[PJM]

Hi all, my chooks are doing well are happy little souls and very healthy, but one of my babys has grown into a handsome little cockerel, not a hen. He is extremely freindly, and I really would like to try and keep him. He has not crowed yet, but we have watched him covering the hens that are just starting to lay. As they are pets more than anything, I am not interested in breeding from them, and could not bare to eat him :cry: would castration at an early age stop him from crowing? This would be the big problem with keeping him as I live in a city centre, and it would not go down well with the neighbours. Or any suggestions to keep him quiet please.

[GrannieAnnie]

GAG him?   I don't think castration will stop him crowing, hubby said the only thing to stop him crowing is the pot!!

Sorry, We've got 3 cockerels out of 300 chicks, so that' not bad. the 2 big ones will go into the pot, but hubby wants to keep the little one as he/she still looks lie a hen, but she /he has a very large comb and wattles, so we are sure he/she is a cockerel, but she's small like a bantam!

[babe]

YOU CANT CASTRATE A COCKEREL!!! :?  

sorry, but theres nothing you can do to keep him quiet, he may not crow till spring. and even then you may be lucky that he's not too noisy.

if the coop is dark, keeping him in until a reasonable hour may keep the neighbours happy, or he could be one that shouts at all hours.

as for breeding, as long as you collect the eggs regular, you wont even know that they are fertile, will taste the same.

but you cant under any circumstances castrate him.

[Bodger]

Capons are chemically castrated males., but this seems a little heavy handed for this case.

[babe]

is it not ileagal to caponize now. i know my grannie used to do it, doesnt it make them just eat and get big?

[Viv]

I read that if you want, or need to try and keep the noise from a cockrel down, you should take him away from his ladies at dusk, and put him in a very dark pet crate till the sun   is well up. You can buy blackout material to cover the carrier which will stop all light getting in.

Hope this helps    

[Aunt Sally]

YOU CANT CASTRATE A COCKEREL!!! :?  



but you cant under any circumstances castrate him.

That's what they used to call caponisation, and is illegal now !  

It's a surgical procedure to remove the testis which are in the body cavity.  A capon would grow as big as a turkey, I last had one in about 1980.

[babe]

YOU CANT CASTRATE A COCKEREL!!! :?  



but you cant under any circumstances castrate him.

That's what they used to call caponisation, and is illegal now !  

It's a surgical procedure to remove the testis which are in the body cavity.  A capon would grow as big as a turkey, I last had one in about 1980.

ooh was i right? :shock:

[Aunt Sally]

You're not so nutty after all Babe  

[babe]

You're not so nutty after all Babe  

Sshhh

[slowef]

I tried everything to shut Wellie up but he crowed no matter what, dark, light, day and night, so I suggest you find a new home or do away now before you get to attached.  We are in the sticks and the chicken house is 100yrds away from the house but it was still deafening at times so I think you may find your neighbours get a bit peeved with you eventually

Its so hard as the cockerals seem to be so friendly I found it very hard indeed but I was lucky and he has to gone to a new home with lots of girls to pleasure!!

[Bodger]

They use to put a hormone pellet under the skin in the neck.

I take my cocks to shows in darkened boxes and at 4.00am, in the dark, they still crow.

[Foxy]

Hello PJM, what sort of cockerel do you have? Just interested I have 5 of them at the moment, in the morning it can be like a crowing contest!!!  :shock: One sets them all off.....although if you have just the one shouldn't be too bad. My pekin cockerel Prescilla is actually quite quiet - Romeo however, is something else! he crows non-stop and is full of attitude, I leave the backdoor open he runs inside leaps on the kitchen table crows mightily then runs out muttering quite funny really.
This is Romeo caught in the act - anyone like to guess the breed??

[Aunt Sally]

This is Romeo caught in the act - anyone like to guess the breed??

Australorp if he didn't have feathery legs so perhaps

Faverolle  :?:

[PJM]

Hello PJM, what sort of cockerel do you have? Just interested I have 5 of them at the moment, in the morning it can be like a crowing contest!!!  :shock: One sets them all off.....although if you have just the one shouldn't be too bad. My pekin cockerel Prescilla is actually quite quiet - Romeo however, is something else! he crows non-stop and is full of attitude, I leave the backdoor open he runs inside leaps on the kitchen table crows mightily then runs out muttering quite funny really.
This is Romeo caught in the act - anyone like to guess the breed??

Hello Foxy, he is a Gold Laced Wyandotte Bantam, very handsome feller around 19/20 weeks old now. To everyone else thanks for the advice, have been out and brought a dog cage for transporting dogs in cars, am going to bring him indoors at night, until 9-10am next day, hopefully I will get away with that. Fingers crossed