De-crowing Options

[rosemarythyme]

Only option I could think of offhand is to keep him indoors or in the garage most of the time, as he's a Silkie. I wouldn't want a chicken indoors, but it should help muffle crowing.

 

[CNJ]

Thank you I'll experiment with this a little more!

I have a two chicken limit on Oahu residential zone, but I have 5 roosters and 17 hens. I gave one of my neighbor chicks and gave the other eggs and my neighbor in back raise chickens, so no one complained yet.
I make my 1 1/2 inch velcro collar as tight as need be to get the sound I want. I mark my black velcro collar with white out during the adjustment and I move it 1/8 inch at a time.
I notice that certain blood lines can't wear them like one of my Breese lines. The skin on its neck is too thick. I think Green Fire farms brought in two lines and I have both of them. One of their lines can wear rooster collars and one can not.
If your rooster is wearing them and is still alive it should be okay to make the adjustment to the sweet spot.
I can barely hear my one year old rooster...........

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

I think that if he is like family, it's a tough decision but you should try and find him a loving family that he can live with and crow in the new location. Or maybe someone can take him where you live now. Decrowing seems like there are not too many options that aren't unnecessary medical procedures. Just like it's wrong to declaw a cat, I think it could cause him undue pain to remove the instinct. Rehoming is a noble thing if you're doing it for the benefit of the animal's quality of life

 

[DerFlufflesandPrincess]

Far too late to caponize, as the testes are up in the body cavity and swell in size with age. Also most caponizing nowadays is done at home by the owner.

Do you already have a house lined up? If not, I'd look to see if there's neighborhoods/cities where roosters might be legal.

Yes we are currently in escrow for our house, it's in North Las Vegas. The market is crazy right now and options were limited so we couldn't be picky about location but I believe the whole city and suburbs outlaw crowing roosters.
Thank you so much for letting me know about the caponizing, it narrows our options. Ideally I'd prefer the hormone therapy but don't know how effective it is. I also don't know if any vets over there service chickens. I'm hoping that since there will be no local roosters in our new neighborhood (our neighborhood here in Hawaii has TONS of feral chickens and roosters) that Fluffy won't be hearing anyone else crowing; thus reducing his need to have a "crow competition" but he still crows pretty loud several times throughout the day on his own and sometimes in the middle of the night so I'm worried we will get complaints!

 

[LaFleche]

For your situation I would consider the hormonal implant to be appropriate, just call the vets near your future home and ask for the prodedure's costs etc.

They do the implants all the time for dogs and cats, so ....

 

[InterestingChickens]

Most vets do not perform de - crowing surgery these days.

You could keep him inside a garage (if you have one) and build and run inside it making it as natural as possible with plenty of light and dirt to dust bathe in.

 

[DerFlufflesandPrincess]

Only option I could think of offhand is to keep him indoors or in the garage most of the time, as he's a Silkie. I wouldn't want a chicken indoors, but it should help muffle crowing.

That's exactly what we do now! Our landlord does not allow any pets where we currently live. we used to have some cages in the yard for them but they told us to take it down, so currently peeps and fluffy are indoor chickens! Welet them out with diapers on. So they kind of just roam my son's room and the house. Then we take them to the park or the beach on a daily basis to get their outdoor exercise. We were hoping to not have to do that when we moved but I think that before we get him any kind of decrow options we will do exactly that. I wanted to keep him in the garage during the summer anyway with an AC because it's really hot in Vegas

 

[DerFlufflesandPrincess]

Most vets do not perform de - crowing surgery these days.

You could keep him inside a garage (if you have one) and build and run inside it making it as natural as possible with plenty of light and dirt to dust bathe in.

That's exactly what I was thinking! They are currently mostly indoor chickens (we let them run the house with diapers on and take them to the park or beach every day to get exercise) and it gets really hot in the summer so I'd like to put an AC and mister in as well.

 

[raingarden]

Just send your rooster child to me for adoption, I will give him a good home and send you a video of his escapades monthly.

 

[Marie2020]

Thank you I'll experiment with this a little more!

I bought a velcro collar but on reading up I decided it was too dangerous. But that's only my opinion