Falconry hood to keep roosters from crowing too early?

[CurvyCoop]

I am "blessed" with an accidental rooster. Dear Crumble was not the little pullet I thought he was, but like many other people with oopsie-roos I have fallen in love with him. I live in the Netherlands and I think my neighbourhood can be best compared to a suburb in the US, just to paint a picture. Before I got chickens I checked the laws and I am allowed to have a rooster, so legally I'm fine. But I also have a pretty decent connection to my neighbours and I don't want to upset that.
Crumble started crowing a week ago and I immediately sent a text in our neighbourhood group chat to inform people that one of the chickens they all knew I was getting had turned out to be a rooster. How I would prefer to keep him, but if he became a nuisance they should let me know because I'd try to fix it or rehome him if it became too much of a problem. No one's complained yet, but we're only a week in haha.
I have obviously been thinking about ways of managing him. Crow collars aren't an option, I've known people who tried them and they all stopped because it caused serious harm to their roos. I don't want that for Crumble.
I was thinking I might build him a little dark box in the coop, my coop is very large so there'd be plenty of room for a separate little rooster box. For now he only crows once or twice during the day, but he does crow in the morning. Keeping him in the dark longer might help dissuade him from doing that.

Then I thought, if the objective is darkness, I don't have to put the whole bird in a box, I just have to cover his eyes. Why not try a falconry hood?
I'm pretty handy on a sewing machine, I'm sure I could make a hood to fit Crumble's head. My plan would be to put it on in the evening when he's already gone to roost and then take it off when I get up in the morning.

Is there any reason I shouldn't try this? My thinking is he would be happier if he can roost with the rest of the chickens instead of being placed in a box by himself. But I might be wrong and making him wear a hood might be more stressful than being in a separate space.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

 

[Aunt Angus]

I am "blessed" with an accidental rooster. Dear Crumble was not the little pullet I thought he was, but like many other people with oopsie-roos I have fallen in love with him. I live in the Netherlands and I think my neighbourhood can be best compared to a suburb in the US, just to paint a picture. Before I got chickens I checked the laws and I am allowed to have a rooster, so legally I'm fine. But I also have a pretty decent connection to my neighbours and I don't want to upset that.
Crumble started crowing a week ago and I immediately sent a text in our neighbourhood group chat to inform people that one of the chickens they all knew I was getting had turned out to be a rooster. How I would prefer to keep him, but if he became a nuisance they should let me know because I'd try to fix it or rehome him if it became too much of a problem. No one's complained yet, but we're only a week in haha.
I have obviously been thinking about ways of managing him. Crow collars aren't an option, I've known people who tried them and they all stopped because it caused serious harm to their roos. I don't want that for Crumble.
I was thinking I might build him a little dark box in the coop, my coop is very large so there'd be plenty of room for a separate little rooster box. For now he only crows once or twice during the day, but he does crow in the morning. Keeping him in the dark longer might help dissuade him from doing that.

Then I thought, if the objective is darkness, I don't have to put the whole bird in a box, I just have to cover his eyes. Why not try a falconry hood?
I'm pretty handy on a sewing machine, I'm sure I could make a hood to fit Crumble's head. My plan would be to put it on in the evening when he's already gone to roost and then take it off when I get up in the morning.

Is there any reason I shouldn't try this? My thinking is he would be happier if he can roost with the rest of the chickens instead of being placed in a box by himself. But I might be wrong and making him wear a hood might be more stressful than being in a separate space.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

Unfortunately, in my experience, darkness doesn't stop a rooster from crowing. I have one rooster who crows pretty regularly from dawn to dusk. I have a cockerel who crows any time - even in the middle of the night. There really isn't anything that can be done to make them stop from what I've seen (and heard).

That said, you can try it. It's certainly more humane than some methods I've heard of...

I say give it a go, but know it's a long shot.

Good luck!

 

[630004]

Growing up I had a rooster that we put in a box every night. We built a double walled buffered rooster box. He would still crow but it wasn’t loud or unpleasant for the neighbors.

 

[Coaldust666]

I am "blessed" with an accidental rooster. Dear Crumble was not the little pullet I thought he was, but like many other people with oopsie-roos I have fallen in love with him. I live in the Netherlands and I think my neighbourhood can be best compared to a suburb in the US, just to paint a picture. Before I got chickens I checked the laws and I am allowed to have a rooster, so legally I'm fine. But I also have a pretty decent connection to my neighbours and I don't want to upset that.
Crumble started crowing a week ago and I immediately sent a text in our neighbourhood group chat to inform people that one of the chickens they all knew I was getting had turned out to be a rooster. How I would prefer to keep him, but if he became a nuisance they should let me know because I'd try to fix it or rehome him if it became too much of a problem. No one's complained yet, but we're only a week in haha.
I have obviously been thinking about ways of managing him. Crow collars aren't an option, I've known people who tried them and they all stopped because it caused serious harm to their roos. I don't want that for Crumble.
I was thinking I might build him a little dark box in the coop, my coop is very large so there'd be plenty of room for a separate little rooster box. For now he only crows once or twice during the day, but he does crow in the morning. Keeping him in the dark longer might help dissuade him from doing that.

Then I thought, if the objective is darkness, I don't have to put the whole bird in a box, I just have to cover his eyes. Why not try a falconry hood?
I'm pretty handy on a sewing machine, I'm sure I could make a hood to fit Crumble's head. My plan would be to put it on in the evening when he's already gone to roost and then take it off when I get up in the morning.

Is there any reason I shouldn't try this? My thinking is he would be happier if he can roost with the rest of the chickens instead of being placed in a box by himself. But I might be wrong and making him wear a hood might be more stressful than being in a separate space.

I'd love to hear your thoughts.

How did it work? Did you end up trying a hood? I'm in the same predicament!