No Roosters Permitted

[JesWith3]

I am looking to find people with "No Roosters Permitted" laws in their city, who DO successfully (and secretly) keep a rooster. I am thinking/hoping that I can find a way to secretly keep a roo with a no-crow collar on my nearly half acre lot. We are in city limits but not IN the city. The neighbor across the street from the home we are currently buying has chickens, so I don't think she will be a problem. There are two large garages separating us from the neighbor next door and an old lady lives across the other side street. I don't see any of them being too much of a problem in our chicken-keeping journey IF I can subdue the crow of the roo as much as possible. It is my hope that I won't have much if any problems with law enforcement if they simply happen by, as the roo shouldn't *look* out of the ordinary and will blend in with the hens. Have any of you been successful in hiding the fact that you are housing a roo in city limits? If so, have you any tried and true tips and tricks?
Thanks in advance!

 

[affacat]

Back when we lived in the city we thought about it once when we had a super friendly roo... But the roo died young (swollen crop).

Now we have land and multiple roosters, and I don't know if it would be possible. Our roosters don't just crow in the morning, they crow all day. And one crows like 10 times at 3 in the morning like clockwork (it's clearly communicating with someone else's rooster, they go back and forth like a telephone call).

Basically, the only time they don't crow much is in the morning when I was always told they would. It's more like 'whenever we feel like it'. Thankfully with land it doesn't matter but I don't know that we could hide any of our current roos. Maybe you'll get lucky with a quiet one? But I doubt it.

 

[nuthatched]

Any particular reason you want a rooster? Chicks? Protection? Collars work by strangling a rooster *just enough* to muffle the noise. unfortunately, they frequently cause issues for the rooster.
My rooster would only crow maybe a dozen times a day, which is rare, my friends roosters starts at 3-4 am and crows atleast 4 times an hour until after dark. It's pretty hard to hide one for very long.

 

[littlecoopnextdoor]

I know folks that live in rural parts of our "town" and they have roosters. I 100% think it's your neighbours. if your closest neighbours are okay with it, you are likely fine. that said, there's no hiding a rooster! they crow literally all day long. I don't know if a crow collar will work, they sound dangerous from what I've read.

 

[JesWith3]

Any particular reason you want a rooster? Chicks? Protection? Collars work by strangling a rooster *just enough* to muffle the noise. unfortunately, they frequently cause issues for the rooster.
My rooster would only crow maybe a dozen times a day, which is rare, my friends roosters starts at 3-4 am and crows atleast 4 times an hour until after dark. It's pretty hard to hide one for very long.

A couple of reason, yes. Firstly, protection and order. Secondly, I do want eggs to replenish my flock in case we should need to and also to offer fertile eggs as a means for supplementing income. It's not a must, but sure would be nice.

 

[JesWith3]

I know folks that live in rural parts of our "town" and they have roosters. I 100% think it's your neighbours. if your closest neighbours are okay with it, you are likely fine. that said, there's no hiding a rooster! they crow literally all day long. I don't know if a crow collar will work, they sound dangerous from what I've read.

That's what I was afraid of. Thank you.

 

[JesWith3]

Back when we lived in the city we thought about it once when we had a super friendly roo... But the roo died young (swollen crop).

Now we have land and multiple roosters, and I don't know if it would be possible. Our roosters don't just crow in the morning, they crow all day. And one crows like 10 times at 3 in the morning like clockwork (it's clearly communicating with someone else's rooster, they go back and forth like a telephone call).

Basically, the only time they don't crow much is in the morning when I was always told they would. It's more like 'whenever we feel like it'. Thankfully with land it doesn't matter but I don't know that we could hide any of our current roos. Maybe you'll get lucky with a quiet one? But I doubt it.

Thank you

 

[Dinogrrl]

My county does not allow roosters in city limits. I've had a rooster for a year now. I'm in a suburban neighborhood with small lots (~1/4 acre) and frankly I consider myself lucky that I've gotten away with it.

I started with just 2 hens years ago, which all my neighbors found to be amusing animals. Lost one hen, got two more pullets. Then last year I hatched out about a dozen chicks for my big Meat Bird Adventure. Neighbors still didn't say anything. I ended up keeping one rooster from the hatch because he was just so darn lovable, just kept my fingers crossed my neighbors wouldn't care.
And mostly, they don't. All my neighbors are about my age so they work most of the day and thus aren't around for the majority of the rooster noise. One neighbor has young children who apparently find it perfectly natural that there's a rooster around because roosters crow and that's how you know when it's time to get up, after all. Another neighbor moved in well after I kept the rooster so I guess they just assumed that since none of the longer-term people around them had complained, they couldn't either.

Best part is, I know I'm not the only person in my neighborhood who has a rooster!
Frankly he's no more noise than some of the dogs around here, so *shrug*

 

[Missyschix13]

I have acres of land as well so NBD for me and my neighbor has chickens. We're all good friends, so worries. But as for keeping a rooster quiet...I would say it looks doubtful. I have an accidental rooster (was in the pullet bin). He crows from sun up to sun down. He gets particularly loud when cars come down our dirt road. Lol he even crows back when you call him name. (He's weird). But multiple times a day he's crowing. Hiding a rooster like him would be impossible!

 

[U_Stormcrow]

Reports on "no crow" collars are that they rarely work and are sometimes dangerous. I live on 30 acres, my birds are about 300 feet from where I sleep, and there's an entire 42' barn between their coop and myself. Still hear the Roos plenty well in the middle of the night, thank you.

If the neighbors are fine with it, and you are willing to risk the law, go ahead. But there's no "fixing" a rooster's crowing (or a hen's laying), and the distances you are talking about are too small to make an effective sound buffer. Structures help, but even they are limited in their ability to muffle the sounds - particularly the hard structures typical of modern construction.