Rooster crowing in urban area

[Mrs. K]

I love a rooster crow...at the barn. No way would I want one near my bedroom window. Being woke at 4:00 am would make me crabby. When you live urban, I think you have to take care you are not part of the problem. But I also would not like to be near a barking dog.

 

[BDutch]

I love a rooster crow...at the barn. No way would I want one near my bedroom window. Being woke at 4:00 am would make me crabby. When you live urban, I think you have to take care you are not part of the problem. But I also would not like to be near a barking dog.

Yes.
That must be why they made rules or regulations in most urban and suburban area’s.

Asking neighbours is a good thing to do IMO if the neighbours house is so close to the coop that they will hear the rooster clearly in the morning when the world is still asleep.

I would never ask such a thing by posting a letter. But ask face to face. Its another contact, and it makes it possible to understand each others feelings/needs.
Some people wake up and get annoyed from a nearby rooster but some really don’t mind. Especially if they understand why the rooster is important for you.

Rules and regulations are strange if someone who can’t have personal noise nuisance from the rooster crow can make authorities say you have to eliminate your rooster.

 

[21hens-incharge]

As I am catching up in the wee hours of the morning I can hear my neighbors rooster inside my house with the windows shut.
While I don't mind it I recall a couple other neighbors that know I keep chickens complaining to me about him. (I think they thought he was mine)

Roosters are legal here with the condition that they fall under the same noise ordinance as dogs. Yup to many complaints and it's bye bye rooster.

I mention this since he crows in the middle of the night and throughout the day. It would be pretty easy for people to become irritated by that.

So while I legally COULD have a rooster I choose not to aggravate the neighbors who obviously (since they complained to me) would rather not hear them.
In fact I sold my beautiful ducks since the 2am crowing was triggering my females to scream quack. Living in the city comes with drawbacks...like thinking about the neighbors right to peacefully enjoy their property.

 

[RubySue]

I ended up with two roosters. One was a brown Leghorn that crowed at 12 weeks and was so loud and not perfected yet by any means. He crowed a lot. Crowed in the coop at 4 am and you could still hear it inside the house and sometimes until 7 am. It carried for a long ways. The coop is 100 ft from the house. He would crow when I left from visiting. He would crow when the neighbors dog would bark. I swear he would crow from the sound of my screen door. The EE started at 17 wks. Only in the morning I heard him. Granted they just started. But it wasn’t just a good morning good night crow. I had to cull them at 18 wks last weekend because I couldn’t find a home. I probably misunderstood the whole picturesque cute crow at sunrise and then sunset. Maybe it would have leveled out not sure.

 

[Paz]

Roosters are less loud if they don’t compete with other roosters, and it’s also very individual. I had one who wouldn’t shut his mouth, and I had one who would only call a couple times when the sun rises.

 

[BDutch]

I ended up with two roosters. One was a brown Leghorn that crowed at 12 weeks and was so loud and not perfected yet by any means. He crowed a lot. Crowed in the coop at 4 am and you could still hear it inside the house and sometimes until 7 am. It carried for a long ways. The coop is 100 ft from the house. He would crow when I left from visiting. He would crow when the neighbors dog would bark. I swear he would crow from the sound of my screen door. The EE started at 17 wks. Only in the morning I heard him. Granted they just started. But it wasn’t just a good morning good night crow. I had to cull them at 18 wks last weekend because I couldn’t find a home. I probably misunderstood the whole picturesque cute crow at sunrise and then sunset. Maybe it would have leveled out not sure.

Over the years I always managed to rehome all my bantam cockerels ( 1 Dutch + 3 Dutch +1 Tournaisis + 4 mix + 1 bantam RiR).
Two were beauties with ornamental tails. Most were still young and not even crowing. I never asked money for my roosters. Only asked for the purpose, why they want this rooster(s).

The last cockerel was the sweetest with the least annoying crow, but the hardest to rehome. It took about 5 weeks to find a really nice place and flock for him.

 

[CHeikk]

Hello,
I am raising a few chicks right now and at least one of them are guaranteed to be roosters. They are still young and haven’t started to crow yet, and I live in an urban area. When they do grow up, I would like to try keep them as they can help protect my other chickens from predators. Are there any way that I can prepare or do to decrease their crowing or crowing volume when they grow up?
Thanks.

I too have ordered five chicks, and two have now turned out to be roosters. One, a bantam, has not crowed yet due to my easter egger being the dominant one. I was about to try a no crow collar, but read somewhere on this post of a person putting their rooster in a small basket/box in the evening, and then letting him out in the morning at a respectable hour. Well, I tried it this morning (using a small pet crate) and it is working! The rooster cannot stretch its neck up and out to gather a big breath, and therefore is in a roosting position so he cannot crow. It is working so far, I hope I can keep this up until I move to the country!

 

[BDutch]

I too have ordered five chicks, and two have now turned out to be roosters. One, a bantam, has not crowed yet due to my easter egger being the dominant one. I was about to try a no crow collar, but read somewhere on this post of a person putting their rooster in a small basket/box in the evening, and then letting him out in the morning at a respectable hour. Well, I tried it this morning (using a small pet crate) and it is working! The rooster cannot stretch its neck up and out to gather a big breath, and therefore is in a roosting position so he cannot crow. It is working so far, I hope I can keep this up until I move to the country!

This is the first time I hear of such a solution.
I do hope it works for you and I’ll keep it in mind the next time I have chicks.

A few weeks ago I sold a few pullets and all my cockerels to one person who was happy with them. There was one nice Dutch cockerel I would have kept if I had no neighbours.

Please update this in a couple of months or when problems occur.
I have it bookmarked too.

The cockerel:

 

[BDutch]

@CHeikk Is the pet crate still working?
Because next year I want to let a broody hatch some bought hatching eggs again and then I like to keep one rooster.

Can you write down the height of the pet crate in relation to the rooster? And how much room he has to stretch his legs in it?

I was thinking I could build a pet crate with a auto pop door opener on time. It would be a wonderful solution if it works throughout time.

 

[CHeikk]

@CHeikk Is the pet crate still working?
Because next year I want to let a broody hatch some bought hatching eggs again and then I like to keep one rooster.

Can you write down the height of the pet crate in relation to the rooster? And how much room he has to stretch his legs in it?

I was thinking I could build a pet crate with a auto pop door opener on time. It would be a wonderful solution if it works throughout time.

Sadly, no it really did not work (did for about 3 days....then Smokey figured out the could still let out a good crow). So, it was just bring the small (cat size) crate into the back mud room of the house until 7:00 am. Well that was a royal pain, so I went with the no crow collar, used it high on the neck, low on the neck, and it did a somewhat ok job, but I really felt that a rooster should just be able to be a rooster! Next, Craigslist - by that evening both my roosters went on to a 16