How to keep a rooster from crowing early in the morning (till 7am)

[Farm_Maven]

whatever she is..she's lovely!

 

[Rodster]

Hi. Lots of idea's, I LOVE them. Tape... LOL! Wonder how long that wud work? I have a dark silky Roo and i gotta say he's great. i almost never hear him before 7 am and my room is 40 ft from the coop. During the day he gets his little fits and sometimes if it gets to be too much i pick him up to distract him and just carry him around a bit. that shuts him up for an hour or so or at least stops his fit then, but very seldom does he go on. He's not very loud, either. i'm just glad that as my first roo, i found it more then tollerable and yes, kind of cute. i'd miss not hearing him at all now, and the girls just love him. i have an old spa cover that i was going to make a seperate "sub cage" within the coop, just for him but fortunately I found i haven't needed to, . I'm not very legal in my area i don't think. However, all my neighbors have roos as i can hear them throughout the neighborhood sometimes. Almost like a rock group when they all get going. Worth a try seeking a quiet roo as well. i'd advertise looking for one and you might get lucky. just use your puppy dog eyes with mom and say you can find a quiet, well manored one and name it after her dad. She'll give in. Your girls will thank you as well

 

[six_eclectic_chickens]

Quote:
haha I don't know if she would fall for that. Our only real chance is to get a young bird that looks like a hen and it turns out to be a quiet rooster.

 

[Ohhhdear]

I was watching a program about falconry the other evening, and one thing the falconer uses to calm/control a bird is a lightproof hood which ties gently around the neck. Basically a small drawstring bag made of a dark cloth, loose enough for the bird to breathe and snug enough around the neck to keep it from being scratched off. He said hoods are kept on the raptors quite a lot of the time as a means of taming them and keeping them quiet (believing it's night and dark and time to sleep).

I wonder if a dark fabric hood placed on the rooster's head would work to control crowing? Put it on when you coop him up for the night, and take it off again when you let the flock out in the morning, whenever you deem it a "decent" enough hour for crowing to start without it being nuisance noise.

 

[six_eclectic_chickens]

Quote:
I know a fair bit about falconry, but it never occured to me that you could use it for chickens. It would probably work, too, though the rooster might have to go through the indignity of being placed in a nest box at night so he doesn't topple off a roost and hurt himself. It would have to be modified on top and bottom for the comb and wattles. Thanks!

 

[Whispering_Raven]

Quote:
Well, this has been my short experience so far.....First of all...If you are under the impression that Roos only crow in the morning....Not so......They crow throughout the day, especially if they are looking for their flock or uncovered a nice mound of creepy crawly goodies. So, if you do have neighbors close by, mama might be right, and a Rooster may not be well received.

When my Rock Bantam, Bandit found his voice, he was LOUD and PROUD and on Eastern Time! We're on Central here in TN. Now that he's grown up a bit he's on a regular schedule/routine and stays pretty quiet in the mornings. The only time he starts to crow in the wee hours of the morning is if there is a "disturbance" of some kind...A possum or coon or something coming near the coop area. Once I grab my flashlight and do the walk around he settles back into the roost and I settle back in bed.

Sometimes Rocky gets a bit excited and does crow before the crack of dawn, but not often. We have a farm and live in a farming community so it doesn't really matter as far as neighbors go, but I'd rather sleep a bit longer, have a cup of coffee and then let my chickens out.

For the most part, both Rocky and Bandit start crowing long AFTER 7am and that's only if I don't let them out on time. I let everyone out between 6:45am and 7:15am. On the rare occasion that I do over sleep, I am certainly woken up by my loud and proud Roos!

You should check with yours neighbors to see how they would feel about you bringing a Rooster home. That should be the first thing. Secondly, I can hear my Roos from way across the field, and I can also hear my neighbor's which are about 1/2 mile away. They make noise. That's what they do. Hope my two cents helps in your decision.

Many Blessings!

Tracy

 

[debid]

My rooster is docile and remarkably quiet during the day. He also crows in the pitch black early AM hours for no apparent reason. Fortunately, we are out in the sticks and have a big chunk of property. We also located the coop far from the house. But in a neighborhood, he would not be popular at all.

 

[dcfrenk]

I was just searching online to see if rooster hoods exist and I stumbled upon your post. I have the same idea for one of my young ones who turns out to be a rooster. I have had roosters before, but have always ended up re-homing or eating them because of neighbors. This new guy is so sweet and he and one of the girls are just so bonded. I would love to keep him.
I am wondering; did you tried the falcon hood idea on your rooster? If so, did it worked for you?

 

[tobit]

seeing as this thread is quite old, has anyone tried it and found that it actually worked (the hood idea)?

 

[motherhenfran]

I was wondering how well this worked or you. I am in the EXACT same situation...next door neighbors can't hear my roo, I can't hear him, no one in my house can hear him but a neighbor 3 yards and one street over (roughly 1000feet) is being woken up by him (supposedly

) threatened to have a petition started to get my boy taken away..there are other roos in the neighborhood (it is legal to have him) and she's only making a stink about mine. tried to smooth things over but shes one of those "no winning with this one" types. Was going to try a roo box and hope for the best. hope yours worked out!!