Decrowing

[LeghornGuy]

I bring my rooster in every night. I have a small cage for him. I like sleeping late too on weekends.
Before I go to work at (8am), he is back with the ladies. He does not crow in the small cage.
He keeps the ladies happy and he seems to keep order in the yard.
(Living in the city with a garden, two cats and 15 hens and one rescued gamecock)
Bring your rooster inside and cover the cage. It works for me!

 

[Enchanted Sunrise Farms]

i think the idea of untrained people performing elective surgery on poor defenseless animals is cruel and barbaric. The notion of "what the heck, he will just end up as my dinner if it doesn't work" does not diminish the barbarity. And just because an animal who has been cut open and had part of his innards removed "seems fine" does not mean he is not in excruciating pain. i think we need to consider how we would feel having these procedures performed on ourselves before even considering subjecting our pets to them.

All my personal feelings aside, i did ask my vet about de-crowing, as i have a couple roosters here that i would like to keep, mainly because i really like them. She explained the procedure. She drew a picture, like an elongated upright pear, which is the rooster's throat and larynx. She said that when they crow, they vibrate and expand the bottom of their larynx and that is what makes the crowing sound. When they de-crow, they put the bird under anesthesia, then cauterize the area, to prevent it from expanding. It can be done chemically or with heat. The problem is, if the bird survives the surgery, there is a good chance that he will recover sufficiently to still be able to crow. So it does not seem economically feasible, or worth the pain and suffering to the bird, to even try this method.

The cage with the cover sounds like a cool idea to me.

 

[jubylives]

I for the most part am in the same situation. Due to a colorful past my neighbors won't complain about my rooster but just putting him in at night won't work. Some people work nights and sleep during the day so crowing during the day is unfair to the neighbors. My rooster has been crowing alot lately and I'm just about to off him myself as it has gotten out of hand. I'd off him before putting any money into trying to get him to stop. It's his nature.

To suggest to move to another location is absurd. I understand getting attached to the birds as I am attached to a certain hen (always sickly) but to move to keep it? Craziness. Plus worrying about the suffering of a chicken is nuts although I don't approve of senseless suffering. I watched my grandpa suffer horribly for years before he died with nothing to do for him.

I've wondered about the surgery also but I'm not going to spend money to try to fix the problem. My advice....eat him. Make him into soup or fry him and have him with som mashed potatoes.

Someone's DH

Jeremy

 

[cheeptrick]

Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens has a whole chapter on caponization. (which leads a person feel like it is a simple procedure they could do in their backyard) I think it is a dated procedure and without a willing vet and mortality rates with the procedure I think your best bet would be to rehome them.
While I am not vegan, vegetarian, or conservative...I do respect those that are.
But after the research I've done on Meat Birds and Specialty Breeds...you should know that the specialty breeds are not appropriate for eating and are not good stock. So if you plan on eating your roosters...make sure you've a breed that is listed as a MEAT bird...even dual purpose will have a higher processing fee when time to process them and the meat is questionable like specialty breeds. Also...if your roosters are older than 30 weeks the muscle/meat is very stringy and not tender which doesn't make for good processing.

Good Luck in your decision...

 

[candy37]

I don't think it is barbaric at all. I don't think it would hurt any more than having a dog spayed or neutered. If the rooster is given something to knock it out and feel nothing during the procedure I don't see a problem with it.

I did a search and found several mentions of a book that shows in detail how to perform the procedure, but no one mentions the name of the book. I'll keep searching in hopes I can find it for you. Maybe the book will help you decide if it is something you want to do.

 

[cheeptrick]

See post above yours Candy37...I mentioned Storey's guide to Raising chickens which details the whole procedure.
Quote:

 

[MAS1975]

Did anyone ever discover the name of the book which described the decrowing procedure? I know it can be done at home because I once knew someone who did it often. i think he used a hot wire to get it done.

 

[VaM715]

Here is a link for what you are looking for. You have to buy the info though.

http://lib.bioinfo.pl/pmid:5182625