Normal noise from a roo?

[Geckochick]

So, we have recently confirmed that one of our flock is definitely a rooster. There has much discussion about "Roo" at our house and then last week he started trying out his crow. He is very sweet (thus far) not aggressive with the hens, and is good with the kids, too. And, in the beginning he was only crowing early in the morning-- while in the barn, with the barn shut up, and you can hardly hear it. Personally, I kind of like it, and we live rural, so no biggie. Our neighbour did ask us if we were planning roosters when we got the chicks, as their house is closer to our barn then our house is. At the time of purchase of chickens, we planned on sending any roosters to crock pot camp. But, he is so sweet, and watchful for the girls, and hasn't been overly loud, until yesterday.

Yesterday he crowed ALL day. On and off, but ALL day. It was overcast here and pretty dim. I am feeling like a naive chicken newbie even asking this question, but do roosters really crow all day??? Is it an old wives' tale that they only crow at dawn?

I am not saying that we will eat him if he crows all day (although we might end up eating him anyway....), but I am genuinely curious as to why he would be crowing. Oh, and funny thing, too, is that I can trigger the crow by going down and turning on the barn light before dawn. I often open the coop door before dawn because we are early risers and our day starts early, so I need to get the chickens done. They are typically all snuggly on the roost still when I go down. He will start crowing when I turn the light on, and stop when I turn it off and leave the barn. Silly Roo.

 

[dainerra]

I'm stealing this from myself since I posted this a couple days ago about why roosters crow.

In Southeast Asia, : A long time ago, when the world was new, the sky held nine suns. The land was hot, the river dried up, and crops began to die. The people decided to ask their best archer to shoot the suns out of the sky. The next day, one by one, he shot the suns. Frightened, the last remaining sun hid behind a mountain where the archer could not reach her. Soon the people realized their mistake. The world grew cold, and the crops did not grow. The people spoke gently to the hiding sun to coax her back. They also asked animals and songbirds to try, but none could convince her to return. Finally, someone suggested the rooster, because he was fearless and would not give up. Agreeing to help, the rooster crowed three times, and the sun, believing she was safe, rose from behind the mountain. To show gratitude to the rooster, the sun placed a bit of the morning sky on top of his head.


I've seen them crow for a lot of reasons.

After scaring off a rival or a predator - I'm the MAN!
When one of the hens cackles after laying an egg - those are my women and I'm the MAN!
When he hears another rooster crowing - I hear you, don't come over here coz I'm the MAN!
Randomly throughout the day - I'm here girls; I'm your MAN!

to answer your question, yes they crow all day long. they will also crow at night if they catch a glimpse of light, such as headlights shining in the window when a car goes by. Some crow more than others, of course, so a lot can vary by the individual bird.

 

[bobbieschicks]

Mine will crow like a child will whine. If they want something and don't get it they crow (mealy worms), if they don't like something that is happening they crow (the kids outside the coop and they don't want to be bothered), if they see something they don't like they crow- wait - that's when they growl LOL! Yes roosters will crow any time of the day for just about any reason. I love hearing mine crow.

 

[aoxa]

I totally agree with the above post. My rooster Steve crows on and off all day, and rarely crows when it's dark (except last night when I added 3 new birds to the flock - including one young roo). I don't see it as being any more of a nuisance than a dog barking or crows crowing. Birds chirp. Dogs bark. Cows meow. Roosters crow.

Just bring your neighbour some eggs. If they are nice, they will be okay with it all.

ETA: Not the above post, the first reply.

 

[Pokster]

I have 17 Roos, love them all to death. I hatched them in April, some crow loud and strong in the morning, and sometimes all day. I can be in my office at 4 PM working and hear two or three of them crowing together. Some still don't crow and some crow half crows it's a hoot! The answer is a yes though i hear mine all the time all through the day. I have a really big guy that does not crow but will resort back to his chick chirp when hes in trouble.

 

[lorain's fids]

My newly confirmed rooster-Charles, just started crowing on Monday. He is 16 weeks old. So Monday morning he crowed at 7:10am, I guess it was getting light in the coop and I had the windows open also, he figured it was a good time to announce he was awake, nothing more that day, then Tuesday he crowed at 7am, the neighbors yappy dogs started barking so Charles thought he should join in and crow. Then Tuesday night I placed black paper on the windows and made it nice and dark, he didn't crow Wednesday morning, he crowed in the afternoon when the 5 hens walked away from him while they were out playing. Then on Thursday, no crows in the am, but in the afternoon he was on his roost in the run and decided it was a good time to crow, then in the evening all 6 were in the coop and in my house we were having loud Macaw time, I guess he heard the bird and decided it was a good time to crow. No crowing so far today.

 

[Geckochick]

So, basically, they will just crow whenever they want.... Too funny.

I have asked my neighbours and they say he isn't bothering them. They are already on the list to get eggs (as soon as we get eggs), so hopefully that will sweeten the sound of early morning crows.... I just don't know if they would be honest with me, LOL, as they already say our dog has a "distinctive bark."

 

[Geckochick]

Oh, and I love the myth about the rooster bringing the sun back. I am going to share that with my kids at dinner tonight. Thank you!

 

[pawsplus]

My Bianco (previously BiancA) still hasn't crowed. He's coming up on 17 weeks. I guess he's perfectly fine, but so far nothing out of him other than the usual clucking and bokking. <sigh>

 

[superchemicalgirl]

They will crow all day, rain or shine. They'll crow all night too, if it's a full moon or they're otherwise so inclined. Sometimes they'll have a few hours of silence... then they seem to have a crowing fit to see if someone will kill them.

Mine will also make some stupid noises if the girls get scared, and he joins jubilantly in the epic egg songs.