Anyone try lowering the ceiling of their coop to reduce rooster crowing at night?

[bayareapilot]

I really love my rooster and while I haven't had any neighbor complaints I am concerned about his very early morning crowing (talking 1230, 1 and 2 a.m., 3am, not consecutively,, just here and there).

So the roosting coop, through ventilated, has windows covered. Additionally I have a smart light that extends daylight a little more into the late evening (so he is more apt to sleep in, but doesn't work perfectly). I've tried ultrasonics activated by night crowing (no effect). I've tried different colors of light inside the coop, low intensity reds and midnight blues to wash out surrounding passing lights/sounds.

The one I haven't experimented with yet was to lower the roosting coop ceiling (to keep rooster from extending neck at night on the roost to crow). Anyone try the latter? If so, how far do u lower it. Clearly you want it high enough so the hens and the rooster can walk on and off the roost but not high enough that he can stretch up an extended his neck and crow in the middle of the night.

I figure it might be fairly easy for me to determine what height that might need to be since I do have a live video camera inside the coop that records about 72 hours of looped video. I guess I could look at the video and see using the parts of the inside of the coop in the video image as a referent what height he extends to in order to Crow and just make sure that ceiling is slightly below that height?

Open to any experiences with lowering the roof hopefully lots of success stories and if you have any tips I'm all ears? Again he's pretty quiet for the most part I'm more concerned about the very early morning crowing he does here and there, as I'd like him to have a good relationship with the neighbors so to speak. Again the neighbors have been great but I don't want to take advantage of the tolerance so to speak

 

[sloanbychoice]

I think it’s great that you’re trying to be proactive for them.
I don’t know anything about lowering the ceiling, but you mentioned neighbors...
By chance are you in a neighborhood where he can hear traffic or neighbors leaving or closing car doors?
I believe the biggest cause of early crowing is light, and the next biggest reason being sound.
Many people in neighborhoods have this issue, which is why they’re not allowed in many of them.
Truly all it takes is one person getting home late and closing a car door to make him go off.

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Roosters do extend their bodies when the crow but they don't have to. A rooster in a small crate will still crow.
It is odd for crowing to happen at those times of night. That is usually due to any light disturbances like vehicle headlights, night lights, street lights, motion sensor lights, lightning, etc.. Loud noises, movement around the coop like people or animals walking. Chickens have very sensitive nerve endings in their feet and any slight vibration will wake them up.
Add to that roosters have an internal clock so even in total darkness, they know when dawn is and will crow then. The middle of the night crowing is what concerns me. Something is bothering him at those hours.
I've used shade cloth on windows and it helps slightly but not much.
What I've found helps is to only have windows and vents facing away from neighbors' houses and leaving them locked up till a reasonable hour.
I lived in Costa Rica for a while and loved hearing the roosters crow because I never needed to use an alarm clock to wake up in time for work. The only problem was with thunderstorms at night. When lightning would flash, all the neighborhood roosters would crank it up.
Sometimes it matters what houses are like. Most of the houses around here are brick. I live in a 120 year old brick house and I can't hear the roosters when I'm in the house. However, I can hear vehicle traffic driving past the house.
My closest neighbor, about 120 feet from the closest coop, didn't know I had chickens till I told her I did.

 

[neo71665]

Yeah I don't think roof height is gonna do anything. I've seen roo's crow while ducked down hiding under a car.

 

[3KillerBs]

If no one is complaining and it isn't bothering you then leave well enough alone.

Lowering the roof can only mess up the ventilation that keeps your birds healthy.