The accidental Rooster

[Shindlerschicks]

Hello All-
Above is a picture of my "hen" Tristin. I purchased Tristen and 3 others as 3 day old chicks at my local feed store to add to my aging flock of hens that are slowing down in their egg production. From the very beginning, Tristen acted different than my other girls--always very plucky and bold. I suspected Tristen might be a roo when he was 4 weeks old so I started looking at this site and others for early ways to tell. Tristen would sit on my lap while I searched the web sites looking for reassurance that he was really a hen but the the reassurance quickly faded to dread that I might have to find a new home for my accidental rooster. Tristen had all the early signs-cherry red comb, pointed saddle feathers and long sickled tail feathers, top of the pecking order with the other chicks & now at 12 weeks of age he has started to crow.
I live in the Tucson, AZ city limits and roosters are illegal so for the past week that he has been crowing I have been devising plans to subdue the crowing and be able to keep him. I have read about the vet in another state that de-crows roosters but shipping him out of a state for a risky procedure seems a bit cruel. I am not a vegatarian & I know the chicken that I eat did not arrive in my frying pan by osmosis but I must admit that Tristen is my favorite chicken and to kill him or give him to someone that will kill him just breaks my heart.
Does anyone out there have a similar story? Any ideas, suggestions or comments would be greatly welcomed.
I also have a few other rooster related questions;
1) Right now he crows about 3 times in a row early in the morning after I let him out of his coop then not a peep the rest of the day. Do roosters typically start out this way then start crowing more as they age? There are no other roosters around for him to compete with.
2) He is really curious and friendly but gives his girls a big pinch on the head for grins I guess on a pretty regular basis. Do roosters become mean with age?

Thank you!

 

[theoldchick]

As hormones hit, young cockerels will experiment with sexual and aggressive behavior to find their place within the flock. Since you purchased your young fella from a local feed store he is most likely from a hatchery. Hatchery stock roosters are known to be mean. While there are certain things you can do to help thwart aggressive behavior, he will never be a pet you can trust. However, there are certain individuals who defy genetics and turn out to be nice guys. But they still crow. It is their nature to tell the world they are male and they are available.

Yes, you can get him decrowed, but shipping him will be stressful not to mention the risk of surgery. Since this bird is illegal the best thing would be to find a person who lives in a rural area who needs a handsome fella like yours. I sometimes wonder the things we come up to stop crowing -putting in a dark garage or cage-is fair to the cockerel.

I do know of a man who sound-proofed a room in his house to keep his pet Banty rooster in the city. Since it was a house pet, neighbors rarely saw the bird. Although many folks can not afford to do such a thing, I have to admire the man for finding a way to keep his pet chicken in the city!

 

[Shindlerschicks]

Thank you very much for information. He is a Wyandotte so I know he is going to be a big dude very soon--I hope I find that kind person with a place in the country that wants him before my husband and a lynch mob of neighbors force me to make some hard decisions.

 

[GD91]

Put him under the stairs at night or something. We have had lots of roos, currently 3. They run with the hens during the the day & come in at dark. We just put them to bed when we go. They stay up late watching tv etc, so they sleep late to. We are in town with close neighbors everywhere in a ground floor flat converted from a semi detatched house. It may work, you might as well find out.
We train our roos to & encourage quiet behaviour. I have read they don't respond to verbal commands or praise, that I found to be untrue. Our birds do try to please, just as a dog would. Food helps to of course.

 

[ameraucanaluv98]

     He looks exactly like my rooster, Arctic! Him and his brothers all turned into roosters (4). I purchased them when they were a few days old. I have more roosters than hens, six roosters and four hens. They are Aruacanas, which is what he looks like (I see the cheek puffs which is what my chickens have), because he could be Arctic's identical twin! The older Aruacana rooster that I have is very nice, to humans and to his hens, well except for one, but all the roosters beat her up. It might be because of the oldest rooster is a Black Giant, and pretty much what he says goes. I've heard the oldest Araucana only crow a couple times, and the younger boys don't crow at all. They are around 4 months old, but one of the brothers is defiantly interested in the ladies, while the other one likes to hang with the horses and Arctic and the other rooster like to play fight. I guess you can say that they all have their different personalities, and keep each other in line. They didn't come from a hatchery however, but from a local chicken owner. That will probably make a difference in behavior. I'll edit this post and post a pic of Arctic to show you the similarities. 

he is A LOT bigger now and has more fluffy cheeks and more brown feathers

 

[IloveBuffy]

Hatchery stock roosters are known to be mean. While there are certain things you can do to help thwart aggressive behavior, he will never be a pet you can trust.

Not exactly true. All four of mine are really nice, but I had one who was mean. Their names are Buffy, Polish, Hattie, and Percy. The mean one was Eggory Peck.

 

[GD91]

Eggory peck!

HA,HA!

 

[cyndiscof]

I've heard that if you put a rooster in a pen that's just tall enough for him to stand up but not stretch his neck up high like they do when they crow, they won't crow. Don't know if that's true or not. But it sounds like it would work. Maybe just until you figure out something better.

 

[Gen9]

I've heard that if you put a rooster in a pen that's just tall enough for him to stand up but not stretch his neck up high like they do when they crow, they won't crow.  Don't know if that's true or not.  But it sounds like it would work.  Maybe just until you figure out something better.

It's not true
I put my roo in a pet carrier at night in a sound proof box in the garage & let him out after the sun is up. He crows the same time every morning. My neighbor has 3 roosters & they crow anytime. 10:30PM, 3:30AM... I'm talking anytime, once in awhile it will set him off but it isn't loud enough to wake the neighbors. The box I put him in isn't as tall as him but he is able to walk in, turn around, eat/drink comfortably, & scratch. You don't want to draw attention to yourself, your best bet is to find a new home for him, & the fastest way to get rid of him is to sell him with a hen as a pair. He will crow more & more as he gets older & it will be harder for you to get rid of him & may irritate the neighbors more, best to get it over with & stop avoiding the inevitable.