Freedom Ranger tri-color gone crazy!? (Legal info inside!)

[Quenepas]

Hello all. This is my first post here (Hi!) and would appreciate some help in the following situation since you are the experts in chicken business. I will try to be as honest as possible to have the best advise.

I live near my aunt who has this single rooster who just cant stop crowing. From my research on the net, the breed of the rooster is a Freedom Ranger tricolor (scientific name would be appreciated. Exaple: Araucana) The rooster simply appeared in our property, probably lost from other chicken farms far from here and it stayed since it started to beign fed by my aunt. As you can see from the pic it is really a gorgeous specimen and it complement the rural look of the area.



The problem is that it has suddenly gone progressively crazier. First it crows non-stop from 4:00am up until well past 10:00am. On the property we always had chickens from several breeds until recently so Im pretty sure about loudness and number of crows in a minute, but, this single FR crow every 30-45 seconds. Add to that that it possibly has the most powerful crow I have heard in a rooster besides Death Metal Rooster in YouTube. It has become the recurring joke that this single rooster has crowed more and louder than all the chicken that have lived here ever. I have tried sleeping with earplugs and I can still hears quite perfectly his powerful dinosaur-like shriek of a crow.

Reason 2 for his crazyness is that we have a couple cats in our rural property for pest control. Recently, we had new kittens we were planning to give away once they were more independent and the rooster started to try and mate with the kittens. This bizarre incident has been sighted by several family members, myself included, to the point of one of the kittens beign killed by that crazy behaviour perhaps beaking him to death while trying to keep it still. He walks among cats like nothing and even fight cats to eat their dry food.

Ok. Now the legal part is that by the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, people have the right to enjoy their time in their property free of unnecessary noise since it can deprive of well rest that can cause changes in arterial pressure, vessel constriction, glandular system, among others. This affects learning and concentration processes, causes headache and irritability, among other problems. This law revised on 2003 say that any noise above 45dB (A) can create sleep disorders. The german sound engineer, Eberhard Sengpiel (AES & VDT), compares 45dB to a quiet library and mentions that noise above 40dB can affect concentration processes.

I have read that the rooster is just very lonely and need a hen to lay. This makes sense since the rooster has a very powerful crow sure to impress any hen around but it is SoL since there aint any. Also that hes just beign very territorial but why the insistence since there aint no toehr chickens around. Perhaps from the cats? Maybe FR are a breed that develops this behaviour while alone? Then I also dont want this rooster to suffer. My aunt took action but poorly by confining the rooster in her laundry. This makes everything worse since it's making the crow, with the added echo, even noisier and this breed is designed to be had on open pastures to feed and take sun and dust baths etc. I have requested to buy it (to eat it since he looks delicious and have read are very delicious) among other options to no avail so I need to take legal action as last resort.

So any advise is very appreciated. Thanks for your time.

 

[chicmom]

Well, why not get him a few hens. He may be calling and calling, looking for some gals to mate with.

 

[Quenepas]

I was going to edit but decided to simply replied on my own thread since IM adding information.

I also read from my research that one breeder fed some of his FR with 20% protein which accelerated growth causing leg problems so he had to down protein eventually reaching 10%. The problematic rooster is beign fed with chicken corn which could very well have a protein additive or some other stuff. Add to that FR a breed than enjoy pastures so maybe they can live eating from the environment? This makes sense since his current environment is tropical rural (wide arrange of plants and insects not to mention eating cat food) and adding protein could enhance his testosterone levels thus increasing libido (cat raping, highly territorial and non-stop crowing).

Just throwing ideas around!

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

I was going to edit but decided to simply replied on my own thread since IM adding information.

I also read from my research that one breeder fed some of his FR with 20% protein which accelerated growth causing leg problems so he had to down protein eventually reaching 10%. The problematic rooster is beign fed with chicken corn which could very well have a protein additive or some other stuff. Add to that FR a breed than enjoy pastures so maybe they can live eating from the environment? This makes sense since his current environment is tropical rural (wide arrange of plants and insects not to mention eating cat food) and adding protein could enhance his testosterone levels thus increasing libido (cat raping, highly territorial and non-stop crowing).

Just throwing ideas around!

20% protein is not too much for a chicken. At that level it is not likely to cause any health issues. The feeds I purchase are at least 21%, and I have never had leg problems as you describe. That would be more in line with feeding 30% plus for extended periods. And when he is foraging, he is most likely lowering the protein count since much of what he forages will be vegetation. 10% is way, way, WAY! too low protein for a chicken. Skeletal and muscular leg issues are associated with either gout or crossbred birds (e.g. cornishXrock) that grow and mature too quickly, and are given unlimited access to food.

Protein level is very unlikely to have anything to do with his crowing. Some things to do for dealing with that are
1) GET HIM SOME GIRLS,
2) GIVE HIM A SECURE, DARK PLACE TO SLEEP AT NIGHT
3) BE ALERT FOR PREDATORS THAT HE IS WARNING YOU ABOUT.

Also, protect the kittens. He has already shown that he is too aggressive for them.

