Rooster question

[busdriver9799]

Hi, I have a Polish Crested Rooster, he's about 6 months old. Due to aggressive tendencies he's seperated from the main group with 3 other chickens that were being pecked to badly. So there's 4 in a smaller coop. Well the Polish started crowing about a month ago, not to much really....until the last week. He's begun crowing about 3 a.m. I went out one night and found there's another rooster up the street, they seem to be crowing at eachother. They have a heating lamp in the coop. Last night was pretty bad so I caught him and put him in a bird carrier that made him stop until morning when he started again. Daytime hours fine, but not 3 am! I have awesome neighbors that won't complain but I don't want to be the neighbor everyone hates because of noise. So any suggestion? Other than having chicken for dinner. My daughter is special needs and has "adopted" this Rooster even named him so he's definetly not on the menu!

 

[Illia]

Three helpful ways to quiet him down. .

1) less light. If in the morning or other times there is less light peeking in on him or in general, he won't crow as much.

2) Having him integrated with other roosters or adult hens that are dominant really helps - If he gets dominated or picked on by them, he will actually stop crowing or limit his crowing.

3) Give him away or sell him.


Some reasons he's so noisy is because of things like 1) he feels his territory is being invaded 2) loud sounds set him off, whether they be crows or just something that annoys him 3) any sort of bright light that comes in on him when he wakes up, or wakes him up because of its intensity or contrast to the dark area in which he sleeps will cause him to crow.


The aggression can only be solved, though, by putting him in his place, putting him with dominant birds, or getting rid of him. Some Polish cockerels just plain are aggressive, but such a trait can sometimes be changed.

 

[busdriver9799]

Ah, I didn't know that about Polish Crested, I ordered a straight run and that was one of the breeds. I had to seperate him from the others because they almost killed him, they actually had his neck torn down to where you could see tendons. They also go for his head a lot because of those feathers. I'll try your other ideas. Thank you!

 

[6chickens in St. Charles]

We had a small bantam roo who was the loudest rooster EVER! They even crow in their sleep, if they hear a noise. We overnighted him in our basement, so as not to disturb our neighbors.

Can you overnight your little roo in a crate which limits his ability to stretch up his neck? They have to stretch it up to crow. A cat carrier crate might be a humane means of keeping his sleep quiet. Try watching him crow, see what height he needs, then see if you and your daughter can create a special chicken bedroom just for him... that he can't stretch up in....

Not a permanent home, mind you, just the overnight hours. Then back to noise as usual during his business hours, when the neighbors won't be disturbed by it. Daytime is just noisy; snowblowers, leafblowers, barking dogs, traffic, screaming children, ambulances, roosters............ (except the rooster noise is joyful)

 

[busdriver9799]

Overnighting in the basement is a good idea, I believe that's what we'll do. Thank you.

 

[Yazzo]

We sometimes keep the rooster in the back of the van overnight, as they crow extremely early in the morning and certain people don't like it. You could try putting him in a cage overnight as far away from the neighbors as possible. And bribing them with a few eggs wouldn't hurt either.

Most people do get used to it after a while, but in the meantime.....