This is Henry. (I am Henry's person) Not my first rodeo with chickens in my lifetime, but he's our first Roo. I wasn't too keen on keeping him in the first place, but my husband really likes Henry's look, and they bonded sort of (yes, that happens with chickens). So anyhow... Henry started out as an adorable Henrietta, but soon, grew to be his full 'self.' We are ok with that, we accept all for who they are, however, Henry also happens to be loud, crows whenever we are near, and right under our window of what ever room we are currently in (including the bathroom,... how does he know?) He crows nonstop when we are home. We live in the middle of nowhere and when it's just my stepson home, he doesn't make a peep. But when we come home, Henry is all about the crowing to tell us whatever he's trying to tell us. Granted, we did have eight chickens total at the start, but two local dogs escaped their owner, found their way through the woods and mauled two (our Leghorn, Marion, and Barred Rock, "Fussy-Susie" (named by my granddaughter) ) and we're pretty sure Henry had something to do with the death of Lydia (our other Barred Rock) So we are down to four hens and Henry... Is there something we can do about the crowing? When it's right near the windows, or on the back porch when we are mid conversation, it can become unbearable. The only time he's not crowing is when we are feeding him a treat. Help?
You can't stop him from crowing, but you could try putting one of those no-crow rooster collars on him to tone down his crows if it bothers you.
Sounds like he has you trained - he crows, you give him a treat to shut him up, he gets positive reinforcement for his crowing. Also, some roosters are more vocal than others. If you decide to put a no crow collar on him, do some research first. Roosters have died from those things. Personally, I would not use one. I'd rather rehome a rooster than put a piece of velcro around his neck to keep him from doing what comes naturally.
We've had good results with the no crow collars. They absolutely still crow, and it is completely recognizable as a crow, and they still have their crow-offs a couple times a day- but it's no worse than an egg song in volume. It takes some work to get the collar fit, and if you've got a growing cockerel, checking the fit at least every few days is important because they grow so fast. There needs to be at least enough room to slide your little finger between the collar and the neck.
