I’m not sure how cruel it is?

[Aquira]

Granted, I have only used one on one cockerel. It took him a bit to get used to it (couple of days, max). I made sure the placement was correct (it needs to be lower on the neck, like towards the base) as well as checking it every day.
It quieted his crow by a lot. He had no problems eating or drinking.
I ended up not keeping the cockerel around because he had behavior issues (whether he had the collar on or not) towards the hens.

 

[The WinterWolf]

yep. thats why i got rid of mine.