At last! How to stop your rooster crowing - maybe

[QuoVadis]

Well I think I'm going to order some, I'll report how well they work!

 

[so lucky]

My 5 month old BC Marans roo has turned very people aggressive, and I think crowing is part of his aggressive behavior. He will stand in the front yard with one or two of his girls and crow incessantly. When he is in the front, it sounds a lot louder inside, in our living room, where we are watching TV or something. I can go out and shoo him away, with a broom, because he is now attacking me, but in two minutes he is back, crowing away! I guess he is going to have to go, because I don't need an aggressive roo here in the summer, when my grand daughters are here visiting, wearing summer clothes, with exposed tender flesh. I wanted him to make BC Marans chicks, but someone on TEG pointed out that it wouldn't be good to pass along the genes of aggression to future roos. He was too expensive to make stew out of, but that is probably my only ethical choice.

 

[QuoVadis]

My 5 month old BC Marans roo has turned very people aggressive, and I think crowing is part of his aggressive behavior. He will stand in the front yard with one or two of his girls and crow incessantly. When he is in the front, it sounds a lot louder inside, in our living room, where we are watching TV or something. I can go out and shoo him away, with a broom, because he is now attacking me, but in two minutes he is back, crowing away! I guess he is going to have to go, because I don't need an aggressive roo here in the summer, when my grand daughters are here visiting, wearing summer clothes, with vexposed tender flesh. I wanted him to make BC Marans chicks, but someone on TEG pointed out that it wouldn't be good to pass along the genes of aggression to future roos. He was too expensive to make stew out of, but that is probably my only ethical choice.

Well you could hatch some BCM chicks out of him ,about halfshould be boys, keep them all, andselect the one or two that fit best the personality and type you want to go for. If you have many boys to choose from you can pick more strictly for temprement.

 

[purplesquirrel]

My 5 month old BC Marans roo has turned very people aggressive, and I think crowing is part of his aggressive behavior. He will stand in the front yard with one or two of his girls and crow incessantly. When he is in the front, it sounds a lot louder inside, in our living room, where we are watching TV or something. I can go out and shoo him away, with a broom, because he is now attacking me, but in two minutes he is back, crowing away! I guess he is going to have to go, because I don't need an aggressive roo here in the summer, when my grand daughters are here visiting, wearing summer clothes, with exposed tender flesh. I wanted him to make BC Marans chicks, but someone on TEG pointed out that it wouldn't be good to pass along the genes of aggression to future roos. He was too expensive to make stew out of, but that is probably my only ethical choice.

sharply pinch the feathers on the back of his neck when he goes for you, whilst staring at him, do this every time he's aggressive.
Do it for a couple days and see if it works, eye contact's important whilst you do it. Move quickly to alarm him.
If he starts to do the sideways shuffle before he attacks, walk towards him stomping your feet and raising your arms slightly.
Every time he acts aggressive, grab his feathers on his back and lunge at him with force, he's testing you and you need to tell him your not afraid to give him a big peck or a shove in the chest.
We feed them and protect them, it's not on to be treated like you're a lower rank!

 

[so lucky]

Quo Vadis, that is a good idea but I just don't have the room to grow a bunch more chickens out to adults. They are pretty crowded the way they are.

 

[so lucky]

You know, he was always stand-offish, even as a tiny chick. There was no mistaking which one was the roo. I'm pretty sure the situation has gone beyond pinching the back of his neck. I had to beat him off my grand daughter the other day, with a garden stake. Right now we are at a stand-off. I take the stake with me when ever I go around him. He keeps one eye on me, but doesn't back off unless I go at him aggressively with the stake.
That treatment probably would have worked well on my last roo, who looks pretty tame in retrospect. I got rid of him 2 years ago because he was such a bumbler with the ladies. Thanks for the suggestion, purplesquirrel.

 

[purplesquirrel]

You know, he was always stand-offish, even as a tiny chick. There was no mistaking which one was the roo. I'm pretty sure the situation has gone beyond pinching the back of his neck. I had to beat him off my grand daughter the other day, with a garden stake. Right now we are at a stand-off. I take the stake with me when ever I go around him. He keeps one eye on me, but doesn't back off unless I go at him aggressively with the stake.
That treatment probably would have worked well on my last roo, who looks pretty tame in retrospect. I got rid of him 2 years ago because he was such a bumbler with the ladies. Thanks for the suggestion, purplesquirrel.

My parents had a cockerel as bad as that when I was younger. Every time we went into the garden we had to take the garden broom. I've got a chick that I know is a cockerel (at least, pretty sure) who acts up for a second or two, showing real cockerel characteristics. He's only 2 weeks old! But I've only got two chicks in the brooder and I can't bonk him on the head and leave the other one on her own (pretty sure she's a hen, or at least a nicer cockerel than the other). I've also never killed a baby cockerel and the idea of it seems horrid.

 

[QuoVadis]

I wanted to report back about my luck with the roosters collars. I didn't end up ordering, but I made my own, which was very easy and cheap with some old cloth and some stick on velcro (I also sewed it down by hand). Since my two roosters are quite small (d'uccle and d'anver) the size they ended up was about 1" by 5 or 6" long. Any longer than that and it was hard to adjust correctly.

Now, the results: the d'anver, who was never as enthusiastic of a crower as many roosters are (but I'm in the city, so any amount of crowing is bad) has completely ceased crowing, even though it is not as tight as I could probably put it. He is still extremely vocal calling the hens, clucking, etc., but not crowing. I'm keeping him inside a couple days to make sure he really isn't crowing, but I think for him it really works. The d'uccle is a different story. He always has loved the sound of his own voice, but even on as tight as I'm comfortable putting it he still crows. It's a little but garbled, and a tad quieter, but still a very distinct crow. I do think he crows less with it on though. Luckily my mom is able to take my wonderful little d'uccle boy, (still sad it didn't work for him - he is a gem!) but it's looking like the collar will work for my d'anver.

I think it just depends on the rooster, so it's worth a try if you're desperate to keep a rooster, but can't have crowing.

 

[Phoenixxx]

I was thinking of doing the same. I tried a section of an old sock on my main crower a while back but that failed miserably. Not only did it not work, but threads had unravelled and naturally gotten entangled. Said rooster had also become brutally aggressive to boot (towards ME! And I spoiled him!) so he became supper. Now I have 5 boys and a LOT less crowing... But Red, when he gets going, oh man - I swear, the boy has lungs bigger than a human's, he has the craziest endurance-crow i've ever heard! Like, a good thirty seconds, maybe longer, per crow? I think i'll try making a collar for him. I love his crow (neverending though it may be!) but i'm sure the neighbours would appreciate an even further reduction in noise. Yep, I just have too many roosters, lol, and I love them all!

 

[chooketychook]

What works for me is having a quiet dominant rooster,my silkie is boss,his the crower (if thats what squeek is) and the leader of the pack my other roosters just dont bother and follow him around like hens lol