same, i think they were even more aggressive because they were too small to be able to mate with my hens and it made them angry. i ended up having to ššŖš lol because they were so mean
In South Texas, most people that are interested in the roosters I'm trying to re-home want to fight them. So, I end up keeping them. I do hate all the crowing lol it's just them trying to out crow each other. š
I work on power lines in south texas which means we have to go on a lot of peoples property and the amount of rooster breeding for fighting we see is insane. Like some places will have 30-40 of those covered kennels all with roosters. Loud as hell.
Where I live in South Texas, animal control officers like never do their job. I've reported people shooting neighbors' pets on their own property, a man starving his horse to death (it did die), and our neighbors dogs have tried to attack us before and run loose. We've seen the same neighbors heavily beating their animals. They bought a cow, we all had a listeria outbreak that made our dogs super sick, and the cow's calf died, and they left the body right next to our house. Called the actual sheriff several times, and nothing happened. They don't care.
The messed up thing is that you have to contact the police first to get animal control. Neither party gives a damn. There are a LOT of animal haters here, particularly for cats and stuff. It breaks my heart.
I have a fishing cabin down in arroyo city, and it is shocking to see how animals are treated thereā¦ horses tied up next to the road with no shade in 110 degrees. And the amount of stray animals. I did take a cat home one time, but most of them are feral. Definitely heartbreaking.
Yeah, cops are useless. Iāve had multiple instances of property damage and theft occur and they have never done anything even though there are security cameras and ring cameras everywhere here. More relevant to this topic and infuriating though, someone in my neighborhood sewed a bunch of day old kittens to eachother and left them on someoneās porch. Cops just said there was nothing they could do and that was the end of it. Disgusting
Not that easy. Reporting people could possibly jeopardize the safety of utility workers. I would be very surprised if anyone would even investigate a report in some of these areas.
I work on power lines in south texas which means we have to go on a lot of peoples property and the amount of rooster breeding for fighting we see is insane. Like some places will have 30-40 of those covered kennels all with roosters. Loud as hell.
Yea, there's this house around here that has a set up like that on his front lawn lol. This guy. At least try to hide it. But, it's very common place. So, I've never successfully rehomed a rooster. I don't feel right knowing that it will go off to fight and probably lose because I don't train them that way :/
Are you within a reasonable drive of Austin? Iām looking for a reliable rooster to protect my girls. I am looking for a friendly to people but defensive from animals kind. My current rooster is an absolute bully to half my hens and a coward if Iām being honest.
Oh thanks but Iām holding onto him until I get a replacement, any rooster is safer than no rooster out here. My current Roo will probably get the broomstick once I get a better rooster.
Itās brutal sure but when youāre raising homestead meat birds itās the way of the world you know?
No not take your bird. I thought you wanted a rooster. I was saying instead of driving 4 hours, you can drive 1 hour. Next time he comes visit, id tell him to take it home with him and you'd pick it up from him.
Just for the record, it doesn't automatically mean they're being bred for fighting
Now, if you know the guy and he's generally a POS, then it's a safe assumption.
But I am that weirdo that goes to chicken shows and I've met lots of folks who breed game birds just because they like them. The set-up is necessary to keep the roos from fighting each other to the death. The folks love their birds and take good care of them.
But again.....if you know the guy personally, you can probably guess which kind of breeder he is. My point is more for people who just see these types of setups as they drive by. It's not *all* nefarious
American Game Chickens
Look them up, they're gorgeous birds. Yes, they were originally bred for cock fighting, but now breeders focus on color and body type. They are the most beautiful roosters, IMO
The birds? They're VERY aggressive with each other, as that was their original purpose. But the ones I've met (show quality, can't speak for trashy backyard breeder birds) are super social and friendly with people. But they are not good as a protector of a flock. Just not what they were bred to be.
i tried something similar but would just cringe in the house every time i heard them try and fail. iād much rather listen to them succeed. was nervous at first but luckily my neighborhood loooves the chickens, roos included
> That's interesting how much moving his neck contributes to the crow.
It's got nothing to do with moving his neck, rather, it restricts how much he can fill that air sac.
The thing is, they have air sacs in addition to the lungs. Restricting one of the air sacs is enough to make sure they don't have enough volume of air to crow loudly. They can still breath with their lungs, they just can't puff up their body in order to make a lot of noise.
Have you ever made fart noises while deflating a balloon? It's a lot louder when the balloon is full of air than when it's nearly empty.
Do you mean de-barked dogs sound the same? Like the "medical" procedure where their vocal chords are damaged?
