using a contraceptive implant (made for dogs) to stop crowing...Anyone ever heard of this?

[MarcBinNC]

we ordered day old chicks that were born on March 5th. they are now about 12 weeks old and one of the birds is a roo. it just so happens that the roo is my wife's favorite bird. One of the things I've begun to make a connection about is that he is a big ham and being he is the wife's favorite, he crows more frequently when she is around. For example, we began leaving them in the coop until 9ish to keep from upsetting the neighbors which has worked until this morning. This morning my wife had to leave extra early and he began crowing as soon as she walked out to the driveway and continued to crow for a good hour after she left before he finally quited. She came back home around 8:30 and as soon as she got out of her car he was crowing again. Because we live in a neighborhood and he is crowing even more lately, and i havent been able to find anything on the net that is very promising, I decided to make some calls to find out what we could do to keep him without upsetting the neighbors.

I had a very long "off the record" conversation with a Avian Vet today. It was very interesting. She points out that the cavity where the vocalization comes from is very "deep" and would be near impossible to perform effectively and would very likely end up killing the bird. she also did not recommend using a harness or other type of neck wrap/restraint. her reasoning for not using a harness/neck wrap is that it would not work for long, could get caught on something, and would probably cause the bird discomfort if drawn tight enough to be effective. She said that we could do as others have suggested on here and bring him indoors (garage or house) or put him in a sound proof coop.

She did go on to tell me about her friend (a non-Avian Vet) who ordered day old chickens and also lives in a neighborhood. this vet ended up with 2 roos and like many of us, her family has become attached to them. The Avian vet agreed to try to help her friend and they first neutered (caponized) the roos at 14-16 weeks of age (she also mentioned that this is very difficult to do correctly and if she were to charge the "going rate" for her time and supplies, it would be very expensive). Unfortunately, after the birds were neutered, it had very little effect on the crowing and the roos even continued to mount the hens.

After this failure, they decided to try a contraceptive implant made for dogs (male and female) that is designed to last 6 months. though there is no research or using this on chickens, she has apparently successfully used it on a couple of hens that had serious reproductive problems (eggs getting stuck-she used a more technical term i cant remember

, etc) but the owners wanted to keep them as pets. in the case of these few hens, she had to insert a new implant every 4-6 months or the hen would start laying again. She tells me that when they did the implants for these 2 roos their crowing was drastically reduced (almost non-existent) and the roos rarely mount the hens anymore. She also mentioned that its been over a year, the roos are still quiet and there has been no need to redo the implants (perhaps they became conditioned or the hormone levels were permanently lowered?) She says that if we want to try the implant, she will do it for $130.

Has anyone ever heard of using the contraceptive before? Is it worth a try?

Thanks!

 

[Silkie Chick]

I have never heard of such a thing! I wonder if it really works....

 

[MarcBinNC]

So, I've done some more research and the implants are called Desolorein/Suprelorin and from what I can tell has been successfully used on guinea pigs, ferrets, cats, dogs, and large exotic birds (parrots & macaws). Seems like this might be worth a try. Thought he won't be able to fertilize eggs, We just might be able to keep the favorite roo...

Here is a excerpt from the pharmaceutical companies website:


With its veterinary laboratory authoritative in canine reproduction, Virbac is offering an innovative concept: an implant the size of an electronic chip, designed to suspend the fertility of sexually mature male dogs for a minimum of 6 months, and in a completely safe way.

An original deslorelin-based technology
This implant on veterinary prescription has a direct influence on the reproductive hormones through the use of deslorelin: continuous administration in low doses blocks the production of hormones. This gradually leads to failed testosterone synthesis and to a loss of the reproductive function. This testosterone-dependent infertility is characterised by at least five factors:

• A reduction in the volume of ejaculate
• A reduction in sperm production
• A reduction in sperm motility
• An increase in sperm anomalies
• A reduced libido

A single painless subcutaneous implantation
The recommended dosage is one implant (deslorelin acetate 4.7 mg) per dog, irrespective of the size of the dog. Without the need for anaesthesia, the implantation is performed by a single subcutaneous injection between the dog's shoulder blades, for a targeted effect. The active pharmaceutical ingredient gradually diffuses and continues to do so for at least 6 months. On first implantation, functional infertility is reached after 6 weeks.

