Roosters suddenly crowing nonstop

[Ariel301]

A couple of weeks ago I thinned out the excess roosters in my flock, about 20. When I had that many, the only one really ever crowing was the dominant rooster, a bantam Old English Game. He wasn't so bad, his little squeaky crow didn't carry far and he'd only let out three or four little crows a couple of times a day. I left myself with four roosters, (or so I thought), a white Rock, the Old English, an American Game, and a bantam Cochin. Well, two days after butcher day the one New Hampshire Red I left because it was obviously a hen started crowing. And crowing a LOT. Now, all the roosters I have left are joining in, and they begin at 2:30 in the morning and do not take a break longer than ten minutes until sometime around noon! And then around late afternoon, they start again, and do not stop until dark.

I've got such a headache from the noise and lack of sleep....I started making them all sleep in dark covered cages in my horse trailer, but they are still crowing, and I think they're doing it louder. Argh.


Why would they suddenly start crowing so excessively? This doesn't seem normal to me, I've never had a rooster crow that much, much less five. It's not like they were too young and just started--they are 10 months old. They did not see the fate of their friends, the extra roosters were taking off of my property to be processed, and they are accustomed to me coming into the pen and catching one or several birds at a time, that doesn't generally upset them.

 

[dandelionheart]

Oh my.

I'm guessing they are reestablishing top rooster.

I'm glad I'm not your neighbor!

 

[Ariel301]

The neighbors are one thing I'm worried about...they're half a mile away but our house sits basically in a bowl with rocky hills all around, so my roosters are pretty much in the middle of a natural amphitheater. Sound carries a long way...No complaints yet but I worry about it.

I think tomorrow that New Hampshire is going to take a car ride...and come back in a ziploc bag. He (she? it?...the thing still looks like a hen!) tried attacking me this morning when I let him out.

 

[abhaya]

They are establishing themselves in the flock. It should settle back down

 

[NMbirds]

Don't count on it settling down. I think, like some people, they like to hear the sound of their achievement, or their own voice. We have two roos, one BCM, one Ameracuana and most often it seems like a contest, I can crow better than you. It comes in spurts, not all the time but there is absolutely no time of day. First crow starts when it's still pitch black dark (but they're still inside the coop) and then outside it continues erratically, sporadically, most of the day. They seem crowed out by 3 PM and have started coming back inside the coop earlier than usual. What's that about? Solstice arriving in a couple of weeks? Go figure, they have minds of their own, albeit small sometimes, and the only thing that seems predictable is they roost at night and scratch around outside all day long. Even the cold temps don't seem to bother them although we haven't had too many days below freezing very often yet. It's been a weird winter thus far although not actually winter by the calendar and no snow and that's very unusual. Hens have quit laying but most people seem to attribute that to lack of daylight and cold weather and the need for a break. Anyone have more thoughts on all of that?
Thanks.

 

[Kaceyx73]

Hey, I'm new at this but I had something similar happen, though nowhere near to that scale.

I just spent the last week or so finishing up on the ladies new run. My coop/run was fully enclosed in chicken wire, but was getting a little small. Being against the neighbor's 4ft chain link fence, I went up 7-8 feet to give an additional 500sqft or so of running room, with no top. Of course silly newb that I am, thought I'd let them explore the run for a little bit BEFORE I finished it, leaving the section at the neighbor's fence at only 4 ft. Slight noise and off goes a 4.5 month old RIR pullet right over the fence. A half hour of trying to calm a spooked hen later I managed to get her back to her run. By this point, the other 10 pullets, rooster and cockerel were already hiding it seemed in the coop, as if they didn't get what was happening to her.

The reason I bring this up is because of what happened next.

Once she was safely back, and the roos realized it, they both started crowing non-stop for several minutes. I'm still learning how to speak chicken (lol) but it seems to me like they were ecstatic to have her back, or maybe just worried. You said this started right after getting rid of a large chunk of the flock. Maybe in addition to re-establishing the pecking order, it was a bit of a trauma to them. If so, I would think it would pass eventually. Maybe spending more time (if possible) and see if a re-assuring voice might calm them down. Not in the middle of the night, of course.

Just a thought from a newb. Let us know if it changes.

 

[bills]

I think they miss the other ones, that are now sitting in your freezer. Perhaps they are trying to call them back home, thinking they are out there wandering around lost..