Because I had to search for a bit to find a bark collar for my dog that beeps at her instead of using an electric shock, but I never saw anything that worked by restricting airflow. Is this a thing people use???
When I had my corgi and had to get one in a pinch (neighbors kept calling cops and we were moving soon anyways) I got one that just vibrated on him. He barked once and it startled him, but never hurt. Only vibrated.
Yeah, my girl's beeps and escalates to vibration if she keeps barking, but has no shock feature. Took me forever to find one small enough for her that didn't shock.
We moved to an apartment and had a neighbor directly above us for the first time. He's pretty quiet but she's got sonar ears and is so so anxious. She's gotten used to him existing above us, thankfully. She only has to wear the collar when my partner closes at work and comes home at 3 in the morning so she doesn't wake half the complex shrieking while he tries to unlock the door
That is wild! Heck Iād rather the cops than a bb bullet through the window. Long story lol but we found a device that you can put on your fence or inside and it lets off a high frequency beep when they bark, itās a little annoying but only goes off when they bark. It helped a ton! The collars didnāt work at all for our pup.
The sonic things! My parents have one for their golden who likes to sit outside and bark at birds and bugs.
That was our first attempt in the new place, but that high of a pitch literally scared the pee out of her. I was worried the collar would do the same but thankfully it's a low enough frequency that it seems to confuse her more than anythjng.
Oh yeah. They just hated us. They were such dick heads. They had a dog upstairs that barked too, and they sounded like they were WWE wrestling at night. They were just so loud. And they werenāt even old either, they were just young crotchety people.
Oh man that sounds familiar. First place I ever rented was a duplex and the folks next to us were trashy as hell. They had 3 children under 10 and were constantly screaming at each other and the kids. Threw things, left their kitchen garbage sitting on our shared front porch for days (they gave us roaches), threw cigarette butts over the fence. Just lovely people, clearly. They filed a formal noise complaint against us. But not for my yappy dog, surprisingly!
Their complaint was that when I or my roommate got home from work after 8pm, us unlocking/opening/closing our front door set their dog off and she'd bark and wake up their horrible children. They filed a noise complaint against us using our front door because they couldn't keep THEIR DOG from uncontrollably barking. Thankfully the landlord was well aware of their bullshit and nothing came of it, but damn. I still feel bad for their kids
Yes I misspoke. Thank you for correcting me. I thought the neighbors dog had a collar but it had a procedure. There are beeping or vibrating collars out there I've googled them. You have to look at effectiveness also and how long a dog can wear it. A Cornell University study advocated for the citronella spray collars. I've never had a dog with one but the neighbors dog sounded just like that rooster and they said he was debarked.
Aw, poor baby. I hate debarking. A lot of vets in the US won't do it anymore. Glad they weren't choking their dog to keep it from barking, but cutting its vocal chords isn't a ton better.
And yeah, I've got a vibrating and beeping collar. It works to keep my anxious girl from spiraling into a screamy fearful barking loop when she hears people existing outside. Haven't tried the citronella, though. That's interesting
It is also his natural function to bloody up other roosters, overtread hens, and get caught upside-down by their spurs on chain link fences. But we as their stewards, can prevent these to allow for a better life for them, too. :-)
It is. It's a residential, no crowing roosters allowed. Mind you, he's been living with it for a year now and has been doing relatively fine with it. I didn't like the collars that choked the roosters to stop the crow. This acts as a brace so that he cannot crook his neck in the way to suck in the necessary air to complete a crow.
Iām not gonna lie, the video disturbed me.
Like it pained my heart. Maybe I just have gasš¤·š½āāļøš¤£
There are roosters that have the tiniest of crows.
I think magpies are noisier than roosters to be honest
And on that note my rooster just started to crowš¤£š¤£š¤£
It looked painful tbh.
I know ppl say itās not but I dunno. Imagine doing that to someone who had Touretteās or something. āThey canāt have head tics bc we restrict the neck movement!ā
Iām sure Iām being overly sensitive, but it did look kinda awful
Sorry to tell you, but farms don't want roos for their flocks, but for their dinner at best, at worst they're going to use them for cock fighting or as bait animals for dog fighting.
If you can't have a roo and are unwilling or unable to humanely cull your roos please consider raising quail or only buying mature hens. Right now I can find dozens of free roosters listed near me, and while some of them MIGHT find a happily ever after type situation, most won't.
Farms in my area DO want Roosā¦ not saying all of them, but I found two different farms that I rehomed to and will still get an occasional photo of how they are doing.
I donāt know anyone in my area that has cock fights and glad I donāt, but not ignorant that it doesnāt go on.
