Quieter meat birds?

[ArcticBark]

Has anyone bred for a quieter rooster?

I’m considering giving up on our Bresse table flock because of the crowing. Their crow is eardrum-ripping AND the first ones begin at 5-6 weeks, meaning an unbearable 10 weeks.

It must be possible since I have read about people breeding for louder and longer crowing.

I know one option would be to breed the later-maturing males, but I’m particularly curious about the quality of the voice. I’ve also considered Bresse x Orpington or Brahma for the table.

Any experiences?

 

[Acre4Me]

No experience with Breese. However BJG tend to crow minimally and when they do, it is a deeper crow than other breeds I’ve experienced. In Dec 2019 I posted a thread in meat bird forum comparing BJG and Red Dorking lots of pics. The BJG male was around 20 weeks and about 9.5 lb. the Dorking (known for their meat and short legs), also produced a great carcass, with much dark meat. However Dorkings are louder and more frequent crowing in my experience.

The brother BJG to the one we butchered sired many chicks, and we kept 2 of them. They are full framed large girls, and their mom’s were an EE, and an unknown - both girls are large and black, but one has the EE muffs and beard.

 

[ArcticBark]

Thanks for the reply Acre4me! Just checking: is BGJ a Jersey giant? I had them on my list, so it might be an interesting candidate...

 

[speedy2020]

I butched my Bresse breeding rooster yesterday because he keep crowing every 5-10 minutes. It is a hard decision, but has no choice because he just too loud.

 

[Ascholten]

Can't you raise females? From my experience, the females tend to be the larger ones in the species'

Even if they are slightly less meat on them, the peace of mind of not having to put up with crowing etc might be worth it?

Aaron

 

[ArcticBark]

Can't you raise females? From my experience, the females tend to be the larger ones in the species'

Even if they are slightly less meat on them, the peace of mind of not having to put up with crowing etc might be worth it?

Aaron

That would be ideal, but knowing my luck, it’ll never happen: my last hatch was 90% male. So I end up frowning them out—bc breaking my eardrums in the process

 

[CNJ]

My Bresse rooster is annoyingly loud. I use a inch and a half velcro. I wrap a 7 inch strip around a one inch pvc coupling and mark it with white out. I use the line as a guide, the velcro is slightly past the line, its tight. This interrupts his crow, so its muffled.

I plan on crossing my Bresse rooster with a standard cornish. The person selling the white cornish eggs on ebay pointed out that his roosters hardly crow. I hoping to get white pea comb chickens with blue legs.

I still waiting on the eggs, but I already have two dark cornish rooster chicks that I will experiment on first.

The Bresse chickens mature faster than Plymouth rocks, so I may be able to produce some hybrid meat chickens.

I currently have 10 eggs from my White Bresse rooster crossed with my black Jersey Giant hen in my incubator. I just candled them, they 100% fertile.

 

[ArcticBark]

My Bresse rooster is annoyingly loud. I use a inch and a half velcro. I wrap a 7 inch strip around a one inch pvc coupling and mark it with white out. I use the line as a guide, the velcro is slightly past the line, its tight. This interrupts his crow, so its muffled.

I plan on crossing my Bresse rooster with a standard cornish. The person selling the white cornish eggs on ebay pointed out that his roosters hardly crow.

I still waiting on the eggs, but I already have two dark cornish rooster chicks that I will experiment on first.

The Bresse chickens mature faster than Plymouth rocks, so I may be able to produce some hybrid meat chickens.

I won't have to worry about crowing if they get big enough to process before they start crowing.

Thanks—i think I’ll need to go down this road too. They are so plus, aren’t they, and so early. Killer combo.

 

[CNJ]

Thanks—i think I’ll need to go down this road too. They are so plus, aren’t they, and so early. Killer combo.

I just read a research paper on why roosters crow and found out the other roosters in the yard will wait for the dominant rooster to start crowing first and then chime in. I have 3 roosters and they go at it none stop in the morning. This worries me because we have a two residential chicken limit where I live with up to a $1,000 fine. I want to process two of them, but they need another month to fill in.

I have a skinny box with one inch holes I use to put my dominant male in at night. I fill the bottom with pine shavings and keep the box in my storage room. I let him out in the day.

All three of my roosters have velcro collars, but it gets annoying when they take turn crowing. Those guys don't crow together, they crow one after the other like a chorus.

Its not as bad when I put my dominant rooster in the storage room.

 

[ArcticBark]

I just read a research paper on why roosters crow and found out the other roosters in the yard will wait for the dominant rooster to start crowing first and then chime in. I have 3 roosters and they go at it none stop in the morning. This worries me because we have a two residential chicken limit where I live with up to a $1,000 fine. I want to process two of them, but they need another month to fill in.

I have a skinny box with one inch holes I use to put my dominant male in at night. I fill the bottom with pine shavings and keep the box in my storage room. I let him out in the day.

All three of my roosters have velcro collars, but it gets annoying when they take turn crowing. Those guys don't crow together, they crow one after the other like a chorus.

Its not as bad when I put my dominant rooster in the storage room.

That’s it, though; with them taking turns, it’s non-stop. I lock them up at the far end of our property for the night. I can’t hear my Brahma rooster from there, but the Bresse wake me up... and there’s 9 of them