Cockerels crowing like crazy, rooster suddenly quiet?

[gritsar]

My adult roo Thor has always been a good boy; very protective of the ladies and a fine crower. When he was younger, I messed with his head a time or two by playing a rooster crowing ringtone out of his sight and it would set him off to crowing for hours.
Now I have two cockerels, Impy and Ollie. They crow non-stop. Unlike when Thor and his brother (re-homed) were young, both Ollie and Impy crow in unison. With Thor and Zeus, Zeus was the alpha, so Thor never crowed until after Zeus was re-homed.
At the present time, the juveniles are seperated from the adults by a fence.
The thing is, Thor has gone completely quiet. He never crows anymore. I was certain that hearing the youngsters crow would cause him to start crowing back, to proclaim his dominance on the farm. Instead he just moves his girls to the woods for the day and they don't come back until dusk.
I know Thor can hear Impy and Ollie. I've seen him stand at the fence and listen. I'm curious to understand this behavior. Could it be that Thor is ready to step down as king of the hill? He's only 2 1/2 years old. Or could it be that Thor is so assured in his manhood that he doesn't feel the cockerels are a threat. DH says Thors behavior will change once there is no longer a fence seperating the two flocks.

 

[stilldeb]

I don't have an answer but am interested in how this works, too. My black Cochin frizzle roo, Freddy, matured first and crowed like crazy until my Silkie roo, Harry, started in. Now Freddy, who is about 1/2 Harry's size now, has been relegated to "2nd roo" and has pretty much stopped crowing completely unless he is waaaay on the other side of the yard when they are out. But if they are in the pen, only Harry crows now. (Freddy was waaay better at it than Harry though!)

deb g