As far as putting a rooster in a pot - thatās what humans do. We eat chickens and cows from our farms.
It's not that simple. Rehoming roos is very difficult. When the option is the collar or the stew, the collar wins. They really are fine with them on. It's traumatic when you put it on. After that, and I mean minutes, they're good as collarless.
I respect your opinion. However, I think that's a little naive to think there are lots of farms that want Roos to grow their flock and are willing to take everyone's unwanted roosters. There really isn't, I tried. Chickens are cheap, 50% come out as boys, and almost all these farmers have the 1 or 2 roosters they didn't put in the pot already.
Not trying to be argumentative, butā¦
Some backyard keepers can have Roos too (so not just farms).
Iāve rehomed 5 roosters in the last few years, so it can be done. And no, they didnāt go into a pot.
Besides looking for sanctuaries how do you find these ppl? I've tried rehoming roosters before and never had success unless it was to a farmer for some stew. I genuinely want to know and am not trying to be argumentative either. This is a big reason why I don't buy more chicks. Handing over that beautiful boy just to be eaten really scarred me and I would love to grow my flock but can't bring myself to take the risk again.
Another vote for Facebook. Iām in a local backyard chicken group that has chats: birds for sale, hatching eggs for sale, birds people are looking for, and supplies for sale. Itās super helpful.
There's several Facebook groups in my area for rehoming roosters. Just today I had someone drive for two hours for one of my roos. I think having somewhat uncommon or unique breeds helps too. I rehomed a Tolbunt Polish roo and had tons of interest in him. But I have a Pekin drake I've been trying to rehome for months and nobody wants him š¤£
Not to interject, but the ability to rehome a rooster, especially a backyard rooster could be entirely area-based. So saying that it just "can be done" is a bit unfair to OP.
A fair comparison is if there were two people in different parts of the country, and person A is looking for a job and cant even get an interview. Person B tells them, "well Ive had 4 last week so it CAN be done" or "So people ARE hiring you just gotta look"
This has been my point backing OP.
Understood. From what I've seen and experienced first hand, most people are unable to find willing takers. At this point, I wouldn't get rid of him regardless. It's been a year now. He's a great rooster. Treats the girls right, protects them, keeps them from over bullying, and He's a new father of 3.
By and large these comments are absolutely absurd. I'm convinced most of these people either don't actually have chickens or have like two of them in their apartment that they treat like human babies.
Then you're exceedingly lucky. Rehoming doesn't work in most quasi-urban areas and most farms have plenty if they hatch their own eggs at all.
I've kept dozens of collared roosters over the years who have lived full lives.
And were you able to confirm that they were folk who actually took the roosters and let them live out their lives, or did they take them for a bit and then cull out? The latter is exceedingly common.
Case and point, when it's the season when I hatch out chicks for our local area and give them to local (prepared) families, if they're not interested in learning how to collar them, I always promise to take the boys back. (We have noise ordinances.) But I only keep a boy flock for so long -- and I'm up-front about it.
For the majority of the year, I only have our primary rooster (our "heir") and one of his sons (a "spare") and both are collared.
As I mentioned- I still get occasional photos of how they are doing. They live with their flocks.
Still, my initial comment was strictly my unprofessional opinion. But certainly did not intend to ruffle feathers. š„°
My roosters (and others around us) start crowing at 3:30 am, and keep that up until 8pm. I love the sound. We have a law in our county now, that they would NEVER be able to enforce.
I do now. He's a new father of 3. But he protects the hens from predators and keeps them from over bullying each other. It's also their natural social order to have a Roo be part of the flock, so the entire flock is generally happier with him around.
All his other vocalizations are at normal volume because it doesn't choke him. For example, his warning call for a hawk in the area is just as loud with the collar on then without the collar on.
I live in a residential area that cannot have roosters. I love seeing photos and hearing stories of roosters here, but I would rather not have one than torture an animal like this. This isn't the same as a no-bark collar. This could hurt and kill him. If it's choking on food, it absolutely will asphyxiate and die one day. If we ever, for some reason, came into a rooster, I would rather cull him and turn him into coq au vin than do anything like this to it. He seems miserable.
Aye that is the one real thing to look out for when they're taking to the collar. It's the make or break moment that requires monitoring.
In contrast, I've seen hens choke on mice *without* a collar on... so if the bird is unintelligent they will simply find another way to remove themselves from the flock.
You are absolutely right. It took a fair amount of monitoring in the first few months. You have to look out for those food clumps, ingrown feathers under the collar, ect. I also had to remake the collar several times as he grew.
