Be very careful with the no crow rooster collar

[Ninabelle5087]

Yes these collars can cause not only suffocation, even with a fingertip of space. More commonly they cause asphyxiation due to the roo not being able to swallow food properly. They also cause broken feathers, bruising, and swelling. Honestly if I were a roo, I'd rather be culled than wear one. More people like you need to share their horror stories with these awful devices. And of course the companies selling them are going to claim what a great solution they are. They really need to be banned.

 

[Lylah Stein]

Yikes. How horrific of a thing to have happen and witness. I'm sorry for your loss and traumatic experience..

I have three, 4 month old straight run Silkies myself. I got them as day olds.
Here in Hawaii it is illegal to have roosters within city limits (thank God). And of course I HAD to have the breed that can only be purchased as straight run chicks. LoL. AND cannot discern pullet from rooster until it either lays eggs or crows (and doesn't).

I thought one showed signs of roo-like behavior when they were younger but now I can't tell. They could all be cocks, hens or ninja turtles for all I know.
I love all 3 but am still hoping for all girls.

I have never heard of this "bark collar". I got excited when I saw such specificities to my potential problem. "Silkie, Roo, crowing solution." Only to further read your horror story.

I guess this is a unique situation where a product's potential to cause death is an acceptable risk? Being that it's used as a "possible" means of avoiding CERTAIN death? In the event it becomes necessary, it may still be worth a last-option shot. If the alternative is for him/them to become Panda Express anyways. :/

It still seems fishy to me though. If this were a dog collar, this incident would make national news I'm sure. Quickly followed by a non-disclosure settlement out of court and a quiet recall.

I read here that Silkies are of the quieter breeds. Even the roosters. Was that not the case with Miguel? (I'll go read your other posts to fill in the back story.)

We have wild hens here that squawk just as loud, early and obnoxiously as any rooster I've ever heard. Except these nice hens do it intentionally on my doorstep...

Maybe they'll be good for finger pointing fodder if any neighbors start complaining about my urban free-range flock (roo or not).

"Mine are pretty, well mannered, play with the kids, cute and fuzzy. It's THOSE hood rats that are the nuisance."

Again, sorry for your loss and this traumatic event. But thank you for sharing your experience with us. And letting your experience possibly help others.

Charmed

Silkies are generally quieter, but they have a very "lazy" Crow that some people find extra annoying. It's like they need to Crow but can't be bothered to Actually do it right, the chicken version of "good morni... yeah whatever I'm just going to go peck at that now" but it's still just about as loud as a regular roo, and when they do it involuntarily it can go on for HOURS

 

[Lylah Stein]

Just writing to let you know that my silkie bantam rooster "Miguel" died wearing a no crow collar. We put the collar on him loosely about a week ago and have been tightening a little more each day. The collar wasn’t having any effect so we kept tightening slightly. Today when I tightened it he seemed fine, was following me around and talking to me as normal. When he crowed it was very soft and I thought “finally, it’s working!”. After he crowed he looked like he was doing silent crows after that. Then his head dropped to the ground and he lay there for a few seconds, got up and panicked and ran around, head fell to the ground again and he panicked again. I tried to pick him up but he was flailing around too much. When I could finally pick him up he went limp. I quickly took off his collar but he remained limp. I tried to do CPR but it didn’t work. He was dead.

I’m not complaining about the product, I think it's great for saving the lives of so many roosters but just wanted to tell you to please be careful. Maybe it was user error. I don't know. I followed the instructions and made sure the tip of my pinky fitted.

I am so sad to have lost my special little guy. Please be careful. It was so sudden.

Sarah

This is horrifying, even more so because I've found about 10 stories just like yours, and only in 5 minutes of researching these collars. I guess this is what you get when the alternative is usually certain death, and I guess trying this would be better than just killing my bird and hoping I can manage to eat my pet, which I honestly have zero hope for. I would have to raise meat birds very differently from my regular chickens, mine are very much spoiled family members. When I had issues with my fence and predators I simply shared my home with them until I could do better for them. I couldn't kill and eat an animal I've been hand feeding since it was hatched, no matter the situation.

 

[betka]

Yikes. How horrific of a thing to have happen and witness. I'm sorry for your loss and traumatic experience..

