Can bird mites cause a rooster to crow in the middle of the night?

[aart]

Lotta yakking here, but no pics of coop and run.



Please check them over real well for mites and/or lice......

Google images of lice/mites and their eggs before the inspection so you'll know what you're looking for.

Part the feathers right down to the skin around vent, head/neck and under wings.

Best done well after dark with a strong flashlight/headlight, easier to 'catch' bird and also to check for the mites that live in structure and only come out at night to feed off roosting birds.

Wipe a white paper towel along the underside of roost to look for red smears(smashed well fed mites).

Good post about mite ID by Lady McCamley:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/my-chicken-has-mites-now-what.1273674/page-2#post-20483008

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Mine have only crowed at night for a reason. Hear a Fox, raccoons or cat walking or scratching around
Hear mice
Hear any sound out of the ordinary...someone putting trash can out, loud vehicle starting up, cat fight or fox bark
Motion lights coming on
Vehicle headlights shining into coop
Wind blowing something making noise
Hearing another rooster crow

I might Hear a few Crows about once a week but it rarely lasts longer than a few minutes. If it is longer than that, there may be rodents trying to gnaw their way in or predators making noise.

 

[blutenstaub]

Yeah, sometimes I feel responsible for it all too. But, there are so many wild chickens around here that they'll never catch me.

I have this theory that waves of crowing can move across the landscape where there are contiguous roosters within ear-shout of each other.

I was having the same kind of guilt (and my wife was scared the neighbors would get annoyed despite there being no rules against roosters), until at once about 3 am I heard my dude crowing and went outside (this was in his first few weeks of crowing and I was scared it meant he was being harassed, since him and his brother decided they are going to roost in the hedge at night), and besides him it was dead silent. Not even any barking dogs, and there's always a dog making some kind of noise in my neighborhood. Then, I heard the faintest, faintest crowing off in the distance. And my dude hollered back.

I think it's kind of like the dog thing, where at certain times of day or night, they will all go out in their yards and gossip at each other. I just imagine him like a night watchman calling the hours ("Three AM, all is well!") But luckily, he isn't going off EVERY hour.

Been wondering when his brother is going to start crowing.... he's the little one, scrawnier, less fancy sickle feathers and etc, but he tends to be more observant. His brother is the silent giant, who is more cautious and stays further away from me or the ladies than little dude. But big guy is the more food oriented one, the little fatty, I think he'd be easier to trap with food than his loud little brother.

I'm really enjoying my first roosters so far!! Let's see what happens when their balls drop (figuratively) and they start being interested in the ladies......

 

[The Chick Addict]

One of my roosters lower in the pecking order will wake up and crow in the middle of the night! Its hilarious!

 

[SouthS1der]

Wonder if it is a snake?

 

[Liz Birdlover]

Yeah, sometimes I feel responsible for it all too. But, there are so many wild chickens around here that they'll never catch me.

I have this theory that waves of crowing can move across the landscape where there are contiguous roosters within ear-shout of each other.

They're doing the wave, vocally, rooster style