Is there a way to stop roosters crowing or at least quiet it down so neighbours dont complain?

[Chirpy the chicken]

Are you allowed roosters (legally)but trying not to irritate the neighbors, or not allowed so trying to figure a way to avoid detection?

i am allowed roosters but want happy neighbors

 

[aart]

Remove it's head.

yes but i want it alive to breed it with my chicken

Was kidding..... kind of.

 

[RUNuts]

i am allowed roosters but want happy neighbors

Talk with the neighbors.
If any object, get new ones.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

i am allowed roosters but want happy neighbors

That's considerate of you. You may want to talk to your neighbor(s) and see if its even going to be an issue. How close are they to where your birds are? Some people actually like a rooster....when I got back into chickens at our last home we were on 2 acres in the country, so no limiting ordinances, etc. I had no plans to have a roo, but wound up with an opps cockerel. Our tracts were long and narrow, so we had fairly close nighbors on both sides. One afternoon one of them had come over for a back porch chat and we were watching the chicks play. I mentioned that we'd be down a bird soon as I could find someone who wanted a roo, to assure him there'd be no disruptive crowing, and he was actually disappointed....turns out the folks on the other side felt the same and, in the end, I kept that roo and later replaced him with a different one...think they all liked my roos more than I did, lol.

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Sorry to go a little off tangent, but can the no-crow collars get snagged?
I stopped leaving collars on my dogs when I was not with them after a freak event happened to a friend's dog - the collar snagged after it leapt at the gate and it could not free itself before she got home hours later. She was devastated.
If having a rooster is going to be problematic maybe buy fertilized eggs and then slip them under your broody hen(s). It isn't exactly 'breeding' them but could be an enjoyable alternative.
Then when baby roosters hatch you will have your next rooster(s) decision to make!!

My breeding roo has worn his collar for three years. The "No Crow" collar is a quality product, and when fitted properly, it doesn't leave anything to snag. It is safer than a typical dog collar because it is a velcro smooth and secure attachment to itself.

I have tried to make my own collar for a secondary roo, but I couldn't perfect the smooth connection like the No Crow collar.The young roo kept getting it off.

There is a day or so of adjustment by the roo where you want to pen them up. They will try to scrap it off, pick it off, and mostly spend time trying to back out of it. They aren't in pain. It is just the same as a pup with a new collar.

My rooster fiddled for about 20 minutes, then he simply accepted it. When I do a recheck, refit, he will again try to pick it off for about 2 minutes, then ignores it.

I have had a really good experience with the No Crow brand collar. I will continue to use it for my breeding roos. (Not all roos get a collar. Those that are simply grow outs either get sold if valuable, re-homed if friendly, or into the soup pot...I don't attempt to collar train them...when they get noisy they are voted off the property one way or another).

I stand by my recommendation of the No Crow brand collar, if you carefully follow the instructions and use common sense care. Freak accidents can always happen, but no manufacturer can prevent that. But what small percentage might be harmed by the collar, the vast majority are given a new lease on life literally.

For me, while roosters are legal, it allows me to not annoy neighbors in an area which has periodically had petitions to ban roosters....fortunately those petitions have always been denied by the county....so far...but I want to do my part to establish good rooster ownership in my area of overgrown farmland that is now much more suburbia than farmland.

LofMc

 

[MasAhora]

Informative post ^^^ Apologies for going a bit off track but hopefully useful to others?

 

[LtDanFan]

I'm with OGM on this one. While folks do use the no crow collar, it's simply not something I'd subject a roo to. I know a lady who muzzles her dog when ever she takes him out for a walk. Not b/c he might bite someone, but b/c she fears that he will "eat something". While that's one way to deal with puppy mouth, that's not a way I would choose to do it.

Off topic, i know but i just had to reply. I know this an old thread but I respectfully disagree with judging a woman who walks her dog with a muzzle. I implore you to be kinder to her and try to understand her motivation and situation.
As long as its a basket muzzle so the dog can still pant and drink water, this is actually a valid tactic in my professional opinion. Is it the way to deal with all dogs that are naughty? No. Its only a tool. As an emergency and critical care veterinarian, i have cared for several dogs in my ER and ICU that have had to have multiple surgeries over their lifetime to remove foreign bodies from their stomach or intestines. One in particular was a 7 or 8 year old cattle dog who was hospitalized after his 5th surgery for ingesting rocks. Owners had spent thousands clearing their yard of rocks, re-doing their landscape, creating a dog run that was rock free, training him with behavior modification techniques, etc. Not to mention 10’s of thousands on the multiple surgeries and subsequent hospitalizations he required as a result of his compulsion. In the end, they decided to use a basket muzzle whenever he was outside, supervised or not (at least 1 of the rock ingestion episodes was under direct supervision- he beelined for it as soon as he saw it and owners were not able to stop him in time.) But he faired better than the 11 year old golden retriever who had 9 previous surgeries for eating socks (always just socks). His family tried creating an aversion to socks, taught all the kids to put socks up and out of reach (he was obsessed and would find a way to knock over furniture or jump up to grab them) and eventually just stopped wearing socks. His downfall? Neighbor kid came over for sleepover and took his socks off. Put them on the dresser and dog got to them. They elected to euthanize him rather than put him through a 10th surgery.
I have many more stories about what dogs have eaten….
Pika is real and cannot be trained out. Just saying. You’re not going to train a rooster to not crow. You may lessen his desire or need to do so but its a natural behavior and exists for a reason. That which natural (or maybe artificial) selection has ingrained cannot be untrained.

Ugh, sorry for the long and off topic post clearly, it struck a nerve. I was only searching for ways to keep my favorite little cockerel quieter until i can re-home him or accept that me may have to become part of my ‘famous’ white bean chicken chili. i will be trying a no crow collar and hope for the best.