Can a vet alter the volume of a rooster's crowing?

How well do(did) you get along with the neighbors? If you are friendly with them, talking about it would be worth a try… you could also look into your local ordinances, and see whether roosters are even allowed where you live. I did a very quick search on the BackYard Chickens forum as well as the web; it seems that although technically there is a surgery for this, it’s very complicated and usually fatal. (I know- that’s starting to sound pretty good, right?) Unless they are neighbors from hell, I’d try to work things out.

We got along very well, and that’s the reason I haven’t asked them to give the rooster away. Over the past few weeks I’ve killed the rooster in my head with my bare hands several times, which is quite embarrassing, because I love animals and don’t want to harm them. In one of my fantasies I’ve even used large pruning shears, which we normally use for our trees.

I’ve hinted to our neighbors that I’m not really happy about their rooster, but I don’t think they’ve become aware of my discomfort. One of the remarks was, come on, you’ll get used to it. Well, I don’t. At least not yet. If we try the surgery and the rooster doesn’t survive, well, it might damage our good relationship…

@mattbrowne Is it kept in a coop that they could keep dark for a while in the mornings? We always had chickens, but we kept them a good distance from the houses. The volume the rooster generates is pretty impressive. I don’t think surgery is a viable answer.

@Adirondackwannabe – Yes, they let it out at about 7 in the morning. On some days, there’s 5 minutes of loud crowing every hour.

@mattbrowne Could they let them out a little later in the morning?

Fricassee is that a type of surgery?

Roosters get-up in the morning to do two things, hens and crowing.

@mattbrowne: You have my deepest sympathies. We had the rooster wars here last year; it escalated and make the headlines of our weekly newspaper…well, weekly. Eventually the owners were forced to get rid of their hens/rooster. The friendship did not last.

The winning neighbor enlisted the aid and support of the other homeowners so he had a class action suit at the ready.

It’s possible but highly inhumane. If the rooster was caponized neutered that might settle him down a bit, but, this procedure is reserved for meat birds to increase weight and size for slaughtering. I have kept chickens for years and I have never, ever, heard of anyone performing surgery on a rooster. I think it along the lines of de-clawing cats or de-barking dogs. Cruel and just another human means of torturing creatures that we somehow feel we should be able to modify for our own selfish needs.

Dogs bark, roosters crow, geese honk, horses whinny, donkeys bray and sheep baaa.
These are my noisy “neigh-bors” and I happen to love every sound they make.
If you live in a zoning area that allows poultry or livestock, well….your only options are move or learn to live with it.

If there is another rooster in the area the 2 will crow back and forth as well, each expressing and announcing his territorial space. Roosters crow to claim their territorial boundaries and to attract hens. This is part of their wild heritage when they were jungle fowl wandering around looking for mates and defending their territories.

First, I’d be up front with the neighbors. Maybe take a video of the noise from inside of your home.

Next:
What are your local laws regarding noise @mattbrowne? This is a complaint for the Common Council or your equivalent in Germany.

They’ve had hens for a couple of years, because they like their own eggs. That has never been a problem. I never notice their clucking unless I concentrate on it. It blends in with the background noise from a street 150 yards away. I would never have thought that a rooster can be so extremely loud. I googled about the decibel levels and found this:

Normal conversation: 60 dB
Hens: 70 dB
Vacuum cleaners: 80 dB
Roosters 90–95 dB, depending on breed

@Adirondackwannabe – On Sundays it’s around 8 am, but sometimes we sleep in late and get up at 8:30 or 9. I was also wondering to bring up this issue. Complaining is much easier with unfriendly people, that’s the problem.

@gailcalled – Therefore I was looking for a peaceful solution. I would even pay for the surgery. If a vet could bring down the level to say 60 dB this would be fine. I even don’t want to rob the roosters manhood. He can keep crowing keeping his voice down.

Not a vet but Colonel Sanders can.

