Our rooster is a great rooster. He is probably about a year old. We have had him for about six months. He is friendly, not aggressive towards us or the children at all (although he appears to be "interested" in my fluffy pink houseshoes if I happen to wear them out at let-out time in the morning), takes good care of his flock, and crows very little during the day unless something strikes him as "odd" in the yard (cat passing through, etc.).
Chickens are illegal here, but we have them because we are striving towards self-sufficiency and we think they are great pets, too. We do not eat our chickens, but they do provide us with plenty of fantastic eggs. We have no really close neighbors, so thus far in our 2 years of chicken-keeping, no one has mentioned our chickens and/or complained. In all honesty, they are much quieter than the dogs that bark and the cars that go by with music that will keep you shaking for an hour. We started out with two chickens, but you know how that is.. Now we have a "real" flock- 14 chickens.
The chicken barn is a converted half of our shed. It is nice, and the floor is concrete so clean up every day is super easy, I just sweep out the previous days Sweet PDZ and shavings and replace them with fresh. Everyone is happy and content..except me.
Tyson, our rooster, may be quiet during the day but he begins crowing at 4 in the morning and keeps it up until about 6 in the morning. It isn't even daylight! There is nothing going on in their barn, nothing to disturb or upset him. I think it is just his "thing".
I love the sound of a rooster. But I hate getting up at 4 in the morning. It makes my day very long. We have tried making their barn pitch dark. It doesn't work. Tyson still wakes me up at 4 in the morning. Everyone else hears him, too, but they just keep on sleeping. Not me. He is my alarm clock. Time to start the day, etc.
I want to try making him some kind of a rooster box in the hopes I can start my day a little later. I don't want to go to any big expense because I am not sure if it will help or not, but I want to give it a try. I want to have the rooster box in the barn still, since it is well protected and weather-proof, etc. If it works out, then we will build him something nice.
Anyone have any suggestions? I thought about a simple cardboard box, and then I thought about taking it a step further and lining that cardboard box with egg cartons (I read they were good at sound proofing). The box will be roomy, as I know it doesn't really make any difference whether they can raise their head to crow or not- they crow. Tyson crows at 4 a.m. on his roost, in his sleeping position.
Thanks for any ideas and suggestions.
Susan
Chickens are illegal here, but we have them because we are striving towards self-sufficiency and we think they are great pets, too. We do not eat our chickens, but they do provide us with plenty of fantastic eggs. We have no really close neighbors, so thus far in our 2 years of chicken-keeping, no one has mentioned our chickens and/or complained. In all honesty, they are much quieter than the dogs that bark and the cars that go by with music that will keep you shaking for an hour. We started out with two chickens, but you know how that is.. Now we have a "real" flock- 14 chickens.
The chicken barn is a converted half of our shed. It is nice, and the floor is concrete so clean up every day is super easy, I just sweep out the previous days Sweet PDZ and shavings and replace them with fresh. Everyone is happy and content..except me.
Tyson, our rooster, may be quiet during the day but he begins crowing at 4 in the morning and keeps it up until about 6 in the morning. It isn't even daylight! There is nothing going on in their barn, nothing to disturb or upset him. I think it is just his "thing".
I love the sound of a rooster. But I hate getting up at 4 in the morning. It makes my day very long. We have tried making their barn pitch dark. It doesn't work. Tyson still wakes me up at 4 in the morning. Everyone else hears him, too, but they just keep on sleeping. Not me. He is my alarm clock. Time to start the day, etc.
I want to try making him some kind of a rooster box in the hopes I can start my day a little later. I don't want to go to any big expense because I am not sure if it will help or not, but I want to give it a try. I want to have the rooster box in the barn still, since it is well protected and weather-proof, etc. If it works out, then we will build him something nice.
Anyone have any suggestions? I thought about a simple cardboard box, and then I thought about taking it a step further and lining that cardboard box with egg cartons (I read they were good at sound proofing). The box will be roomy, as I know it doesn't really make any difference whether they can raise their head to crow or not- they crow. Tyson crows at 4 a.m. on his roost, in his sleeping position.
Thanks for any ideas and suggestions.
Susan
