[joolie]

please can someone help me - we got a hen that started cock a doodle dooing a few weeks ago - he is so lovely and tame and likes cuddles for now!!!  Problem is we live in a quiet culdesac and he started this morning crowing at 0435am.  Rather than let him go - and not that anyone will take him anyway - we have decided to bring him into the garage in a cardboard box to see if that insulates the sound and stops him as there is no natural light. Outside wont hear him and he wont hear outside. Is this cruel to our little man?  I dont want to part with him or have his life ended just because he is a noisy boy.  Hoping that i can get some much needed help quick - hes in there now bless him.  Ps he is the most unusual boy - white with grey ink splats all over him - and quite small compared to his ladies x

[joyfull]

the problem is they don't just crow in the mornings, my boys would crow during the day and early evenings too 

[Tony H]

most councils have a noise abaitment order in forse, around here its no unaxeptable noise between dawn to dusc 7.30 to 20.30 hrs any noise including chucks between them hours is not regulated, for the council to order you to stop such noise they would have to proove that the noise was above background noise and constituted a nousence, as joyfull said cockerels do crow all day so you would have to decide if you wanted the greif of any hirate nabours  

[Mrs Bee]

Have you spoken to your neighbours to guage their reaction?

I say this because some young friends of my son hatched some hens and of course one was a cock

They spoke to all their neighbours and said that they were sorry about the noise and they were looking for another home for him. 

The neighbours all said they should not get rid of him because he was their family pet.

You never can tell how people will react

Nowt so queer as folk my Grandad used to say.

[joolie]

our neighbours do not mind the noise of the hens - and all of who we have asked do not have a problem with him during the day.  But i think in the early hours they will mind as our street is silent till working hours.  I'm not worried about daytime noise - just want to keep him quiet till about 7ish when he goes to join his girls.  Hoping that keeping him inside will do that - but dont want to stress him.  Will have to see how tonight and tomorrow morning goes.  Thanks for your replies x

[themagicaltoad1]

We live in a quiet cul-de-sac too. When our boy started crowing we found someone who would take him but not for a couple of weeks. We asked our neighbours if they could be patient 'til then (and of course apologised to them). By the end of the fortnight they all came and asked us to keep him as they liked the sound of him! We don't open the coop until 7am so any crowing before then is muted, and to be honest he's no noisier than the girls when they're announcing they've laid an egg. Try asking your neighbours if he's bothering them before you get rid of him.

[Sassy]

Agree about checking with your neighbours first. Some people do find that putting them in a box at night so that they cannot extend their necks to crow works. As long as he can settle down comfortably and in the dark  he should be fine. Once the's gone to bed he will be easy to lift out and box up!

I did have a cockerel who still crowed in a dark box (mind you he may have realised he was going onto the afterlife as he wasn't a very nice boy)

You could always wait and see if there are complaints and if there are bribe them with some eggs. 

[hen-night]

Hi, cockerels are a no-no around here, they were keeping them on the allotments, that didn't last long. The allotment Act 1950 saw to that, pitty really I dont mind them at all.
Hope you have understanding neighbours..

[trinamc]

Cockerels are easy to train, Ginger waits till his girls go to bed then he pushed open the door to the pen and waits for me to put the dog travelling box on the patio - he jumps in and is carried into the utility room, I put a loose blanket over the box and he is fine. He does still crow in the morning at about 6.30 but because he is inside he does not disturb the neighbours. In the morning I let him out and he trots up the garden to wait for me to let his ladies out.

Try to put a box in the pen just before they start to go to bed if you can get him used to going into it for a few nights then he will start to do it on his own.

[New shoot]

My first bantie boy lived until he was 7 and now have had 2 Serama bantam boys for 18 months now and have yet to have a complaint about crowing.  My immediate neighbour one side loves to hear them and the other side probably can't hear them over their yappy dogs (must admit I haven't asked them but they are too odd for me to cope with so I stay at a distance  )

The kids going past the gate on their way home from school cock-a-doodle do at them and are well chuffed if they get a reply    They can't see each other but there's usually quite a conversation going around our way at around 3.30pm as the boys take on the intrudors at the gate

[joolie]

thanks for all your replies - he lives in a box in my utility room now and on a morning rushes out down the garden to his girls.  My son lifts him out of the coop when they are all in bed and he seems to be settled - not at all stressed.  He;s been crowing about 6 ish but its us that get disturbed not the neighbours.  Hopefully Inky will have a long and happy life with us and his ladies - cheers all x