a lot more annoying to me at 5 in the morning than the leghorn next door to them so maybe a chicken breed in which both hen and rooster is quiet would be the end goal. It would seem if you can breed a rooster to be loud and persistent like a long crower then you could go the other direction too.
Anyone willing to take up the challenge? Suggestions on breeds to begin with ? Want to begin a breeders association so that we can cooperate and distribute good quiet roos for breeding purposes.
Serama are a fairly quiet bird in general. Any others?

 

[birdpond]

I think it's a great idea and a long time overdue - in fact I've wondered why someone wasn't already working on that, since if no counties permit roosters because of the noise, the only roos left might be on factory farms, and who wants that?

Anyone taking up the challenge yet?

 

[Bullitt]

I did a search on Google for "roosters that do not crow" and it seems many people have asked about this, including here on BackYard Chickens. But it seems no one has been able to develop a breed of chickens with roosters that do not crow. There may be individual roosters that do not crow, but that can be for a variety of reasons, such as one rooster not crowing with a more dominant rooster around.

There is no more iconic image of a farm than a rooster standing on a fence post and crowing. I would rather hear a rooster crowing than a dog barking all day and night, yet there are many barking dogs in most cities that do not allow roosters.

Most cities allow a single-family homeowner to own about 4 to 6 hens, but no roosters. A rooster really isn't needed for a small flock like this that is cooped up. And if you allowed the chickens to breed, you would quickly be in violation of most cities' ordinances.

I suppose some people just want to have a rooster in their small backyard flock as a pet. But I wonder what kind of rooster it would be if it did not crow. Most likely it would have other traits that would be unwanted.

 

[Redcatcher]

My oriental game cocks crow about a third of the amount that my others do. The crow is deeper and much shorter. Usually just a couple of notes and that's it. Many don't even crow until they're about a year old. The hens are almost silent. But oriental games aren't for everyone. They're very aggressive towards other chickens, are not hardy in cold climates and aren't the easiest to breed.

 

[diornisextant]

I had a rooster that was 10 times quieter than my current rooster and he is much louder than the other Serama I have heard . I am going to try to find one of these less noisy and breed from him.I have the sister from the last rooster and I will see if there is any difference in the young.
Problems I see are crowing could be inextricably linked with male sex hormones, reproductive behavior, mate attraction and other survival genetics. Another is that it takes a while before the crow is developed. at least a year. the Seabright is a hen feathered breed, does any one have any knowledge of their crow? any other quiet breeds ? breeds with calm roosters that get along with other roosters ?
Then there is the aspect of behavior . My current rooster crows non stop all day if he is separated from his hens and only twice a day for a short time when he is with them .Other things that affect his crowing are cloudy days a full feed dish, dark and quiet. He is inside to keep neighbors happy until ten AM, he comes in after they all go to roost. Of course to be allowed in city they would need to have a barely distinguishable crow from hen squawking if they crow at all . Maybe that would be the way to go .breed a rooster that squawks and cackles like a hen. I know my neighbors hens wake my rooster with all their noise and are much louder than he is .
any other ideas ?? as a large community we should be able to come to some agreement and start this project between us . Any bored veteran breeders out there looking for a challenge.

 

[diornisextant]

My oriental game cocks crow about a third of the amount that my others do. The crow is deeper and much shorter. Usually just a couple of notes and that's it. Many don't even crow until they're about a year old. The hens are almost silent. But oriental games aren't for everyone. They're very aggressive towards other chickens, are not hardy in cold climates and aren't the easiest to breed.

what breed ? the trait could be bred into chickens that are more versatile.

 

[diornisextant]

I did a search on Google for "roosters that do not crow" and it seems many people have asked about this, including here on BackYard Chickens. But it seems no one has been able to develop a breed of chickens with roosters that do not crow. There may be individual roosters that do not crow, but that can be for a variety of reasons, such as one rooster not crowing with a more dominant rooster around.

There is no more iconic image of a farm than a rooster standing on a fence post and crowing. I would rather hear a rooster crowing than a dog barking all day and night, yet there are many barking dogs in most cities that do not allow roosters.

Most cities allow a single-family homeowner to own about 4 to 6 hens, but no roosters. A rooster really isn't needed for a small flock like this that is cooped up. And if you allowed the chickens to breed, you would quickly be in violation of most cities' ordinances.

I suppose some people just want to have a rooster in their small backyard flock as a pet. But I wonder what kind of rooster it would be if it did not crow. Most likely it would have other traits that would be unwanted.

I want a rooster so I can have fertile eggs. Roosters have few undesirable qualities, they give nothing back for all the feed they consume and aggression but currently the only one that keeps them from being kept is the noise. you would only be in violation if you kept all of the chicks and grew them to full size and then kept them. There are many uses and outlets for the surplus and the quieter the breed the more likely they will be allowed in increased numbers. Any other undesirable qualities could be weeded along the way this is a prompt for a long term project not a fad designer chicken. . There will still be plenty of loud roosters around so no worries there.

 

[diornisextant]

here's a thought ! Most lekk breeding types have dominant territory holders and then there are sneaker males that work the perimeters and mate others while the dom is occupied with another. They are generally less inclined to display so that the dom doesn't alert to them until it's too late.If we could ID the sneaker males in a flock and breed from them only maybe the quiet would be a natural by product.

 

[Redcatcher]

I had a rooster that was 10 times quieter than my current rooster and he is much louder than the other Serama I have heard . I am going to try to find one of these less noisy and breed from him.I have the sister from the last rooster and I will see if there is any difference in the young.
Problems I see are crowing could be inextricably linked with male sex hormones, reproductive behavior, mate attraction and other survival genetics. Another is that it takes a while before the crow is developed. at least a year. the Seabright is a hen feathered breed, does any one have any knowledge of their crow? any other quiet breeds ? breeds with calm roosters that get along with other roosters ?
Then there is the aspect of behavior . My current rooster crows non stop all day if he is separated from his hens and only twice a day for a short time when he is with them .Other things that affect his crowing are cloudy days a full feed dish, dark and quiet. He is inside to keep neighbors happy until ten AM, he comes in after they all go to roost. Of course to be allowed in city they would need to have a barely distinguishable crow from hen squawking if they crow at all . Maybe that would be the way to go .breed a rooster that squawks and cackles like a hen. I know my neighbors hens wake my rooster with all their noise and are much louder than he is .
any other ideas ?? as a large community we should be able to come to some agreement and start this project between us . Any bored veteran breeders out there looking for a challenge.

I can hear the hen type cackling and squawks in this crow. The crow is definitely modifiable. Just look at all the song variations in canaries. They all sing but some sing with their beak's closed and some with them open. Some are loud and some are relatively quiet and soft.

 

[Redcatcher]

what breed ? the trait could be bred into chickens that are more versatile.

My Malgache make the least amount of noise followed buy my O Shamos.