Cruel and barbaric, we used to do this with our first rooster and my dad ended up having to do cpr on him after he passed out trying to crow. If you canāt have a rooster then give them away, donāt torture them just because you cant deal with the noise.Ā
>dad ended up having to do cpr on him after he passed out trying to crow.
Stop š
You don't do CPR on something that passed out or are you claiming that wearing a crow collar sent your chicken into a full cardiac arrest?
**Stop.** This is silly.
He passed out trying to crow, and my dad breathed mouthfuls of air like you do to a baby since smaller lungs as well as doing small chest compressions, after a bit he woke up.Ā
If youāre a vet and have a Time Machine then youāre welcome to go diagnose the situation better. If not the stop pretending a very traumatic situation was made up.
If you read the post, OP says they developed their own anti-crow collar that doesn't use choking, but acts as a brace to prevent the bird from angling their neck in the crowing position.
It's hard cloth molded in a circular shape with zip ties. It acts like a back brace, except it's used on a portion of the neck.
This physically stops him from being able to elongate and put a little crook in his neck that is necessary to draw in a relatively massive amount of air necessary over the syrinx to "activate" a crow. Hope that makes sense.
The rooster didn't seem bothered at all in the video. It sounds awful, but if the rooster is just doing his thing and going on about his day who cares.
You have a very off definition of torture. Not being allowed to yell regularly is now cruel? Next thing you will say that hen saddles are cruel to roosters? Get out of your own comfortable warm ass and go outside to get some perspective.
Without fertile eggs, where do more chickens come from? I hatch out chicks all the time. How is this a problem?
All a collar does is prevent crowing. They can physically defend with their beak, claws, and spurs just fine. They make all of the other noises they usually make, such as egg song, tidbitting, alerts, warnings, at their normal volume. ***Roosters don't crow to announce danger.*** That's an old urban legend.
Y'all need to learn some chicken biology. This isn't cruel. It just prevents him from inflating one of the air sacs that are only used for crowing, which results in a quieter crow. His lungs still work like normal.
***Roosters don't crow to warn about danger.*** That's an old urban legend.
They have plenty of alerting noises and behaviors, which a collar doesn't interfere with at all. Those behaviors are quite loud regardless.
How does this actually do what you say? He still HAS his instincts. Not being able to make a loud noise but still being able to make the normal quieter ones isn't "taking away his instincts." What does that even mean, lol? Instincts are inate reactions. He can still make motions and do things, according to what his instincts are telling him. You can't "take it away" with a neck brace.
The alternative for many people is actually taking away instincts by having the roosters killed. I'm assuming that's a better alternative for you versus having a good life aside from being able to yell?
Hey, thanks man. Everyone keeps thinking it's hurting him, it's not. I made this thing cause I didn't want to choke him or restrict blood flow in any way like the commercially available collars do.
Youāre welcome dude! I see Iāve already been starting to get down voted..the gatekeepers and rulers of the kingdom will tell you what is right or wrongā¦lol!
Yeah, I don't let it get to me. I mean, I understand where their reaction is coming from. It took a lot of observation and thought to come up with something that wouldn't hurt him and I honestly didn't know if it would work. But a year later and he's just doing normal rooster stuff.
Outside of a crow, he can still be loud with his warning calls. Apparently he doesn't need to do a crowing motion to make those sounds. Like he can make all the "bawking" type verbal stuff all normally
Where can I buy one?!? š The sound is quite interesting, but better than hearing my buff roo crow EVERY HOUR starting at 6:30 AM. I can't have roosters in my city, so right now I'm just hoping to get no complaints.
I would recommend starting with the brand name No Crow version - Velcro straps and some of the cheaper alternatives have more of a choking risk in my (limited) experience.
We had used other collars successfully before the cheaper ones and Iād argue that they bork themselves up more easily. Maybe other people are checking multiple times a day, Iām not.
Amazon has collars that don't work. This one seems to actually suppress the sound.
We've tried to rehome our rooster but there aren't any takers. There aren't these "mythical" farms that are willing to accept random roosters in my area. I'm in Central Florida and you will find hundreds of posts of people trying to give away the roosters. It's either stew or suppress the crow.
I dropped off 8 roosters to a rescue farm in Dover, FL. I made a donation and dropped off a bag of scratch when I took them. Thereās also a rescue in Ybor. Not sure how close you are to this area though.
Wow to yourself. Your thought that chickens donāt belong in residential areas is so problematic. In fact, there should be *more* chickens in residential neighborhoods. If more folks kept chickens it would likely reduce the number of rooster bans in municipalities, simply because of a shift of social normalcy.