Safe and effective long-term fertility control
Using an implant every 6 months provides effective and safe long-term fertility control. The implantation causes a reduction in sexual hormones, which results in a fall in testosterone, leading to an absence of sperm cells . During clinical studies, no significant effects were detected in relation to general state, behaviour, food consumption, weight or in blood tests. A return to normal can be identified following termination of the treatment, irrespective of the duration of treatment.

A reversible effect
The effect is reversible after one or more implantations. The majority of dogs will once again have sperm with normal characteristics the year following treatment.

 

[nurse_turtle]

If you don't mind the expense and you REALLY want to keep the rooster, go for it.

 

[ChickenWifey]

So, Im the wife that is seriously attached to the Roo. He is a great bird, but when he hears my voice, he immediatley starts being vocal. I would be more than willing to spend the money on him. Just as long as it doesnt hurt him.

 

[Tricoglossus]

Hi all,

I am bringing this thread up again because today I had the Suprelorin implant placed into my 18 week old pet silkie rooster, Tiny. The procedure went well and no general anaesthetic was required. Tiny has barely crowed in the mornings since he started to crow approximately 4 weeks ago. I have been working on modifying his behaviour to prevent crowing as well, by picking him up and carrying him under my arm in the morning (it's quite hard for a rooster to crow when their feet are not on the ground!) until the urge to crow has passed. The vet told me that there is only a 33% chance of success of the implant stopping the crowing. I should see a change in crowing over the next week if it works. Fingers crossed!

 

[kreagerm]

Very interesting. Please keep us updated on this. And how much did the vet charge to do this, if you don't mind me asking?

 

[Tricoglossus]

The cost of the Suprelorin6 implant (designed for 6 months use in dogs) was $85. I consider that a small price to pay if it works! I will keep you updated.

 

[Squishychick]

Did the implant work?

 

[Tricoglossus]

Did the implant work?

It did not work in Tiny. He kept on crowing despite the implant and I had to rehome him. Unfortunately I don't know how things worked out for him after this as the new owner didn't reply to my emails asking for updates. I assume he was sterile for a length of time, and if he lived long enough then the implant would cease to be effective after a period of time (it could be weeks to months as the effect is variable in chickens).

However, I have tried the Suprelorin again in another rooster and it has been excellent. This time the rooster was a houdan named Prince. I got Prince with his sibling, Cookie, when they were both 3 months old. It was impossible to determine gender even by 5 months, so I went and had Prince DNA sexed and found out he was male. I did not get Cookie sexed at the same time and because they both looked the same, I assumed Cookie was male too so I went and got the both of them implanted with Suprelorin. This was in July 2013. So they both continued to grow and just looked like big hens. No crowing or male behaviour from either of them. Then, in late January this year, some oddly elongated shaped eggs started to appear, and I was puzzled as to where they came from. Well it turned out to be Cookie. Cookie had been female all along, and the Suprelorin had just delayed her ability to lay. So I realised that the Suprelorin had ceased to work in Cookie so I assumed the same would be true of Prince's implant. So I went and got Prince another implant before any crowing started. That was in February, and everything has gone as planned since then.

So why did I have success with Prince, but not with Tiny? After chatting with an experienced avian vet, it appears that if the bird has already started to crow and act like a rooster, when the implant is placed it makes them sterile but the crowing has already become a habit so it usually won't stop that. That would be true of Tiny. However in birds that have not hit maturity, i.e. have not started to crow and act like roosters, then implanting them at that stage ensures that those behaviours do not develop to start with so the level of success is much greater. That would be true of Prince.

I now have another young rooster that is 7 weeks old which I intend to sterilise with the Suprelorin. The applicator needle is very large, so I am waiting for this chick to grow to a reasonable size before I carry out the procedure. Hopefully he won't start crowing before then!