My boy stopped crowing!

[atarunomiko]

I have a Polish crested who has been crowing since I got him in the beginning of June (rehomed rescue). I was told at the time he was about 2 months old. He didn't crow much at first, only once every few days, and steadily increased to around 5 or 6 times a day for a duration of about 4-5 crows in a row. But now for the past two weeks he has not crowed at all.

Neither he nor any of my other fowl (chickens, ducks, guineas and a goose) exhibit any sign of gapeworm, and all my other birds make the same amount of noise as ever. He is the only rooster. We have a male goose but he is kept separate, and some young'uns that might be cockerels, but they haven't been introduced to the big chickens yet.

He doesn't seem sick or depressed, either. All his behavior is the same as always, gentle, curious, tolerant of being held and petted, eating, drinking, strutting, and sleeping necks entwined with the same silkie he always goes night-night with. (So cute.)

Should I be worried something might be wrong with him? Will he start crowing again? Or should I be counting my blessings and not look a gift mute roo in the mouth?

 

[atarunomiko]

Does anyone know the answer? I'm just a worried chicken parent and want to make sure my boy is okay, or if there is something wrong, I'd like to catch it in time. Thanks in advance!

 

[bargain]

MMMM....keep checking for signs of illness or his body may have just said not yet....Crop impacted? Check there as well....Any change in diet?

Any other roosters intimidating him....If there's another rooster around and he's dominant, I find the non dominant crows much less.

Keep us posted!

Be blessed and be a blessing

 

[atarunomiko]

Quote:
As I said, no other roosters, no changes to environment, diet, behavior or anything else I could think of.

Thanks for replying anyway, though, and for your well-wishes.

 

[atarunomiko]

I hate to keep bumping my own thread like this but I really would appreciate anyone who might have experienced something like this before chiming in. It's really strange, as if one day he just changed his mind about crowing and decided, "Okay, I've had enough of that." He still makes his normal happy noises when eating or startled noises (being a Polish, his crest limits his vision and so lots of things startle him), that sort of thing, but no crowing.

Oh, I had a thought. I have two EE girls who are dominant over the whole flock: might this be why he isn't crowing? I didn't think that a dominant female would have the kind of effect a dominant male would on a lower-ranking male, because she herself wouldn't be crowing (well, 99.9% of the time; I know there are exceptions - the DH used to have one).

But the thing is, my rooster had been living in the same coop with the alpha females for about a month (after his 6-week quarantine) before he stopped crowing. If that is what's going on, would it have taken this long for the change to occur? He was crowing more and more, not less, before he suddenly stopped.