'Night Box' Rooster - Stop Crowing

[Liszis90]

Afternoon all,

I've had a very polite complaint from a neighbour that our beautiful Light Sussex Rooster 'King Henry' is becoming a little bit loud from 0430 onward - which I can understand is quite early for some.

We tried the no-crow collar and I will never attempt this again. He is a massive boy, so I made sure it fit accordingly and he beat his head into the wall of the coop so much to try and get it off he actually knocked himself unconscious. Scarred for life and would have been shattered if he didn't make it.

I'm going to try a "night box' but wanted to see who else does this - my thoughts are to put him in a small cat crate so he is nice and snug and put him in our dark garden shed from about 8pm - 5.30am every day.

I want to make it work, he's really become a big part of our family so we don't want to have to re-home him. I respect our neighbours so much so want to make sure we aren't becoming annoying to them either. We are allowed roosters where we live so we are fine with council.

 

[sealer39]

I don’t know about the night box but when my cockerel learned to crow he would begin about 4:30am also. I could care less about the neighbors they have dogs I have to listen to day and night. He was keeping me awake. I had the same experience with the collar (never again). My solution was to convert a 10’x10’ tool shed to a coop. That muffled his crowing enough that it didn’t wake me. He has since started waiting till sun up to start crowing. I’ve moved some hens in with him and everybody is happy again. Now I have an extra coop/run for the three times the amount of chickens I currently have. Chicken math at its finest!

 

[Liszis90]

I don’t know about the night box but when my cockerel learned to crow he would begin about 4:30am also. I could care less about the neighbors they have dogs I have to listen to day and night. He was keeping me awake. I had the same experience with the collar (never again). My solution was to convert a 10’x10’ tool shed to a coop. That muffled his crowing enough that it didn’t wake me. He has since started waiting till sun up to start crowing. I’ve moved some hens in with him and everybody is happy again. Now I have an extra coop/run for the three times the amount of chickens I currently have. Chicken math at its finest!

the collars are awful, alot more negative then positive results really don't like them.

We can't really change our coop it's quite large and there is no real way to keep the sun out. I'll trial the box and see how we go.

 

[ChickNanny13]

Update us, I'm interested ... Living in a residential area, I cringe with new chicks that are supposed to be pullets. Been lucky in the past, had a friend that would take them but Roos are so handsome. IF I could figure out a way to quieten the crowing, I'd love to keep one.

 

[Liszis90]

Okay so night/morning #1 - we brought him up to the house and put him in a dark box in a cat crate... still heard him crowing quite loudly so then thought hold on.. we have a really well insulated caravan so put him in the cat crate in the caravan and it was sooooo muffled so I think we have a solution. He was not impressed when I let him out this morning so I think he’s got to get used to it a bit more but it’s alot better then the crow collar or a headless boy!

 

[sealer39]

Good luck catching him tonight! He knows what’s coming now.

 

[rosemarythyme]

In theory a dark box should help, just make sure he still gets adequate ventilation and heat relief if needed. I think there's someone on here who even houses their rooster in a closet to keep things dark and quiet.

 

[K0k0shka]

I've been thinking about this, too, and since I'm in the process of building a new coop, I was wondering if it's worth it to build the coop with very small windows or even no windows at all, just top vents for ventilation, in an effort to keep it darker longer and delay the crowing... get the chickens to sleep in a little... Has anybody tried this?

 

[slordaz]

another idea is sound proofing inside the coop maybe?

 

[Shamo Hybrid]

I can understand the neighbor complaining about crowing issues but you should point out to them that you are indeed allowed roosters on your property and that's just what roosters do. There's really no way around it and you shouldn't have to tip-toe around this issue...... you're totally in your legal right to own a rooster. Not an easy issue to resolve since you don't want to be a bad neighbor but at the same time you've done nothing wrong so it's up to the neighbors to deal with it! I'm sure you get used to it, I did with mine's. At first the crowing was a bother but then you get used to it and actually enjoy hearing it for some strange reason.