Does an only rooster crow less?

[TeaLady]

I think I know the answer to this from other posts, but wanted to ask the question anyway.

I ended up with 2 roosters, a Leghorn and an EE. The EE is beautiful, as are my EE hens, so I'd like to keep him. The Leghorn I'm not so interested in. Didn't want Leghorns anyway; they were mis-labeled at the feed store.

The Leghorn seems to be a little better at keeping the girls from bullying each other. But he matured earlier than the EE.

The EE's hormones seem to be quieting down. He doesn't need to mate every very' minute of the day any more. At this point he does crow more that the Leghorn, and he's louder and more high-pitched.

I actually have 3 questions:
1. Would the EE roo crow any less after Foghorn Leghorn is gone?
2. Will the EE roo get better at maintaining flock harmony as he gets older?
3. Is there any chance EE will get a little quieter as he matures?

Some of my neighbors like to hear the rooster -- adds to the rural flavor of the neighborhood. Some are a little annoyed but not very. One, well...

(Rant begins here; proceed only if interested)
One neighbor is giving me a really hard time about it. That one neighbor is a PITA in general. I believe that real complaint from that quarter is that I'm insisting that his family's dog be kept off my property and away from my chickens and goats.

Today the most reasonable member of that family told me "We moved to a rural area so that we could let our dogs run loose, and we didn't move to farm land because we don't want to hear farm animals."

Um, it is zoned rural. And one of the neighbors did have chickens, goats, and sheep when they moved in. And was maybe part of the choice to move here because they wanted to run their tree service equipment all day and into the night? (Industrial size chippers are at least as annoying as a rooster. Especially to the folks who live right next door to them and who are ready to go to sleep by 7:30 p.m. Not me, but it's made life hell for that couple.)

These folks seem to have boundary issues at best. They've made a point of encroaching on the properties of 2 neighbors by taking over the road easement & then some. Trying to insist that all dogs should have access to everything they can physically reach (and chickens are supposed to be in battery cages) is just another example of a displaced territoriality problem.

He kindly offered to help us build a coop to keep our chickens cooped up in. Discounted the issue with the goats entirely. I suggested that he could build a nice fenced area for his dog on his own property for much less than the effort of helping with a coop. One and a quarter acres, I pointed out, should be plenty for a little dog. "No, that won't work, 'cause we've never fenced in our dogs." My guy suggested maybe obedience training for the dog, since they can't keep it from running over here.

I hate to have to put so much energy into maintaining simple boundaries and protecting my animals.

un

(End Rant)

 

[PotterWatch]

I have no information for you in regards to the roosters. Wish I did.

As far as the neighbor, I would find out what, if any, laws there are in regards to their dogs. I imagine there are laws about the dogs going onto someone else's private property. Find out what you can legally do when the dog comes onto your land, maybe you will have a leg to stand on and get something done if you complain to the right people.

 

[TeaLady]

Thanks. I've already talked to a lawyer, and I think they have too. (See my post at https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=84381&p=3).

In this area I could kill the dog if it is even threatening my livestock. But the recommended option per the lawyer is to call animal control & let them talk to the people when they go to collect the dog. (The idea is to avoid escalation to where they poison my animals or us or something.) I think if the dog actually kills livestock there's a requirement that the dog be destroyed.

I'd like to get a web cam. While these people mostly operate through lies & innuendo, I don't know where or whether they would draw the line. In the encroachment I mentioned, one of the things they did was cut down a tree that a neighbor especially liked -- and then threatened the owner with a chain saw when he ran out to protest. Charming family.

On the bright side, most of our neighbors are really nice. These folks... I dunno. They, um, have their own standards of neighborliness & don't let themselves be swayed by the standards around them. Everyone who deals with them very much just wishes they'd move far, far away. I mean, I'd love it if their dogs could free-range for weeks and never leave their property.

 

[luvzmybabz]

You may want to look into his business some rural areas will not let you run a business within ?? many feet of residences. call Animal control and harrass him as much as you can without it being able to come back to haunt you.