Some breeds and individuals can forage quite well, others less so. Since he appeared, apparently out of nowhere and is existing predominantely on what he can forage, I would expect that he is doing okay on it. One way to tell is to pick him up and check how fat/skinny he is.

 

[zephyrcreek]

He is NOT a freedom ranger. He is some sort of a cross. Freedom Rangers are a hybrid (cross)meat bird. I have been using them for years, and I grow them out on 22% grower for years. I even keep back a few hens and roos each year for project birds. They are extremely quiet and docile without being totally dead. I've raised 1000's of these guys!!! Then need these characteristics as they are made to grow out for meat. I have to keep my old guys on a diet once they are over 6 months old or them become too big to function.

I hope you find a way to help this guy.

 

[Quenepas]

Thanks for the replies . I intend to work to reach a happy medium between the noise problem and the wefare of all the other animals.

Sonoran Silkies
As I mentioned I have been around several breeds of roosters, some small with a funny midget crow, others with a spiky set of feather on the head as well feathers below the knee, others are pretty standart... and I cant recall such confrontational and dominant behaviour with other animals, let alone cats. He must be in a REAL need for a hen since I could interpret his actions as a frustrated animal.

Im currently planing to build him a cage but I also need help becasue I wish to give him enough space as he's accostumed to roam freely the property. What size should be enough for a cage? I have yet to pick him up but Im told he's a pretty robust chicken well over 6 pounds. When he crows he dont even need to stretch or beat his wings like many other breeds I had around, like his vigor is SO much he can just do it with very little time between crows. Very unsusual for me and the other folk that know the animal.

zephyrcreek
Then what breed could he have predominantly? I know the pic is bad but from this post https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/556902/freedom-rangers-lay-white-eggs crperdue on post 6 of 8 have a picture of a roo which strikes a BIG similarity with my roo. Yellow/white feathers with a black tail. Searching for FR also threw me a lot of pics of very similar specimens. What could be your best bet for this breed? I have little doubt that, indeed, this is a mixed breed but compared to others, at least the ones I had around, he is quite unique. Im just guessing that understanding his breed qualities could also help us understand better his needs. Just saying!

Again thanks a lot for your replies. -Al

 

[zephyrcreek]

Here is the thing about chickens that most people do not understand at the beginning. you really cannot judge "what breed" by the colo or pattern. Many different breeds have "black" birds. Many different breeds have a barred pattern. Color gives you hint, but only a hint. I actually have a couple cocks in my layer pen that look just like him, except they also have beards or muffs.

And really in your situation in does not matter what breed he is. He is a pretty guy that you need help with. Care needs to be taken when attributing negative behaviors to such a small breed. Even more important when it is the livelihood of a famil

PS. ALL of my freedom rangers have laid giant brown eggs, and they are actually a fairly decent layer for up to 2 years if kept on a diet. After two seasons they just seem to slow down physically. They are a hybrid though, so anything could be possible.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Here is the thing about chickens that most people do not understand at the beginning. you really cannot judge "what breed" by the colo or pattern. Many different breeds have "black" birds. Many different breeds have a barred pattern. Color gives you hint, but only a hint. I actually have a couple cocks in my layer pen that look just like him, except they also have beards or muffs.

And really in your situation in does not matter what breed he is. He is a pretty guy that you need help with. Care needs to be taken when attributing negative behaviors to such a small breed. Even more important when it is the livelihood of a famil

PS. ALL of my freedom rangers have laid giant brown eggs, and they are actually a fairly decent layer for up to 2 years if kept on a diet. After two seasons they just seem to slow down physically. They are a hybrid though, so anything could be possible.

I heartily agree. Plumage has virtually nothing to do with the breed. SHAPE (type) and size is the determining factor for a breed. Quenepas, your bird has a much leaner and longer build, and more horizontal rather than upright than the photos on the thread you linked to. And as was stated above, his breed is really not the issue; solving his behavior problems is the issue, and really has no bearing on his breed. When you pen him, give him at least 10 square feet; more if you can. If you build a tractor (easy to do), you can move it around the yard/field to give him a larger "range"--just not all at once. Covering him at night to preclude light and sound may help with the crowing at inappropriate times.

 

[Illia]

I heartily agree. Plumage has virtually nothing to do with the breed. SHAPE (type) and size is the determining factor for a breed. Quenepas, your bird has a much leaner and longer build, and more horizontal rather than upright than the photos on the thread you linked to. And as was stated above, his breed is really not the issue; solving his behavior problems is the issue, and really has no bearing on his breed. When you pen him, give him at least 10 square feet; more if you can. If you build a tractor (easy to do), you can move it around the yard/field to give him a larger "range"--just not all at once. Covering him at night to preclude light and sound may help with the crowing at inappropriate times.

Right there is the ticket.

Because honestly that rooster looks like he weighs about 5-6 lbs. Freedom Rangers at that age will easily exceed 9 lbs.

I know, hatcheries seem to teach people that White = Broiler or Leghorn, Brown = Production Red, Buff = Orpington, Black = Australorp, and Barred = Rock but there is sooo much to those colors than just those breeds, and sooo much to those breeds than those colors.