[Indiana]

Hi Everyone
Need some help please.
I have just aquired a lovely araucana cockerel to go with my two girls. But he is very noisy and his voice carries for miles cos it;s so high pitched. I don't want to part with him as I know he's fertile as I'm incubating the first few of their eggs.
My neighbour has complained that he gets woken at 5am in the morning by him.
We've moved him further away but neighbour says not improved much. We live in a rural area on the North Downs in Kent so it's not like there are loads of people! But would still like to keep a happy relationship with neighbour.

Any ideas please?

[Plot74]

To many people move to rural areas out of the towns and cities then complain about the noise Or the smells . Tell your nieghbour that he will get used to the cockerel in time. I find it hard to understand some people. Pluses I live in a town but do have an allotment that has chicken and some cockerels and find that it therapeutic to hear the birds on a morning or any time for that matter.
Stick with it .
John.

[joyfull]

sorry but whilst you might like the sound of a cockerel not everybody does - whether they live in the countryside or in a town, especially if they have to get up to go to work and he is disrupting their much needed sleep. His crowing can be classed as noise pollution and you may be forced to get rid of him.

[Casey76]

Is there a specific reason you wanted a cockerel? 

One cockerel to two hens is not a very good ratio unforutnately, and the hens may suffer.

Just be aware that as dawn gets earlier and earlier, your cockerel will start crowing as early at 4am.  Even to people in the country, this can be very disruptive.

I live in a rural area, right in the middle of farming country, and I had to get rid of my boys, as it really wasn't worth the stress.  I the end you start cringing every time they crow, not just in the morning or evening.  So unless you are breeding to show, I really wouldn't bother with boys I'm afraid.

[joyfull]

also when your eggs hatch you could end up with at least 50% boys, and with araucanas you cant always tell their sex until they crow or lay an egg. this will lead to a lot of competition crowing between them. After culling 15 boys in one day I no longer hatch  .

[bertiewhite]

I have no idea if this is true or not but I have heard that if you install a false low roof inside the coop, the cockerel will not be able to fully stand up and crow. I do have a cockerel of my own and whilst his crowing has not attracted complaints, it is a bit random including the middle of the afternoon so I was wondering what the specific reason for it is? It's obviously not directly connected with sunrise so is there another way of controlling it?

[joyfull]

I once transported a light sussex cockerel from Lincolnshire to Tamworth services in a cardboard box. He could not stretch his neck up to crow but that didn't stop him. After going for a coffee and walking back to my van both me and the person who was re-homing him could hear him crowing from the other side of the car park, he then crowed on and off all the way down to Bristol  .
They will crow at any time of the day and night and there is nothing you can really do about it - some people feel that restricting their head height works but I have proved this not to be so and if you make their coops dark as others have suggested I can say that doesn't always work either - they can hear blackbirds, traffic etc. which will set them off.

[Casey76]

Bertie, cockerels will and do crow at all times of the day, and they will also crow at night if they are distrubed by something.

The dawn crowing is just the start of day-long crowing  there is nothing you can do to stop it!

I have also heard about people putting cockerels in cat boxes over night etc, but mine were still able to crow even without stretching their necks out.

ETA: good to know we're on the same page Joy

[Raven81]

Indiana - Have you checked if you are allowed a cockerel where you live?  Many places you are allowed hens but not cockerels.

Bertiewhite - I believe the thinking behind the false roof is to stop the cockerel being able to raise his head to crow.  I have heard this can work to some extent but not always.

[rileyfin]

My cockerel regularly crows in the middle of the night, he also crows when he hears I am up to go to work 4am 

If anybody comes to the house he does not know he crows alot, for a little guy he really can make quite a noise.

Quite lucky I live in the middle of knowhere 

[Sassy]

I agree that the low ceiling is most unlikely to work. Sorry

[ANHBUC]

I am hoping to keep one of my male Welsummer Bantam chicks and will be trying all the different methods to keep the crowing down to an acceptable level.  I am even thinking of bringing him indoors in a cat basket for overnight in a blacked out room.  I am thinking of putting some music on low so he will have background noise and hopefully not notice the birds on a morning.  Wish me luck.   

[joyfull]

good luck with your 4am alarm call 

[ANHBUC]

good luck with your 4am alarm call 

    They are so beautiful Joy, I know I will probably fail but I will always wonder if I don't give it a go.   

[trinamc]

Hi I have a very large buff orpington cockerel called Ginger, when his ladies go to bed he pushes the door to the pen open, trots doen the garden and starts tapping on the patio door. We put the large cat box on the patio he jumps in ad is put in the utility room with a blanket over the top. This does not stop him crowing but it does stop him upsettting the neighbours. In the morning  we open the door and he trots back to the pen and waits for me to open the door.

This works for us and it only took a couple of nights for Ginger to get int the routine. Hope this helps.