 

[DarkUnicorn]

I feel for you. Sounds like you have some of the folks from this area next to yo. You know the type. Transplanted city dwellers who think they can do whatever just because they moved to the "country" Ugh!!!!

Don't get me wrong we have a few transplants that are AWESOME! Friendly, respectful and great to hang with. It's just the few select ones who ruin life for everyone else....

Just keep records, get out the camera or better video and catch the dog on tape on your property then call the animal control. Then they can't say its your imagination.

Of course there have been a few suggestions of a paint pellet gun on a few threads.....

I only just got one neighbor to keep their dog off the property, only because I caught the darn thing! They just did not believe their dog could possibly chase the chickens.... I haven't seen the dog in two weeks (knock on wood).

And do check on the business and housing codes as there may be noise ordinances that would affect his um, loud machines.......

I would like to note we live in a rural area, have a repair shop and tow trucks, some large ones. We respect the neighbors, the mechanics who work on their projects are out by 10 pm or have to close the bay doors. The trucks leave the yard as quietly as possible at night. This guy sounds like he just don't care...

 

[TeaLady]

Thanks, everyone, for the support on the "rant" part of my initial post. Kind of got off-forum, but I needed to vent and I knew I'd find folks who understand on BYC.

DarkUnicorn -- I'm actually the city transplant in this situation, LOL. Never was on a farm growing up even. But my Mom says that her dad was the kind who pruned his trees with a pocket knife -- he was that in touch with where they were going, that was all it took. He could work with animals no one else could handle. And my father's mom loved the land, worked her own acreage and hired out to neighbors with a team & wagon through the Depression. I think some of that carried over, city life or not.

I'm not sure of the neighbor's background, but I think they got pushed out of their last neighborhood because of their noise etc. There are areas nearby that have gone from 2nd or 3rd growth forest to housing developments in less than a decade. They might have been living in one of those areas. They know the dog is over here; they come over to catch it all the time. But they think it's right & proper for the dog to go wherever it wants to. Like I say, these people don't quite feel boundaries apply to them. And as I've said elsewhere, dogs pick up the traits of their people; it's a natural part of the pack mentality. I expect this dog will be more of a problem the longer she is with them.

As to their business -- it actually bothers me less than it does the neighbors right next to them. Especially since they upgraded the equipment & aren't repairing it all night. I'd support the neighbors if they want to fight it, but I don't want to wade into that one alone. A lot of us in the neighborhood work at home, just mostly from a home office.

Back to the original question though -- would a single rooster be quieter? I want to minimize any annoyance to the nice neighbors. And if I have to do battle, I like to do it from the moral high ground. But I do want those EE chicks from Ray l'Roo.

 

[TeaLady]

BTW,
Here's a couple of shots of Ray:

And one from when we thought he was a pullet:

 

[keljonma]

To answer your question about 1 rooster....

We used to have 2 roos, a Single Comb Brown Leghorn and a Golden Campine. Although the GC started crowing earlier (by 5 weeks) than the SCBL, the SCBL was the alpha roo. We had a friend that lost their roo to a fox, so we gave them our SCBL, as the GC was a bit friendlier to the hens. We thought the SCBL might do a better job protecting the hens from a predator.

For over a year the GC has been our only roo. He crows all the time starting from about 3:30 a.m. until dark. If he hears something between dark and 3:30 a.m., he crows.

So my experience is that 1 roo tries to crow often enough to sound like 2 roos....

 

[TeaLady]

Well, that sounds probable!

Ray's been pretty quiet today, but BF says he was crowing at 3 this morning. BF is really annoyed with the PITA neighbors & is too delighted that Ray is crowing at 3 a.m. He and our nicest neighbors (the ones who plan to get chickens next year after they've watched me learn for a while) are both talking about getting peacocks. Just to annoy the PITAs. Oh, dearie dearie me!

 

[keljonma]

Well, the nice thing about peafowl is that they will make the neighbors wish you JUST HAD CHICKENS!