He won't stop crowing!!! He just keeps crowing and crowing and.......

[Southernbelle]

My husband wakes our rooster every morning

Where we live, it's totally dark at night. We don't keep any lights on outside at night and neither do our neighbors and I almost never hear our roosters at night. However, my husband gets ready for work while it's still dark out and the moment he turns on our bathroom light (whose window faces the backyard and the coop) the roosters start crowing! So he teases me about my worthless roosters - he has to wake THEM up!

 

[jossanne]

I am an oddball, and love to hear my neighbor's roosters crow, though they're too far away to hear very clearly. I wish my own two teenage boys would crow more often!

 

[Lobzi]

I found this and thought Id share:
Roosters don’t crow at dawn to be noisy or annoying. They’re protecting their turf!

Before chickens were domesticated, a rooster — that’s a male chicken — used to travel with a group of female chickens. The group claimed a particular area as theirs; they raised their families and hunted for food in this territory. The rooster took it upon himself to crow out to any passing birds that this is their spot.

Song birds do the same thing. It’s still pretty dim and cold at dawn, even though the sun is rising. Dim light means birds can’t find food very well. On top of that, insects — the preferred food of many birds — don’t come out in cold temperatures.

Birds don’t have much to do until the insects come out, so birds that wander use the time to find a spot for the day.

That’s where the singing comes in. Birds that already have a territory — including chickens — sing to send a message to both neighboring birds and passers-by that this is their territory.

So, the next time you hear a rooster crow or a song bird happily chirping in the early morning, you’ll know what they are really saying: Keep out!

 

[okiemommy]

jaybme I believe that has a lot to do with it also. He just started crowing recently, and it seems like the frequency has been building and building. I hope you're right. I hope it will taper off at least some.

LOL bluey!

It took mine forever to crow too. My first ones (that were killed by the neighbors dogs) crowed at around 7-8 weeks.

curliet, I wish he would turn his back on the light! lol! That would be easy peasy for me!

ams, he's about 4 months old.


eggzettera LOL

I've thought of that myself McGoo, and I went out a couple of times to look around and didn't see anything either. I will keep a closer watch out for tracks. We saw some coon tracks a loooong time ago, but haven't seen any recently. In fact I don't think we have seen any since we transferred the birds from the brooder to the coop.


chickenpiedpiper, I have a red heat bulb, and it is not a matter of wanting to or not wanting to spend $15 on my birds to keep them warm. By the information that I had gathered at the time that I read the thread, there are no ill effects on the birds if you live in a fairly mild climate. It has only been below freezing once here so far, and that was before I took the heat lamp out of the coop. I appreciated your input up to this point, but I would really appreciate it if you didn't insult my character and attack me. If you have information to give someone that you feel is incorrect, it is much more effective to inform them rather than deliver it through an attack post full of assumptions. If you feel like I am wrong wouldn't it make more sense to deduct that I am misinformed rather than inhumane?

southernbelle that's a cute story!!

Jossanne I love to hear them crow too!

It was so awesome the first time I heard my first roo crow. He woke me up with his weak throaty crow and I woke up smiling.

Lobzi interesting info I just don't think for whatever reason he's doing it, that my neighbors care for the frequency that he is doing it

Thanks for the input everyone!

 

[chickenpiedpiper]

I am sorry you took my advice as an attack, it was simply an overflowing of intense frustration at all the people who insist that it is ok to let birds freeze at night just because thats the way it has been done. the fact that you already had a light told me that you were getting that old info, and by my saying that it drives me nuts when people say birds dont need heat lights, I was irritated at who ever told YOU that info, not at you. Old timers and traditionalists all around us constantly fill our ears with thier beliefs that chickens arent worth anything, they are a produce, and thier comfort is not to be considered. My father was raised this way and it irks him that I heat me coop, but I dont see him refusing the eggs I give him!

I am sorry you felt attacked, please, if you can try to re-read my words without thinking of it as an attack on you, it was not intended as such, the simple fact that you are trying to make life comfy for a noisy rooster, and keep neighbors happy, and a hubby too, tells me that YOU are a thoughtful considerate person. I hope you can forgive the tone of my response, and see the advice within..... My intentions were better than my typing?

 

[eggzettera]

Just my opinion for other "lurkers" that read more then they post.......

Climatizing a chicken to the current environment is actually more humane then to put them in an 80 degree coop then releasing them into an 10 degree run.

In a properly sized coop they should keep each other warm enough. I am from Canada & live in Utah I have climatized to this climate to the point I do not use A/C in the summer & I can keep my thermostat down to 52 when I am not home or asleep & @ 62 when I am & not asleep in the winter. If I had anybody to snuggle with & did not have to worry about my water pipes freezing I could do WAY better.

Intense frustration with other people for not doing things your way is simply going to give you ulcers, let your father who is irked have the ulcers & do what you think is best but to say that your way is the only "correct" way is just as frustrating to the rest of us........just an opinion (worth as much as yours) & hope you take it in the spirit it is given

& hope you take no "slight" in it

My intentions are also better then my typing/articulation.

P.S. My original post to this topic may help you realize the "type" of person I am......

 

[chickenpiedpiper]

Quote:
Hmm, not feling the sincerity here.

however, you are correct in one point, 80* coop is not wise, and I never even hinted at that. I merely indicated that a heat light to reduce late night or extreme cold frost bite was more humane than letting combs rot off with frostbite. how that translates into 80* is beyond me.

Also, and apology for my frustration venting, and people misunderstanding my tone was given, What more would you like from me?

 

[dancingbear]

I've never lost a bird to cold where I am, nor have any of them suffered frostbite. No blackened combs or feet at all. I'm in KY, the winters aren't too bad. We get quite a few nights below freezing, but not many below 20F.

Here's what I do: No added heat unless it's expected to be below 20F. Then I leave a lamp on for heat, with a reflector hood on it. I try to aim it at the area below the roosts, so the heat will rise up to the chickens on the perches. I have a submersible unit to keep water from freezing, that I place in one of those flexible black rubber feed/water tubs they make for horses.

The chickens love to go running around in snow, and gleefully scratch around in it, and "snow-bathe" in it.

Feathers are a great insulator, think of down jackets and comforters. The under-feathers on chickens are fluffy, downy, little coats of insulation.

 

[cthrash1]

Dancing Bear, I agree with you, you know the twenty eight degree night we had last week? When I let the chickens out the next morning it was nice in the coop...Warmer than outside. My mom just told me the other day that their body heat will warm the coop and each other and she was right. She was raised on a farm in MN and they had no electric in their coop back then and she said they never lost a chicken to cold weather.

I don't have the convenience of having electricity running to my coop as it is over 350 ft from the house...But my chickens are happy and healthy just the same....And they love their morning and evening treats. And no matter how cold at night it has been so far, they always come running out as soon as I open the hatch.

 

[cthrash1]

Anyway...Okiemommy...Hope your roo slows down soon on his crowing for you soon. It's nice to hear a few times a day but not continuously. I totally understand