Rooster crowing all day

[DivaExMachina]

I am sure this is a very common question but I couldn't really find any threads that didn't contain a lot of contradictory information. Any insight from chicken psychologists would be welcome.

Background:
We just bought chickens yesterday. We bought one adult rooster (2 yrs old) from a family who lost all of their hens to a polecat, and got three nine week old chickens from a breeder. Right now they are shut in the coop because the fence is not completely finished, but they have water, food, shells, grit, roosts, wood shavings, and the coop is roomy and airy so they are not too hot. I also put some apple pieces and a cabbage in there to keep them entertained until we can finish the fence and let them out to roam.

Trouble is, starting at 4am and continuing the whole day, our rooster has been crowing non stop. The noise is one thing and I can deal with it, but I'm worried that I'm not taking good care of my rooster. Why is he crowing so much? Is he bored? Lonely? Does he want to mate but the little chickens are too young? I'm not aware of other roosters in the area so I don't think he is calling out to others of his kind.

Could it be that he is stressed from the move and once he's settled he will crow less?

I grew up on a farm and we never had this trouble of roosters crowing all the time. I am worried that I'm not addressing their needs. Also I'm afraid the neighbours will think I'm abusing him. I keep going down to check him in case there's a predator but they always seem to be calm when I arrive.



In case it's relevant, the reason we have such a mixed-age group of birds is because they're all a variety called 'Gotlandshöns' which are an endangered Swedish land race. We wanted to help preserve the bloodlines but unfortunately there are not many of them around and these are the only individuals we could locate at this time.

Advice is very welcome. Thanks in advance!

 

[Judy]

Chickens don't handle change very well. This might be stress and / or asserting dominance over these strangers in this strange place, or even a sort of bragging, showing off his flock. And you could be guessing right, that he is saying, these are my girls, keep off. I would expect him to slow down as he gets accustomed to his new home. I think when they crow back and forth to each other, it's more like, this is my territory, or my flock. It might be he would slow down some if you sat with them, especially if he feels you are the flock leader.