I think if your neighbors are considerate enough, they would understand and do what’s necessary to deal with the problem. Humans first before animals? If not and they ended up ignoring your inconvenience, I could only fantasize you getting a pet elephant. Lol.

@SpatzieLover – Yes, there are laws, and I think I could even force our neighbors to give up the rooster. But I’m not ready to use the law against them. In Germany each town and village has resident zones and business zones and there are different rules. Even farms have to be in a business zone, but there are not many farms anyway anymore.

The whole neighbor family is vegetarian and they support the idea of rescuing farm animals from slaughter. There are hundreds of these kind of rescue farms in Germany in the meantime, so one other option I’m considering is pointing out that the rooster might have an even better life there with more space. I would pay for the transportation.

But this raises the question of having a rooster in the first place. Some people argue that it’s better for the hens and their health. Some even claim that eggs do taste better when a rooster is around. Because it’s natural. I wonder whether this is true, but I doubt it.

If there were a rooster where I live I’d pay to have the volume turned up… but apparently you’re not alone .

I’m not sure it’s better for the hens’ health, except that a good roo will protect his ladies from predators, and will call them to eat something particularly good that he’s found. If they only have a few hens, a rooster can be detrimental in that he will end up pulling feathers out of their heads and backs. Hence all these. A friend of mine just acquired some hens who all looked like these hens; actually I couldn’t find any images that looked as bad, I guess those birds were all in the ‘after’ photos wearing their saddles. I know a lot of people swear by fertilized eggs, but as far as I know eggs is eggs:-)

My two roosters ” Zanzibar & Zorro”...those two, they were amazingly loud. haha
But sooo cock o’ the walk. A Jungle Fowl and a Black Spanish. Strikingly beautiful birds.

I live beside 2 noisy children. They start yelling and bouncing the ball against the corrugated fencing early on weekday mornings, the yelling happens every morning. I would like to have their voice boxes removed too. I would also pay for the surgery.

With regard to the roosters, I am sure they are equally as irritating. I have had hens without roosters and they never seemed to notice the absence or suffer any ill effects from it. We always fed fertilized eggs to the dogs, no one wanted to eat them, yuk, all bloody and lumpy.
I am trying to learn to ignore the neighbor kids, I guess that is what I would do with a rooster as well.

@ccrow – The area outside the coop is protected by a wire-mesh fence in all three dimensions. No other rooster or other bird, dog, cat etc. can get inside.

@rooeytoo – Noisy children are a challenge, too. Absolutely. They do grow up and tend to yell less, although a loud stereo system can be equally challenging.

So if surgery doesn’t make much sense, here’s a second question:

Is there some kind of medication that can be put into the food capable of influencing the rooster’s hormone levels? Like less testosterone equals less crowing?

@mattbrowne: After thinking about your problem, I believe that the solution is medication put into your food (or ear plugs..for you.)

The only other possibility is the Rooster Rehab Program, which requires a stealthy abduction and an intervention specialist (not you).

The rooster will continue being a rooster.

IMO, the change that you need is either with the neighbor’s handling of said rooster or with your family.’

Change with you: Learn to sleep with a white noise machine. Otherwise do as I stated above. It’s great that you get along with the neighbor’s. Obviously do what you can for that to continue.

Change with your neighbor’s: The rooster could be kept in a darker roosting area until later in the AM. I’ve also heard of people keeping lights on in the chicken coop until later in the evening. Have him get fed earlier. Hide food around the yard for him….there are lots of “keep the rooster busy” ideas that might work.

Altering him from being a rooster is no kinder than eating him, IMO.

Thanks, everyone. I need to think about this.

Old thread, I know – how did things turn out? I thought of your question when I recently read about rooster collars. One other solution I know of is to build a low ceiling in the coop so the roo cannot stretch upwards to crow. It has to be tall enough so he can stand comfortably but low enough so he can’t stretch up. And of course, this would only work while he was cooped in the evenings and early mornings.

I don’t think any vet can do much about that. However, a very strong pellet rifle can solve the problem if you can shoot straight at distance.