how to shut up roostrer

[Sunny the Hippie Chick]

Quote:
Ive actually wondered about that..
A dog can be debarked..
Can a rooster be decrowed..

Ive asked the vets around here. And none of them even treat poultry.. So they had no idea if it can be done..

Be interesting if it could be done. Then you could really have stealth chickens. No one would even know you had them. And easier to hide if they were illegal residence of town..

 

[vermontgal]

Gail Damerow's Guide to Raising Chickens addresses crowing on page 238.

The relevant paragraph to this discussion says, quote: (emphasis hers)

Since cocks may crow at all hours of the night, the sound can become an issue with cranky neighbors. Generally, nighttime crowing is triggered by some disturbance, either light or movement. Minimize crowing by keeping a rooster's quarters dark at night (including blocking windows through which passing cars may shine their lights) and by locating housing away from paths and driveways. If you can't block light and sounds from entering your coop, block them out by leaving coop lights on all night and/or setting a radio on low. You can't eliminate a rooster's crowing altogether, though, except through surgical "decrowing," an operation that's not always successful but is expensive if you can find a veterinarian who'll do it.

--Damerow, Gail. Storey's Guide to Raising Chickens, Storey Publishing, 1995, p. 238.

I have no personal practical experience in the matter, but that's what she says. Many people on here recommend this book; I bought a copy before I got my chicks. Now that I somewhat know what is going on with chickens, I should reread it as I will probably get a new level of understanding out of it now!​

 

[Their Other Mother]

Good Luck! Mine even crow at the moon - along with the dogs barking at the moon. Good thing we live in the middle of nowhere!