Sound of Silence 6am - No More Crowing

[idahochicka]

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-06-23/features/9406230317_1_crowing-noisy-roosters-monkey

This is the artical I saw it in.

 

[ChickNanny13]

http://articles.chicagotribune.com/1994-06-23/features/9406230317_1_crowing-noisy-roosters-monkey

This is the artical I saw it in.

Now I got to get a rooster so I can try this out....ha ha

 

[mrchicks]

I'm growing at least three over here, and hoping to keep them. So I will be trying all of the suggestions.

 

[mrsmccunn]

I got my favorite little guy decrowed surgically. He is soft sounding enough to stay under the radar of code Nazis. Dr James has a thread on BYC about the procedure.

 

[MargaretYakoda]

I got my favorite little guy decrowed surgically. He is soft sounding enough to stay under the radar of code Nazis. Dr James has a thread on BYC about the procedure.

Have you got a link to that conversation? That would be very helpful!

I think our closest vet who would even look at a sick chicken is about an hour away. One who would be willing to decrow (let alone be skilled at getting the job done) isn't in the cards for us. So the tack I'm taking is to wait and see if the neighbors complain, and if they do I'll try one of these rooster muffler techniques.

I've already knit a little band for him out of some elastic yarn.
I used Cascade brand Fixation yarn because it has some stretch, and, frankly, I had it in the yarn stash already. http://www.yarn.com/index.cfm/fusea...oductID/A464B6D7-FE84-4262-93D8-1C1BCE9E26E9/ I used the periwinkle blue.
If you folks try this, stay away from any of the red yarns, for obvious reasons.

I didn't want the edges to bind at all, so I cast on quite a few more stitches than I thought I would eventually need. I tend to knit a little loosely, and I used size 4 dpns (3.5mm). I knit it all in K2 P2, so it wouldn't roll. Knit about six rows, then decreased to what seemed like a reasonable diameter. I knit I think ten, maybe fifteen rows, then increased to my original stitch count and knit another five or so rows before casting off.

It looks quite a bit like a girl's pony tail holder.
I was very careful to work the ends into the knitting AND tie them on the inside neck area, so they should never unravel. At least, they won't unravel as easily as a machine made kid's sock, LOL!

I haven't tried it on my roo yet. If anyone's interested, I can work on refining the pattern further. Just let me know by PM.

 

[mrchicks]

I got my favorite little guy decrowed surgically. He is soft sounding enough to stay under the radar of code Nazis. Dr James has a thread on BYC about the procedure.

 

[mrsmccunn]

Bluedogsonly on byc member list is the vet in Oklahoma who does the surgery. He is the expert. Search his member name or decrowing roosters to find. I don't know how to do a link.

I am intrigued by the throat muffler idea but hope to have no more roos . I will follow this thread!

 

[AnotherSusan]

I tried it on four roosters. I used the one inch wide velcro straps.

Two of the roosters did not crow for three days. Not a peep out of them. However two of them crowed more than ever. I tried putting a double strap, a wider strap, loosening, tightening, etc. Just made the two that were crowing ever more determined to crow and their crows were very high pitched and screechy. Much more annoying than before.

There was also a lot more sparring between the roosters. They were all challenging the dominant rooster.

On the fourth day all the roosters were crowing and the screeching sound and fighting were too much. I took all the collars off.

This morning they all seem to be back to normal and are crowing a lot less than yesterday.

Maybe someone can make it work and I can try again.

 

[roxysmydog]

I recently got a black copper marans rooster with three BCM hens. I was keeping them in the country at a house that we will be moving to soon but wanted to bring them to my current house with the rest of my girls and my dilemma was that our current house is in the city and we aren't allowed chickens at all let alone a rooster. So anyways I am apart of a BYC FB group and someone on there makes and sells no/crow collars so I figured I would try it out. It basically is a strip of fabric with three strips of velcro. One side is the soft side of the velcro, the other side is the sticky side. Personally I am crafty and can sew, so it actually was quite easy for me to duplicate but the woman that makes them has a patent so I will not infringe on that. Anyways my guy has been wearing the collar for about 2 weeks. The neighbor's at the country house were complaining of the crowing because the coop is kinda close to their house and I guess my boy started at 4:30am. But now that it's gotten colder and we have put the collar on, they said that he isn't as loud/doesn't start as early in the am. We brought the chickens to our current house last night because there was no way to judge if the collar was working enough without actually trying it out. Another issue about not being able to judge sound level is that we sleep with a sound machine and can't hear anything while it's on. So my husband woke up and let the chickens out this morning and our boy was crowing but it wasn't as loud. I think it helps that windows are closed now due to the cold. He isn't very loud during the day and I can barely hear him in the house. My biggest concern is that he doesn't wake any neighbors. I am going to adjust the collar a little tighter tonight and see if that muffles a little more of the noise tomorrow morning. If all else fails, I am debating putting him in the basement every night in a cage with a cover over it. Since we have the sound machine, I doubt he would wake us up. We have a couple more months before we move and my BCM chickens had to stay in confinement (with the new coop) at the new house since we aren't living there yet. They destroyed all the grass and started pecking at feathers. I want to avoid at all costs them getting mean. Our current flock free ranges and they are very docile and there is little to no fighting amongst them.

 

[trishkasser]

Curious, would a ponytail holder work? One that does not have loose strings, etc.? We have some with fabric on it that may work.
We have a gorgeous roo (we are new at this and don't know the breed) that wakes us early & then makes noise every 10 seconds when he is on a roll!
I work from home which can be torture if you have to listen to it every day ALL DAY. We have raised him since chick, and he is a docile guy. My children and I can pick him up and carry him without any issues. We have him and another rooster...the other one is very quiet, also docile. Would we need to put a sock (or ponytail holder) on BOTH of them?