Washingtonians

[Rainwolf]

Hi all. Got a friend here tonight fixing a few things on the coop and prepping it to paint this week. He takes a long time but is cheap and does great work. Can't wait to take pics of it when it's all done!

So...Ricky is becoming a huge nuisance! I know, I know, ROOSTER! Duh, but not only is he crowing...loudly. But he's doing it from 5:25am for many, many minutes on end; he'll stop for a minute and start up again. Seriously, he gets up, stands outside the coop, and crows at the coop until every last bird is up and out. It's ridiculous. So, I have questions. Will he get louder? Will he ever crow LESS than he does now, like once he gets all this out of his system? Or is he always going to be up with the sun and crow without ceasing all morning. I have very close neighbors and I'd rather keep the peace with them even if roosters are legal, than keep Ricky unfortunately. He's such a great little boy, but I'm at my wits end and DH said NO MORE early crowing or Ricky would be dinner. Ugh. Help!   Tonight I have him in a cat crate, in the coop, with a towel over it to prevent light from getting in, but I'm worried he might not get enough air at night? I need everyone's opinions on how to keep him, if I can.

If you can prevent him from being able to stand up completely, that should prevent him from crowing. 

Roosters crow  

Not always.. :/
I tried stuffing my little bantam rooster in a small crate where he could barely stand up in and the bugger still crowed

 

[RainyDayChicken]

Hi everyone
i had two hens that just plucked feathers out of all my other chickens, is this a common issue. I put them in a pen alone,so they started plucking each others tail feathers. I just sent them to my own freezer camp. Please give advice on how to stop if this happens again, I have many chickens this is my first feather pluckers. I have chickens that peck but not pluck then they ate the feathers.

 

[chickenjane82]

Hi everyone
i had two hens that just plucked feathers out of all my other chickens, is this a common issue. I put them in a pen alone,so they started plucking each others tail feathers. I just sent them to my own freezer camp. Please give advice on how to stop if this happens again, I have many chickens this is my first feather pluckers. I have chickens that peck but not pluck then they ate the feathers.

I was told this is a protein issue, but Im not sure.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Hey, thanks everyone for the rooster advice. The cage inside the coop with a blanket over top worked! Not a single crow until he came out at 7:30 this morning, but I think he injured himself inside the cage. His comb looks like THIS, but a little worse. I was worried he had some sort of outbreak when I finally saw him this afternoon, as DH let him out of the cage this morning and didn't mention it, but he wouldn't know anyway. So my question is, do I continue this cage thing just so he has no idea when it's getting light out, or try something else so that he can't hurt himself?

 

[chickenjane82]

Hey, thanks everyone for the rooster advice. The cage inside the coop with a blanket over top worked! Not a single crow until he came out at 7:30 this morning, but I think he injured himself inside the cage. His comb looks like THIS, but a little worse. I was worried he had some sort of outbreak when I finally saw him this afternoon, as DH let him out of the cage this morning and didn't mention it, but he wouldn't know anyway. So my question is, do I continue this cage thing just so he has no idea when it's getting light out, or try something else so that he can't hurt himself?

Mine crow in the dark too... So I dont know.. If being covered in the cage stops him from crowing, you would have to keep putting him in there. It wont teach him not to crow, He just wont in there.

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
Yeah, that's the point. Crate him before I head to bed and whenever it's an appropriate hour for crowing, he can come out and do it all day if he wants! Problem is the NON STOP crowing, which he does, one after the other after the other, ugh! From 5:20am onward. It's impossible to stop him once he's out of the crate. I love hearing him, don't get me wrong. But I'd rather keep neighbors happy somehow as well. I'm thinking 7:30 is a good hour to bring him out every day.

 

[itsren]

Yeah, that's the point. Crate him before I head to bed and whenever it's an appropriate hour for crowing, he can come out and do it all day if he wants! Problem is the NON STOP crowing, which he does, one after the other after the other, ugh! From 5:20am onward. It's impossible to stop him once he's out of the crate. I love hearing him, don't get me wrong. But I'd rather keep neighbors happy somehow as well. I'm thinking 7:30 is a good hour to bring him out every day.

Is he in a metal cage or a plastic crate? Maybe he couldn't hurt himself in a plastic one???? I don't know. Just a thought. Although, he could still slam into the door. That's how Caunnie hurt her face - slammed into the wire tractor door.

 

[drumstick diva]

Maybe he tries to raise his head to crow, and gets scraped by the bars. Get him a little rooster helmet - hey if hens can have saddles why not something for the boys?

 

[FirewifeJess]

Quote:
It's a plastic cat crate with a wire door, shavings down on the bottom. Photobucket isn't working or I'd post the pic I got!

 

[FirewifeJess]

Maybe he tries to raise his head to crow, and gets scraped by the bars. Get him a little rooster helmet - hey if hens can have saddles why not something for the boys?

LOL...I will sew one up this afternoon