SweetTree
Chirping
- Oct 23, 2019
- 15
- 100
- 54
Hello friends! First post but a LOOOOONG time lurker! Sorry for the post length; TL;DR at the bottom. I know the title sounds like a clickbait article, but this has been a bumpy road for us! I have a small backyard flock in the suburbs of a major metropolitan city. We don’t have any laws about chickens or chicken noise specifically but I always try to be extra careful of my neighbors because I don’t want to be the reason we end up with chicken rules.
And then we accidentally adopted a rooster.
You read that right. I occasionally foster for a local dog and cat rescue and am the only one in the organization with chickens. Then I get a call that there’s a therapy rooster (yup. He was a companion animal for a woman who had cancer.) that needed a new home with someone who would be gentle with him. So they called me. And I said ABSOLUTELY NOT. NO ROOSTERS. My coordinator said, “Just go meet him and then see what you think.”
Later when she asked how it went, I said, “Well now we have a $%@#*$% rooster so thanks for that.” Within two seconds of meeting him I fell in love with his sweet, goofy disposition.
I brought him home and my immediate neighbors were thrilled! However, his crowing (he didn’t crow much to begin with) was driving ME BONKERS. And I had someone a few doors down scream at him to “SHUUUUT UUUUP!!” So I thought yelling his name out the window every time he crowed would get him to stop. Yea, I know. Absolutely dumb idea. Instead of teaching him to stop crowing, he learned that when he crowed it got Mom’s attention. So he crowed even more.
Then I made him a Velcro No-Crow collar. I thought, “YES! A solution at last!”
It worked for a day or two. Then he figured out how to rip it off. And every time I put it back on, he ripped it right off. I timed him. Less than a minute and it was on the ground.
So I bought a fancy No-Crow collar online. And thought, “GOOD LUCK GETTING THIS OFF, YOU BUTTHEAD.”
SUCCESS! For a day that is. I found it laying in the yard the next day. I put it back on him and then watched. He tried pulling it off himself for about 5 minutes. When he couldn’t get it, HE CALLED ONE OF THE HENS OVER AND HAD HER PULL IT OFF.
I was stomping mad. I refused to be outsmarted by a chicken!!!
So then I researched like a madwoman. I came across a type of “no-bark” collar for dogs that beeped and vibrated to deter a dog from repeatedly barking. The bonus was it was specifically built for dogs 4lbs or less!
So I bought it, skepticism in hand. It took repeated tries to adjust it to my now cranky roo, but it *seems* to be working!! It’s a plastic buckle with a woven strap so his normal tricks to rip it off aren’t working. I have the sensitivity setting so he can make his normal chatter to the girls without setting it off.
*I don’t want to spoil it, but he’s been quiet for 3 DAYS.*
Crossing my fingers this will continue!
TL;DR - I used a vibrating no-bark collar for 4lb dogs on my rooster to keep him quiet and it seems to be working!
And then we accidentally adopted a rooster.
You read that right. I occasionally foster for a local dog and cat rescue and am the only one in the organization with chickens. Then I get a call that there’s a therapy rooster (yup. He was a companion animal for a woman who had cancer.) that needed a new home with someone who would be gentle with him. So they called me. And I said ABSOLUTELY NOT. NO ROOSTERS. My coordinator said, “Just go meet him and then see what you think.”
Later when she asked how it went, I said, “Well now we have a $%@#*$% rooster so thanks for that.” Within two seconds of meeting him I fell in love with his sweet, goofy disposition.
I brought him home and my immediate neighbors were thrilled! However, his crowing (he didn’t crow much to begin with) was driving ME BONKERS. And I had someone a few doors down scream at him to “SHUUUUT UUUUP!!” So I thought yelling his name out the window every time he crowed would get him to stop. Yea, I know. Absolutely dumb idea. Instead of teaching him to stop crowing, he learned that when he crowed it got Mom’s attention. So he crowed even more.
Then I made him a Velcro No-Crow collar. I thought, “YES! A solution at last!”
It worked for a day or two. Then he figured out how to rip it off. And every time I put it back on, he ripped it right off. I timed him. Less than a minute and it was on the ground.
So I bought a fancy No-Crow collar online. And thought, “GOOD LUCK GETTING THIS OFF, YOU BUTTHEAD.”
SUCCESS! For a day that is. I found it laying in the yard the next day. I put it back on him and then watched. He tried pulling it off himself for about 5 minutes. When he couldn’t get it, HE CALLED ONE OF THE HENS OVER AND HAD HER PULL IT OFF.
I was stomping mad. I refused to be outsmarted by a chicken!!!
So then I researched like a madwoman. I came across a type of “no-bark” collar for dogs that beeped and vibrated to deter a dog from repeatedly barking. The bonus was it was specifically built for dogs 4lbs or less!
So I bought it, skepticism in hand. It took repeated tries to adjust it to my now cranky roo, but it *seems* to be working!! It’s a plastic buckle with a woven strap so his normal tricks to rip it off aren’t working. I have the sensitivity setting so he can make his normal chatter to the girls without setting it off.
*I don’t want to spoil it, but he’s been quiet for 3 DAYS.*
Crossing my fingers this will continue!
TL;DR - I used a vibrating no-bark collar for 4lb dogs on my rooster to keep him quiet and it seems to be working!
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