Minimizing Rooster Noise

[BoboFarm]

I'm in the process of planning our new chicken coop/shed. I can go as high as 200sqft before I need a permit. I'll be keeping approximately 20 chickens and a couple of turkeys together in this coop. I would like to get Australorps as a dual purpose breed for eggs and meat. I would like to have a rooster so we can be a little more self-sustaining. I want to know if keeping my rooster confined in the coop until a reasonable time in the morning will lessen the noise heard outside. We have no restrictions on keeping roosters but my husband is very reluctant to get a rooster because of the noise. He's a very light sleeper and is not keen on being woken up at 5am (or whatever ungodly hour the rooster decides is right). We also don't want to disturb the neighbors across the street. We will build the coop at the far end of our acre lot which is approximately 150ft from our house.

Any thoughts? Does anyone keep their rooster in the coop to minimize noise?

 

[Welshies]

Roosters make noise for a variety of reasons. Light, a warning, a territorial noise... etc.
I don't suggest locking your rooster in your coop. Not only will the fertility rates severely go down, it is unfair to him. And, with 20 hens, you should have 2 or 3 roosters... and keeping them all in the coop will cause a fight. Let him run around.
The more light he's exposed to the more he'll crow. You can use trees and latticework to minimize sound.

 

[BoboFarm]

Thanks for the reply. I didn't mean to keep him in the coop at all times. If that were the case I wouldn't keep a roo at all. I would open the coop later morning (9ish). Crowing doesn't bother us, it's being woken up at the crack of dawn that we're not so keen on.

 

[The Moonshiner]

Roosters don't crow because the sun comes up. Roosters crow whenever they're awake.
Ours are crowing two hours before dawn so if waking up at the crack of dawn concerns you I'm afraid things may end up worse then you're expecting.
I too wouldn't be fond of keeping a rooster penned until 9 am but then again I'm against penning them at all in general.
Fertility shouldnt be an issue. They mate far more often then needed to stay fertile.
I would think if you looked into sound proofing you should find methods of making your coop contain a lot of the volume level.
One side note if you use styrofoam insulation make sure to cover it completely. Chickens love to eat styrofoam.

 

[BoboFarm]

I do have to keep them contained in some way. Our property backs up to open range so we have A LOT of critters that would love a chicken or turkey dinner. We frequently have coyotes, skunk, raccoons, hawks and owls. With as much space as the coop that we're planning will allow I don't think they'll be lacking in space. I'm trying to find that happy medium to keep roosters but not drive my husband or neighbors crazy. I may try it and see how it goes and if it doesn't work out then we'll have dinner. I'll also look into some insulation for the coop. Thanks for the suggestion

 

[lomine]

If your coop is well ventilated, as it should be, it may negate any noise cancellation. In the summer you will want to open any windows/vents to keep it from getting too hot.
I kept my boy Malcolm in my suburban backyard (illegally ) for about a year. His first crows woke me up from my sleep but all the coop windows were open and so was my bedroom window. The coop was right below my window, 10 feet from the house, but I only heard him when it was open. I started bringing him into my garage at night so he wouldn't bother the neighbors. I had a light on a timer to turn on around sunrise so he wasn't in the dark for a long time. I know he crowed in the garage because I could hear it when I was awake. He never woke me from my sleep and I'm a light sleeper. When winter came I decided to leave him in the coop with his girls to keep each other warm (garage was cold), plus I figured none of my neighbors would have their windows open. I let him stay in the coop come spring. I didn't get a complaint until May. My neighbor's adult daughter's window was by the coop and complained the rooster kept her from sleeping until noon. But then I also got a warning from animal control but I was moving anyway so it didn't amount to much. Their new coop is in my barn that is about 130 ft from my house. When I'm in the house I can't hear him crowing in the barn. Barn is not in anyway insulated.

So my point is, you'll probably be perfectly fine with having your coop far from the house without worrying about insulation.

 

[BoboFarm]

So I spoke with my husband again last night about keeping a rooster. He has agreed to see how it goes. I didn't think about how ventilation would negate the insulation. I, too, think being so far from the coop will help a lot. There are other roosters in the neighborhood but I can only barely hear them outside, not inside the house. We never sleep with the windows open so I don't think that will be a concern.

 

[All Ball]

I built a garage coop for my young roos to sleep in before I rehomed most of them - the neighbors could hear it somewhat, but not at a problematic level. I know someone who brings her boy into the basement to sleep the night. I agree about the ventilation/noise issue, but you can accomplish some muffling. My roo now sleeps in a coop with ventilation at the top. I hung a tarp down a few inches over the ventilation on the coop sides that faced the closest neighbors, so it would flap, but deflect noise downwards. I left one side uncovered. This did lower the volume of the crows. However, my roo came down with what appeared to be a fungal infection, affecting his crows and breathing, and I think the tarp may have contributed to that problem by reducing air circulation around the coop. If you search around this site, some people have come up with some pretty fancy ideas for coops that muffle crows - strawbale or adobe walls for example. I think if it was really tall, with thick walls, you could have the ventilation far enough up that it would do a good job of reducing the noise. That however would be quite a bit of work....