OMG he crows nonstop, and early

[curiousnewbie]

In a roundabout fashion, I received a small mixed flock of 14 chickens, 10 hens and four roosters. Two of the roosters are HUGE, maybe a Black Jersey Giant and one that looks like a Silver Laced Wyandotte. (I'm going by pictures and descriptions...could be completely off on this.) They are the size of small turkeys! AND they crow at all hours of the day and night, 4-5 crows a minute for up to an hour at a time, even in the middle of the night. They are about 18 months old. The other two roosters are possibly Buff Orpingtons and are very mellow.
Is there anything I can do, short of the Ultimate Solution, to get these two guys to shut up? If I had close neighbors, I'd be hung by now.

I should mention that they are free-range. I tried keeping them in a coop but that didn't work out. They crowed nonstop in there.

Help! Please?

 

[willowcol]

Nothing I know you can do, ours use to start crowing at 3 am right next to the bedroom window. He liked to sit on the deck rail and picked the spot by my window, my husband didn't like that to much. Needless to say he was rehomed to a friend and is fine there, the 2 I kept don't have the crowing all night problem, some just never keep quiet.

 

[ranchhand]

I think you have too many roosters to hens anyway. One roo per ten hens is the usual recommended ratio. Try to rehome the 3 noisiest and keep the one quietest. Try Craig's list for your area, that's where I got my EE rooster.

Good luck and

 

[Wynette]

Not much you can do...except learn to love crowing!

I have one that I SWEAR doesn't utter a peep...until he hears me talking. When I'm doing barn chores and on the phone while working, everyone knows to just stop talking when Francoise crows because I can't hear them talking. I've grown to love...well, maybe like a lot...the crowing of the boy!

 

[mjdtexan]

fried chicken

Mike D