Rooster/cockerel starting to crow- who’s used a ‘collar’?

[JaneBrook]

Hi everyone- need advice about my cockerel ‘Poach’
Has anyone used a no crow collar?
What’s your experiences with caponising?
Or do any of you have any advice about how to stop a rooster crowing {loudly} or at least quietening him down?
Can anyone share their experiences…

 

[featheredplanets]

Crow collars are bad, in my opinion. Some use them successfully, others are met with a sad end. The roosters squirm and jump and flip to get out of it. The usual story is that they choke whilst eating and die.

Are you allowed males where you live? You could try keeping him in his coop until a reasonable time to dampen the loudness. Roosters crowing is as natural as us talking. It’s their duty to protect their flock and they’ve been doing it for thousands of years. I think that if people don’t want to let a rooster be a rooster, then they shouldn’t have one. I really don’t mean that in an offensive way but it’s like debarking a dog or declawing a cat, not humane in my opinion. Others will disagree but I’m sure they’ll share their opinion.

 

[roosterhavoc]

The freezer just isn’t an option for me - it just baffles me that in this day n age there isn’t anything that a vet can do to reduce the sound or stop the crow…

It’s a rooster they crow. Why would you want to alter the bird just to suit you and you’re modern living arrangements? If you live very close to neighbors you had to know there was a pretty good chance you would end up with a rooster when you got chickens.

 

[FortCluck]

100% agreed.

I’ve been following your recent thread but couldn’t think of anything more to add that hasn’t already been said. Every time I see a new thread about neutering or crow collars I just sigh. Neutering other animals (cats, dogs, rabbits) I get because it does prevent unwanted pets, but with roosters you can just chose not to incubate your eggs, but people don’t want to do it for that, they want to stop them from being a male chicken. Crow collars and the other procedure (damaging the air sack above the crop?) are so dangerous. I love my little roo but if people complained I’d accept that he needs to go and I’d rehome him.

That thread meant everything to me yesterday. I walked outside and looked at my roosters and couldn't imagine trying to change them. That thread was from my heart yesterday and it poured out into the thread. I didn't want to insult anyone or have anyone hate me, but it needed to be said at that time.

I absolutely love roosters and what they are, I am very passionate about what they do. I understand that people get chicks and don't realize that some could turn into roosters, but they're always needs to be some sort of plan b. That plan b should not involve torturing an animal or trying to make it something it's not. They are better off on a dinner table than wearing some torturous device thats man-made.

 

[SilkieLover1969]

Honey do not waste your money. I've tried it & did numerous adjustments. If anything it lowers the decibels of the crow about 1/4. We even tried making our own. Several of them. He just ended up defying them. Then pretty soon it will just come off. I've also heard of some dying due to it being to snug. Just not worth losing your beloved pet even though it may be irritating to neighbors. I ended up having to part with mine because he ended up a rooster instead of a hen & we live in city limits. Hope this helps hon. Sorry I couldn't give you better news. Just check out the reviews & make your decision from there.

 

[21hens-incharge]

As heartbreaking as it is if he is making trouble by making noise it is best to either find a new home for him or put him in the freezer.

It stinks I know. I have had to let a few go over the years.

 

[Ted_Harrell]

JaneBrook, sorry I was unaware of you being a vegan. The next option would be rehoming them. Maybe someone close by would care for him.

 

[featheredplanets]

I'm plant based and If I had a rooster that I could not keep, I would re-home him to someone that could have roosters and where he would not be a nuisance.

Crow collars are torturous devices made by man and are not natural. I've heard many stories of people who have seen roosters with them on and their reactions to it. The rooster basically flips out trying to get it off. Why people use these is beyond me, it's animal cruelty.

I understand that you have raised him from a chick, but he deserves to live as a rooster. Finding him a new home where he can do what he wants is best for him.

He's just a cockerel right now and as they age into being a rooster their crowing will reduce. He will still crow, but not as much.

Trying to take away his crow is like cutting a dog's vocal cords so it won't bark...

Saying you're vegan isn't helping me understand why you're trying to change an animal into something that it isn't. Isn't that what vegans are against?

100% agreed.

I’ve been following your recent thread but couldn’t think of anything more to add that hasn’t already been said. Every time I see a new thread about neutering or crow collars I just sigh. Neutering other animals (cats, dogs, rabbits) I get because it does prevent unwanted pets, but with roosters you can just chose not to incubate your eggs, but people don’t want to do it for that, they want to stop them from being a male chicken. Crow collars and the other procedure (damaging the air sack above the crop?) are so dangerous. I love my little roo but if people complained I’d accept that he needs to go and I’d rehome him.

 

[ChocolateMouse]

So! I don't find no crow collars "cruel" but I do find them dangerous. I have experienced (and since heard several stories of) the collars getting stuck on something in the pen (ranging from a loose stick to part of the coop or fence) and choking the rooster and that's exactly what happened to mine. He lived but it was no bueno. He had a collar for about 6 months without issue, no weight loss, SOME (but, realistically not nearly enough) reduction in crowing, and only about 15-20 minutes of fuss after it first got put on him, like a dog with a gentle leader or a cat on a leash for the first time. After that he was fine and was behaving normally, eating normally and breeding normally - except for it nearly suffocating him 6 months later. Like all collars on unsupervised animals the risk of choking is very VERY VERY real. So I strongly do not recommend.

Caponizing is dangerous and must be done before they start crowing if you really want them to stop. Most vets won't do it and the ones who do don't even 100% know what they're doing. I was following a thread where another person confidently took their roo to an avian experienced vet to have the testes removed and the chicken died of respiratory failure anyhow. The "experienced avian" vet admitted he even tried to cut in the wrong place cause he was unfamilliar with chickens and that wasn't even what killed the bird. The owner was devastated. Chickens are just plain old delicate when it comes to anesthesia.
Even if you do caponize they may still start to crow and they will put on excessive amounts of weight and have health problems. That's why capons are valued as meat birds and butchered young still.

The reality is that in the wild a rooster takes one of three routes. He either lives in a bachelor group or solo until he can find a territory to claim when he's old enough, then he maintains a flock of several hens, then he gets kicked out of that territory and either finds another or gets eaten by wild animals. The VAST majority of wild roosters get eaten in nature without maintaining a flock long enough to reproduce. There's one rooster born for every hen but only one per ten in a flock and so there's far more roosters than we can have homes for as a society. They have to go somewhere and most people (probably including you) don't have the time or resources to make and maintain rooster bachelor pads for 9 roosters for every 10 hens.

Now how you wanna handle that reality is up to you. But it usually doesn't take many bachelor roosters or failed sound suppression techniques before people get fed up and look for an alternative to keeping them around. And those birds will HAVE to go SOMEWHERE. In nature they get eaten by other animals. In hatcheries most get sexed and disposed of as chicks suddenly and rapidly. In my household, they get eaten if they're big enough, composted if they're small enough. Some people process them and donate them to food banks. Some go to farmers who process them and eat them. And like all rescue situations, even if you find a home for him, another rooster could be in that home instead. But the excessive rooster problem is the cost of owning chickens and needs to be squared with. For every 10 hens you own, even if you can keep a rooster and buy only sexed chickens, somewhere, sometime, 9 roosters probably won't have a happy ending as a result.
In this case, it's up to you who is gonna handle your roosters life next. And there's NO easy answer.

 

[Ted_Harrell]

It would be like trying to suppress thousands of years of gut instinct. He was born to crow darling so if you can't have him crowing then put him in the pastry. Just my opinion...