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

@JaneBrook . I do understand your position. It is difficult having to deal with roosters.

With my first rooster I put a blanket over the coop to make it dark and muffle the sound. But it didn’t work well and it was bad for ventilation. The coop started to smell. :tongue
I considered building a rooster-coop (dark coffin) or trying a no-crow collar too. But finally choose to give mine away.

This is my rooster story::old
I got my first chicks 6 weeks old and made an arrangement with the seller (hobby farmer) that I could bring the cockerels back. I returned 3 and kept 1. Grew up to be beautiful rooster. In spring he crowed earlier every day. So he had to go too. The hobby farmer suggested to keep the rooster for offspring and bring the rooster after a broody hen stayed on the nest (since I wanted more hens).
The hobby farmer has sexed hybrid chicks every spring and summer. If someone comes to buy hybrid chickens he always askes if they want a small and beautifull rooster to alarm the hens. He never has a problem to give them away for free.
That spring I had 3 pullets and 3 cockerels. These cockerels went to the hobbyfarmer too. And now I had enough ladies.

After a few years my hens started to lay less. Last year I bought eggs for breeding (broody hen). And got 3 chicks. I was lucky and got 2 hens and 1 rooster. He could stay as long as he was calm. This meant he had to go too last spring. I lost contact with the hobby farmer. Now I tried to find someone who wanted to breed with this cockerel because it was a beautifull millefleur de tournaisis. We have a sell/buy platform here and it took only 3 days before a hobby breeder came to collect my rooster. In the meanwile I had gathered eggs and had two broody hens who settled in one nest. This spring I was not so lucky. The chicks became 4 cockerels and only one pullet. I sold 1 mother hen with 2 cockerels. And a few weeks later I gave away the other two.

With these experience I am confident that if you have to give away you’re rooster it will be no real problem.
 
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.
 
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I became attached to my Godzilla my sweet rooster. We are a no kill home here. Our hens are merely for eggs. The no crow collar in my opinion is cruel. I live in city limits & wasn't anticipating having a rooster as my local co op said all birds in the trough I were sexed. Well, the three were hens & he started crowing. Hateful neighbors complained so now my best friend has Godzilla. I am going to try to relocate out of city limits middle of next year. I want my rooster back! He came inside & even spent the night inside. I attached a plastic bag & secured it around underneath his backside to catch his droppings & it worked. He had his moments where he could be moody but it broke my heart parting with him. Putting that no crow collar on him was not only a complete waste of money but it is cruel. I saw how he acted afterwards although it was a short period but then he just defied it after awhile then it just was useless. I felt horrible everytime I picked him up to readjust it because then I felt he would associate everytime he was picked up only to fix his collar all because the damn neighbors complained. I could have retaliated & complained on their smelly huge dogs that barked all day & all night but I didn't. It serves no purpose & I believe in Karma. I just miss my son. Yes, he was my child. He walked in this house like he owned it & we spoiled that roo! So, no if there is any chance of them dying just to shut the neighbors up it's just better to relocate the rooster or like myself search for a place outside city limits where roosters are permitted. Sorry for the long reply but I really miss my boy Hope this helps.
 
Firstly I genuinely want to thank each & every one of you for you input, advice, stories & help...
I spent days insulating/sound proofing a smaller coop & managed to muffle his early morning crows that were causing the problems. Poach also seems happy enough to put himself to bed each night with two of his ‘sisters’ from the same hatching but in the main coop I have eight hens, two are Silkies & both have head injuries (one seriously bleeding almost through to the scalp) she’s on the mend now as I’ve brought them both inside but the mating process seems so aggressive (almost like rape) he doesn’t show any aggression towards me (yet) but he’s only 4 months old (born 23rd August 2019) Poach is a Legbar cross Leghorn & much larger than my two Silkies... My other hens (mixed breeds & rescue battery) seem to be coping but not my Silkies :idunno
 
I became attached to my Godzilla my sweet rooster. We are a no kill home here. Our hens are merely for eggs. The no crow collar in my opinion is cruel. I live in city limits & wasn't anticipating having a rooster as my local co op said all birds in the trough I were sexed. Well, the three were hens & he started crowing. Hateful neighbors complained so now my best friend has Godzilla. I am going to try to relocate out of city limits middle of next year. I want my rooster back! He came inside & even spent the night inside. I attached a plastic bag & secured it around underneath his backside to catch his droppings & it worked. He had his moments where he could be moody but it broke my heart parting with him. Putting that no crow collar on him was not only a complete waste of money but it is cruel. I saw how he acted afterwards although it was a short period but then he just defied it after awhile then it just was useless. I felt horrible everytime I picked him up to readjust it because then I felt he would associate everytime he was picked up only to fix his collar all because the damn neighbors complained. I could have retaliated & complained on their smelly huge dogs that barked all day & all night but I didn't. It serves no purpose & I believe in Karma. I just miss my son. Yes, he was my child. He walked in this house like he owned it & we spoiled that roo! So, no if there is any chance of them dying just to shut the neighbors up it's just better to relocate the rooster or like myself search for a place outside city limits where roosters are permitted. Sorry for the long reply but I really miss my boy Hope this helps.
If you are so attached to this rooster and the neighbours dont mind his loudness at daytime, you can build a rooster box for the night. I can pick up a drawing if you are interested in building one.
 
https://myalbum.com/album/odbbkaFFqCafodbbkaFFqCaf

How to build a rooster box/ small roostercoop. The ventilation came with 4 drainpipes. The pipes must be at least 10 cm long, so the light will be minimal. The walls must also be insulated because otherwise the chickens will hear sounds from outside, causing them to wake up. It is best to place such a loft in a shed.
(Source kippenforum.nl)

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The owner was very pleased with it. Hope that this will work for you too Jane. :fl

Maybe make a plan, make you’re own pictures and put it as a article on BYC if it is great solution.
 
:lau:lau
The owner was very pleased with it. Hope that this will work for you too Jane. :fl

Maybe make a plan, make you’re own pictures and put it as a article on BYC if it is great solution.
I’m not sure my carpentry skills are up to a post on BYC but I will take photos & possibly share if it looks the part :lau
 

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