Quiet Roosters

[Mikefinger]

Hello all. I am planning to start a small backyard flock in the spring. I will probably start with 6-8 hens. My question is, is there a breed of rooster that is noteably quieter than others? Any help will be greatly appreciated! Thanks, Mike

 

[cravenchx]

I have a 19 week old EE, that we heard
crow once about 4 weeks ago. Haven't heard him
since, but I'm sure his day is coming.

 

[so lucky]

.
I think with any rooster, you have a good chance of getting an annoying crower. That just kinda comes with the species. Do you live in a residential area where crowing would be an issue? If not, you and your family will probably get accustomed to and "develop a deaf ear" to the crowing after a while. I got rid of my only roo because he was too rough on the girls, and was starting to challenge me a bit. But I miss his crowing. My 5 girls are much quieter without Buck around.

This site has a wealth of information. I suggest you spend the winter reading as much as you can, plan your coop, research the breeds you want. Read the threads you don't think you even have an interest in, because there is always something to learn, that you may need later. You will get a feel for who gives the most reliable advice and who has your general philosophy regarding raising chickens: Hobby, Obsession, Business, Foodsource, etc. Also, I suggest you buy sexed chicks, rather than straight run. Odds are you will get more than one roo, and you will have to start trying to rehome the extras, add new birds to your existing girls, etc. If you are squeamish about culling, and don't have a ready outlet for the chickens you don't want or need, you have to plan well and be flexible. Having a small flock is great fun and rewarding in many ways. You found the right place for support here.

 

[mstricer]

Quote:
They will start up soon. Probably in the spring and they are annoying. They never stop and it is as loud as as a marans crow but worse. Bantam breeds are small little crow. I think ny D' Uccles are cute sounding.

 

[GlacierHen]

You never know what you are going to get when you get any rooster. It really depends on the rooster. Roosters are pretty much useless other than for fathering chicks. I have roosters in a residential area, but it is extra work. Because the roos are sooooo loud I had to completely insulate my coop with 1.5 inch foam board. It really dampened the noise, but not as much as I wanted, so I also go out and put the roosters inside a large dog kennel inside the coop every night. That works excellent. The light in the hen house comes on at 8 AM and the roosters are let out of their kennel at 8 AM into the coop. The coop has an automatic door and they are not let outside into their pen until 10 AM in case the neighbors want to sleep in. The neighborhood seems to be ok with the daytime crowing. I am culling roos from 3 to one. I would prefer to not have roosters (and so would the hens), but I want to hatch some chicks. That is the one roos only saving grace. Roosters also eat a lot of food. You don't realize how much they eat until you see one poo a poo as big as an EGG! And then you think - that could have been food used for an egg! Our roosters hide behind the skirts of all the hens at the first sign of any danger - giving a muffled "danger" cluck, so the protection of the flock is left to the hens. Also, I have found that most roosters are sweet to begin with and then get mean. The keeper roo is our first gentle rooster - so far.

 

[diornisextant]

If you don't care what size the roo is I have had 2 serama roos one I raised and he crowed early(like 415 am), consistently through the day and even in the night. his crow was very high frequency due to the small size and did not carry at all. you could hear him from the front of the house every time I drove in the lot but not from a 1/ 2 a block away. I brought him into the house in the evening mainly because the weather was getting cold.
I have a new one now and he is very quiet, again high frequency but not often at all. He even waits to be woken by the alarm clock crows 3-4 times and then starts feeding. Other than that he has crowed when I separate one of the hens from him. One of the hens "crows" for the same reason and she is actually louder than he is.
There are at least 4 roosters in the neighborhood and you can definitely tell the bantams from the large.