Quiet Rooster project

[violetsky]

My best friend just got a complaint from neighbor about her rooster crowing and had to get
rid of him asap. I'm wondering which breeds are naturally quieter. If you could put roos
on a scale of one to ten with one being the quietest and 10 being a loud and frequent crower
where would ameraucanas and marans rank? What breed is the loudest? Is anyone selectively
breeding quieter heavy breed layer roos that has some eggs for sale now?

 

[Chicken Rich86]

I heard orpingtons are quite. Though I have a orpington/Rhode island/Leghorn who's only slightly less noisy than my wyandotte/americauna.

 

[hennyannie]

I'm thinking that it's not just the breed, but also individual to the roo. Some of mine have been quieter than others of the same breed.

 

[violetsky]

Thanks, I will go to the orp thread and ask them. I want to keep a lavender
ameraucana roo chick at my suburban home instead of the farm and forgot
about crowing until my friend lost her roo. Is heresy to breed the crow out of
roosters? It seems a logical thing to do with so many backyard chickens nowadays.

 

[Illia]

It would be a nice thing to do honestly, as much as I'd oppose the idea of doing so, I really want to see more people have roosters. People who don't are missing out on so much! Especially roosters without aggression in their genetics.

I personally don't know of many "quiet" breeds. In my experience there are two types of quiet - 1) the pitch of the crow. High pitched breeds like Araucanas and Ameraucanas I would not consider quiet, while low pitched breeds like Marans, Jersey Giants, Shamos, Brahmas, etc I would consider quieter because of their pitch. It is more pleasant to the ear. 2) Some breeds just aren't as cocky. Marans I find to crow less, as they're usually pretty passive and laid-back. Araucanas crow a lot because they like being at the top. Polish crow a lot for the same reason, but are not as bad. Also the environment really helps. The more roosters around, the less crowing, believe it or not. The less roosters, the more crowing.

 

[sawmane1]

One quiet rooster breed is the yokohomah ( I dont think I spelled that rite)

 

[RareBreedFancier]

Quote:
Really? So that's why mine are quieter since I added the two new guys? I thought that would have caused much more crowing but they defiantly are quieter.
I find it varies a lot between roos, I have some quiet ones and one in particular that is really LOUD and drawn out. He's a favorite too or I'd have had him for dinner by now.

 

[hennyannie]

Then you would have a loud drawn out dinner!LOL

 

[mississippifarmboy]

I've got several breeds and I think it is just individual roosters that are quieter. Some crow all the time, and a few I almost never hear. The shortest crow of any of ours are the cochin bantams. They sound plumb sad. Sort of a cross between a squawk and a true crow cut off mid-crow.
I cringe everytime I hear them. lol

poor stupid things.

 

[hennyannie]

I had this polish one time that made a strange sound at the end of his crow like a little whine or something.