My Cochin rooster is quiet and calm, but not saying they all are... He also, like Brahmas, has a lower deeper voice, which sounds less annoying than the shrill, screechy, roos. He doesn't crow excessively, is good to his girls, and doesn't overbreed them. I don't recommend the Speckled Sussex roos, they are phenomenally noisy in my experience. Not only do they crow all the time, but also like to fight, and send off noisy alarm calls all day about nothing. One that was housed in a bachelor coop with a Light Brahma (that worked because the Brahma was a nice roo but quite a bit bigger than the Sussex), alarm called all day because a hen broke into the coop! Seriously, that one would complain if hung with a new rope! You would think he would have been celebrating his good fortune, but no, too stupid for that! He did adjust finally, and the hen is still there because she likes the Light Brahma... I know she can get out if she wants, so I have left her there because she is happy, and the Brahma takes care of her. Yes, sometimes chickens fall in love, her mother, an EE hen was the same way. She escaped her coop to free-range with Dagwood, a really sweet buff Brahma I had (RIP, killed by evil fox/coyote hybrid thing). But they had 5 chicks that survived and continue their legacy. All that being said, I suggest you look for a rooster that is older and you can evaluate in advance what his crowing might be like, as there are no guarantees when you take a young one out of it"S flock, where it may not crow at all because of the subduing pressures of other roosters there. In fact, an older roo that a breeder wants to replace with a young one might be the best way to go for you, as if you get one from a breeder that has kept it for awhile, it is probably very good quality and most likely just being replaced because he is now too closely related to the flock.
