Can you train a rooster not to crow so much?

[dutchbunny83]

You can train a dog not bark.
You can train a chicken not to be broody.
Is there anything you can do to cut down on your rooster crowing???

I have a silkie that is my baby.
At 5 months old we found out Princess was really Prince when he started to crow.
It wasn't very long and only around 7am.
A month later it lasts much longer, is much louder, and starts at 6am and goes pretty solid until 7-7:30.
Every morning as soon as I hear the first crow I run outside in my pj's and pick him up and tell him to be quiet. I give him treats. I let them all out of the pen to free range.
I have even gone as far to buy a chicken diaper and bring him in the house!!!

If it's only been a month, I am afraid it will get worse. We are permitted to keep roosters where I live, but don't want to disturb neighbors as we are in the city in a neighborhood and our lots really aren't all that big (like 1/3 acre including the house). It's also waking up my kids, which is making my toddler fussy all day.

The normal response would be just get rid of him, but he is my favorite chicken and he changes the whole dyanmic of the flock. Also he is #1 around here if he were to go somewhere as the new rooster and be a little silkie bantam he would be at the bottom. Also he has kids to play with, he is close with his girls, and free ranges all day. The average person around here that would take on a rooster would never provide him with the life I'd give him....

So anyone ever try to train a rooster or come up with anything that deters the crowing so early???

 

[ChickenCanoe]

I'm not aware of anything to prevent the alarm clock at dawn thing.
I do find that the roosters here that free range are less boisterous the rest of the day than the ones penned so I know boredom is part of it later in the day.
I keep my roosters in the coop with windows facing away from the neighbors till about 8 AM. I can still hear them when I'm outside but when I'm in the house, I can't hear them at all and just barely after they get out. There is a railroad crossing about 3 miles from here and I can hear it at 3 am inside the house.

Just curious, what city do you live in that allows chickens? I live in a city that just passed an ordinance allowing roosters which we lobbied 8 months for. The other cities around here that allow roosters just don't have ordinances about chickens at all.

I have to add that I lived and volunteered in Costa Rica for a while and roosters were everywhere. I grew to love waking up to that sound and I was never late for work, nor were any of the Costa Ricans.

 

[dutchbunny83]

I live in Fayetteville, NC.
We are permitted 10 fowl of any kind (chickens, turkey, guinea, whatever...)
And they can be any gender so if for some crazy reason you wanted 10 roosters you could.
I wasn't planning on any roosters at all, but my favorite silkie turned out to be a roo and I couldn't get rid of him.
The neighbors say they don't mind, but it's only a month into it and his crowing is getting earlier, longer and louder!!!! I'm afraid I'm bothering them and they are being polite.

I give mine access to the run all night so they come out of the coop whenever they want, then at like 6 I go open the run gate so they can roam the yard all day. Other than a random crow, he only really crows in the morning.

Thanks for the tip, I will try leaving him in the coop. Though I don't know how sound proof it is, it's pretty small. Where we live there really aren't preditors and the weather doesn't usually get too cold, so they spend all their time in the yard (which means I can't go out there without shoes!!!)

 

[dutchbunny83]

EXCELLENT ADVICE!!!

We closed the roo (and his chick that he went broody over) into the coop last night and he didn't start crowing until my husband let him outside at 7!!! And then it was only for a few minutes.
Tomorrow I will try until 7:30