[redmolly]

Hi all, please help......otherwise I'm gonna have to dispatch the little fella.

Why on earth is he crowing at 4am?? He is waking everyone up and is really loud!!

What can I do to prevent this until later in the morning??

 

[too many girls]

not much i'm afraid, i have heard keeping them in the dark (it is dark at 4am) or making them unable to stretch to full height sometimes works, but it hasn't with mine, i often hear them at 4am or thereabouts.

[redmolly]

Hmmm....my next plan was to put him in the original small house so that he couldn't stretch!! Yeah, I blacked out the windows already, but like you say it's dark at that time anyway!! 

[Oliveview]

Around here we often hear the birds crowing at 1am!
Pamela

[Foxy]

check nothing is startling him, car doors, strange noises will cause him to crow early, blacking out windows usually does help though as well as some form of insulation.

[redmolly]

I think we'll be looking for acoustic panels at this rate!! 

Thankfully he doesn't start at 1am.

Nothing will be startling him here.....which is probably why he sounds so loud!! We live in a very quiet close, that backs onto fields.

If they have any visitors, which I believe has only happened twice, the dog wakes us up to go out. So I guess it's just him, being him!!! I did look out a few mornings and noticed the neighbours all seem to sleep with the windows shut!!! 

My husband never wanted a cock, but we hatched him and I begged to keep him. Now he's very attached to him. Says if we lived on a farm he'd keep him forever!! He's absolutely huge, but very friendly, very tame and pretty quiet during the day!!!

We shall see how it goes. I'm just aware of people who work shifts here!!! 

Anyway....I don't think anyone will complain for a bit as they are all feeling sorry for me as I've had a bad year (broke my back) and recently had surgery (last week), so I'll just play on the sympathy card a little longer!!!  Just to buy me some time to get it sorted!!! 

[Foxy]

sounds like you have very supportive neighbours, I really hope it works for you!

[dizzylizzie]

I have the same problem at the moment, my lovely boy wont shut up, he is starting around 6am(still dark) and there are no windows in his coop....but then he crows all day as well lately...mind you, he is still young, and thinks he's gods gift to chickens...till he tries it on with them and they beat 7bells out of him, then hes my baby that runs to meso he can hide
i was thinking about putting him in a cat basket in the coop, so he is still with his girlies, but cant crane his neck to crow. Im not sure if this is a daft idea, or even if its cruel, but i think its got to better than culling him? like i say...same problem

[Big Jen]

My boys start crowing about 4.30 every morning I have about 20 boys at the moment, good job I havent got close neighbours. They usually go back to sleep after they have had a good crow, till about 7.30.
Jenny

[redmolly]

 

So there is not much hope then!!! Ha ha!!!

I was wondering if it was cruel or not to stop them stretching too.

Fortunately he was quiet last night!!!

My husband wasn't too impressed with another plan.....bring him in the house and keep him up late so he's too tired!!! Ha ha!!! 

He's only found him indoors once.....sleeping in the utility room after crowing too early when I accidentally disturbed him once with the outside light!! He was more than happy (the cock that is). Warm bed...favourite snack of blueberries.....

[mark12mr55]

Hi, got mine sleeping in an old wardrobe inside the shed. We still hear him but he's no louder than the rest of the dawn chorus now so surely no one can object.

[Oliveview]

These posts are really making me giggle!  Our neighbourt has around 25 peacocks- now they can make a noise :blink: What with the īguard dogsī which all the neighbours have that sleep outside at night a cockerel crowing is nothing!  The first night at our new house I thought Iīd never sleep again, now I donīt notice the barking, crowing and squarking (peacocks) thank goodness.  Hubbys snoring is a different matter though
Pamela

[redmolly]

Oh I've just thought.....perhaps the peacocks were disturbing him!!! They used to wake me at around that time and now it's him instead!!! 

He woke me this morning, but only for a few seconds. If it gets worse then he'll be living in the original coop, inside the shed!! 

[IMOmimey]

A fellow chookster had similar...his neighbour threatened allsorts, so he put the cockerel to bed in a small rabbit/guinea-pig hutch,(for the night only!) so he couldnt reach up and stretch his neck to crow. Not only did it work, but after some months, he was returned to his normal coop, and just doesnt crow before being let out anymore   :happy:

[redmolly]

Oh that sounds promising!!!!!!!!!!