I have three, 4 month old straight run Silkies myself. I got them as day olds.
Here in Hawaii it is illegal to have roosters within city limits (thank God). And of course I HAD to have the breed that can only be purchased as straight run chicks. LoL. AND cannot discern pullet from rooster until it either lays eggs or crows (and doesn't).

I thought one showed signs of roo-like behavior when they were younger but now I can't tell. They could all be cocks, hens or ninja turtles for all I know.
I love all 3 but am still hoping for all girls.

I have never heard of this "bark collar". I got excited when I saw such specificities to my potential problem. "Silkie, Roo, crowing solution." Only to further read your horror story.

I guess this is a unique situation where a product's potential to cause death is an acceptable risk? Being that it's used as a "possible" means of avoiding CERTAIN death? In the event it becomes necessary, it may still be worth a last-option shot. If the alternative is for him/them to become Panda Express anyways. :/

It still seems fishy to me though. If this were a dog collar, this incident would make national news I'm sure. Quickly followed by a non-disclosure settlement out of court and a quiet recall.

I read here that Silkies are of the quieter breeds. Even the roosters. Was that not the case with Miguel? (I'll go read your other posts to fill in the back story.)

We have wild hens here that squawk just as loud, early and obnoxiously as any rooster I've ever heard. Except these nice hens do it intentionally on my doorstep...

Maybe they'll be good for finger pointing fodder if any neighbors start complaining about my urban free-range flock (roo or not).

"Mine are pretty, well mannered, play with the kids, cute and fuzzy. It's THOSE hood rats that are the nuisance."

Again, sorry for your loss and this traumatic event. But thank you for sharing your experience with us. And letting your experience possibly help others.

Charmed

I believe the point of the prior author is that if you put anything around a neck tight enough, you can kill it. Sometimes, the chickens neck anatomy or crowing ability may make it impossible to have a crow collar tight enough to stop the crowing, and not so tight that it asphyxiates and dies. Again, this isn't an "acceptable risk" with the collar. You watch them, (just like she was doing) and if you will know very quickly if its too tight and you can loosen the collar (she just wasn't able to reach the bird in time, which is a separate problem).

 

[betka]

Just writing to let you know that my silkie bantam rooster "Miguel" died wearing a no crow collar. We put the collar on him loosely about a week ago and have been tightening a little more each day. The collar wasn’t having any effect so we kept tightening slightly. Today when I tightened it he seemed fine, was following me around and talking to me as normal. When he crowed it was very soft and I thought “finally, it’s working!”. After he crowed he looked like he was doing silent crows after that. Then his head dropped to the ground and he lay there for a few seconds, got up and panicked and ran around, head fell to the ground again and he panicked again. I tried to pick him up but he was flailing around too much. When I could finally pick him up he went limp. I quickly took off his collar but he remained limp. I tried to do CPR but it didn’t work. He was dead.

I’m not complaining about the product, I think it's great for saving the lives of so many roosters but just wanted to tell you to please be careful. Maybe it was user error. I don't know. I followed the instructions and made sure the tip of my pinky fitted.

I am so sad to have lost my special little guy. Please be careful. It was so sudden.

Sarah

Im so sorry this happened. I almost had the exact same thing happen to me today. I rescued an American Game Fowl, which has a very long neck. I have been trying the rooster collar for over 1 month, slowing tightening it, with very little luck. The crow comes out and is only stifled at the end, where he starts chocking and gagging. I kept thinking I didn't have it in the right spot, so this morning I tried again. He was fine until he crowed an then it was like his air supply was cut off. He freaked out, his entire face turned blue and foam started coming out of his mouth. I was able to rip the collar off in time, and he is recovering, but very scary! I had previously thought that if he could still crow, he still had room to tighten, and that is not the case. I think with different anatomy, some crow collars just wont work.

 

[RoostersAreAwesome]

Yes these collars can cause not only suffocation, even with a fingertip of space. More commonly they cause asphyxiation due to the roo not being able to swallow food properly. They also cause broken feathers, bruising, and swelling. Honestly if I were a roo, I'd rather be culled than wear one. More people like you need to share their horror stories with these awful devices. And of course the companies selling them are going to claim what a great solution they are. They really need to be banned.

People usually don’t talk about it, but the collars cause the feathers on the neck to be stunted and ingrown, which is extremely uncomfortable for the rooster.