Are chicken collars good?

[ATXInstantFlock]

Lowering roosts increases preditor chances right?

Not if the coop is already secure.

 

[chooki]

I have an Australorp rooster that is too heavy to fly on the roost, so he sleeps beneath the roost at night. The coop is 2 layered and very secure though.

Yes, chickens can be too fat to fly.

I tried to get him to exercise, but as much as he likes to follow me around like a dog, he is also a bit lazy and very scared - there are many different types of predators around and about.

 

[Themellowyellows]

Not if your coop is secure. Do you have any photos of your coop that you can post ?

No, ill get them. There secure but animals are smart.

 

[BDutch]

No, ill get them. There secure but animals are smart.

You should be smarter than the predators in securing your coop.

Roosting in a coop is not to prevent casualties.

Roosting is natural behaviour of a chicken. They feel the need to sleep in a tree or at least higher up in natural circumstances. This is a way (instinct) to have better chances to survive in the wild/truly free ranging.
Only a broody who feels the need to hatch a clutch of eggs searches for hidden place on the ground.

Your coop should be secure if all ventilation openings in your coop are blocked with ½ “ maze hwc and there is no way to dig underneath (30 cm hwc in /on the ground or pavement tiles around the coop). And door locks should be difficult to open.

 

[BDutch]

Just putting this here for a random fact but chickens are the loudest bird species in the world because a rooster's crow is recorded at 180 decibels. A hen's egg song is not as loud. Before you start saying that hens are louder than roosters, no, they are not. It is hard to explain, but the loudness of their egg song just has a greater distance than a rooster's crow, therefore it can sound louder to your ears－while the crow has a longer distance range, the loudness of it quickly depletes as the noise travels, so it can sound not as loud when you are not right by their beak. The crow of a male chicken is 180 decibels recorded right at their mouth, while a hen's egg song is about 100-140 decibels at their mouth.

My honest opinion? An egg song is way more annoying than a crow, even though a crow is louder, because the egg song's sound depletes less quickly as it reaches a farther distance.

I find this ‘greater distance’ claim for hens hard to believe. I don’t hear my hens on the street/in the distance. But I did hear my cockerels when they crowed, from the same distance.

Also my neighbour complained whenever I kept a cockerel after a hatch. Its wakes her up early mornings in spring. She never complained about the noise of my hens who make noises early mornings too.

Do you have a research article with a distance-noise table ?

FYI, I have bantams. The bantam RIR is the noisiest of them all.
The bantam RIR cockerel had a low voice that didn’t travel very far. But the Dutch and other bantam cockerels I had , had a higher and more annoying tone.

 

[SwampPrincessChick]

I find this ‘greater distance’ claim for hens hard to believe. I don’t hear my hens on the street/in the distance. But I did hear my cockerels when they crowed, from the same distance.

You have misunderstood what I was talking about (which I knew someone would－it is hard to explain). I would have to draw a model but that would both waste time and effort. I cannot link any article because these are observations made by my years of studying and keeping chickens . . . my favorite thing to do in particular is study their language.

 

[1stflockMama]

Do you live in a zoned area?

 

[ATXInstantFlock]

The crow of a male chicken is 180 decibels recorded right at their mouth, while a hen's egg song is about 100-140 decibels at their mouth.

180 db would be enough to permanently damage the hearing of everyone within a few hundred feet. It's definitely not THAT loud.
Everything I've read suggests the true value is usually closer to 90, but can reportedly get up to the 120-140 range in very extreme examples.

 

[NanaK]

I personally would not collar any bird regardless of species.

Because this

It can be difficult to tell when a rooster is struggling to swallow or struggling to breathe when we're not right there with them 100% of the time.

Also, chickens are very good at hiding pain because they are a prey animal. They do not want to appear weak. Slow, weak or young birds are often the first to be picked off by predators. Sometimes the flock will turn against them and attack or push them away from feed so they slowly starve. Sad but true.

I never collared cats either. Cats and chickens are small animals. I would be afraid the collar would get caught on brush and they could not escape. This would make them a target for attack.

Maybe I worry too much.
Your flock your choice.

 

[Themellowyellows]

You should be smarter than the predators in securing your coop.

Roosting in a coop is not to prevent casualties.

Roosting is natural behaviour of a chicken. They feel the need to sleep in a tree or at least higher up in natural circumstances. This is a way (instinct) to have better chances to survive in the wild/truly free ranging.
Only a broody who feels the need to hatch a clutch of eggs searches for hidden place on the ground.

Your coop should be secure if all ventilation openings in your coop are blocked with ½ “ maze hwc and there is no way to dig underneath (30 cm hwc in /on the ground or pavement tiles around the coop). And door locks should be difficult to open.

Are coop may even be safer then a prision sell, metal door thats locked and heavy, hard wiring on the windows. Fenced in by two things and automatic lights everywhere. Our door locks need keys. There is mesh dug into the soil so nothing can dig into it.