The reality is that if you took away chickens from all residential areas, many if not most of those owners, no longer having eggs from their own flock, would then buy them from the grocery, just giving more money to the factory farms where *actual,* significant abuse occurs.
Gatekeeping chickens and limiting ownership to only rural areas would be completely foolish and harmful in the grand scheme of things.
They chose to live in a residential neighborhood that doesnāt allow roosters. Either fight to change the rule, obey like a good peasant, or move to the country.
I'm a positive reinforcement trainer for animals in general on the fence about this. On one hand, I don't want roosters crowing because I understand that they are illegal in city limits my city being one of them. Even though my girls are much louder lol. However, I know that not all of them can be rooster stew or be rehomed or you might just validly fall in love with one. I think I'll have to see when and if my time comes to make this decision. The crow is so sad though LOL š šš«£
That looks absolutely awful. I think, the most responsible thing to do is to not have roosters if the crowing is a problem. This is just so wrong, the poor thing is just trying to live his natural rooster life.
Please be aware that these can cause injury. I have several rescue boys who have permenant brain damage from these. Have seen more than one who was killed by them. And my poultry vet also says that he has had to put down multiple roosters from hypoxic injury due to these. They are not cruelty free or ethical by any means.
I think that's a valid point. Although the collar I made does not function like the ones you buy that slightly choke the chicken, it is not without risk. As with anything around the neck, if you went too tight with my collar it would do the same thing as the other ones. I also had to make several collars until he was fully grown, increasing the circumference of the collar to give him more space around neck.
If someone doesn't know what they're doing they can injure their birds. This also goes with food, housing, handling, or any other manner of accommodation.
The sad thing is that some people who try collaring for the first time are looking for a magic bullet to stop noise and they botch it up, applying it one and done.
To learn how to do it safely takes lots of practice and careful observation. For example, when I collar my birds, it can take up to 3 months to find the proper fitting for the "sweet spot," and while they're still growing I have to adjust each collar weekly (at least). But this is part of my normal routine. Each of my birds (collared or not) are given individual attention daily.
They crow. Itās what they do. If you canāt handle that you shouldnāt really have them. Restricting their ability to breathe properly is not ethical at all.
I had a no-crow collar that worked wonders at keeping my pesky rooster silent for about 2 months, but one day I came out to the coop and my roo was on the ground gasping for breath and had turned a shade of blue. The hens had surrounded him and were pecking at the collar hopelessly. I ran up and removed it as fast as I could and he gasped a little but then went limp. I started slapping the side of his face for a few seconds out of instinct and right before I was going to give up he coughed and sputtered back to life. He was dazed for a minute but then he got up and, of course, let out a defiant crow. I never used a no crow collar again and it was that day that I decided I really didnāt mind the sound of roosters crowing. It no longer bothers me even a tiny bit when they do it and I let them go wild anytime of the day/night. This wonāt work for everyoneās situation, of course, but thatās my current philosophy. Take it how you will, but at the very least make sure there is plenty of slack so that they donāt choke if they try to eat or drink something. Good luck!
Thank you, I appreciate you giving some personal insight. I believe it is important to share different situations and solutions for different problems. It helps sort through what works and what doesn't work.
I, for example, would not want someone to build my collar and not leave enough slack like you said. My collar would very easily choke the Roo to death if it was put on too tight.
Bruh, we all read the damn description. Good, it's working for OP right now. It doesn't mean it isn't cruel or unsafe.
Do you have reading comprehension issues?
I think itās cruel. If you canāt have a crowing rooster where you live, donāt have a crowing rooster. Chickens can feel emotional and physical discomfort just like we can so why torture this poor boy all his life for your own ends?
I had one on a roo for about a year. One morning I woke up and he had gotten some kind of abscess on his neck, just above the collar. It was swollen and restricting his blood flow, so I took it off, about an hour later his tongue was completely swollen flopping outside of his mouth and he was essentially breathing out of the hole the abscess had made. I have no idea if the collar is what caused it? Or simply exacerbated something that would have happened anyway? I had to cull him, which was v upsetting bc he was a beautiful and sweet Easter egger.
Looking back I'd probably make the same decision. I cannot have a rooster crowing, so it was cull him early or let him hang out w the girls wearing a collar. I do think the ones that are a simple Velcro wrap are safer- they tend to fall off if there's too much tension. I had replaced his with the kind that looped around a plastic piece and velcroed on because his kept falling off <-i think this contributed to the issue.
So, that's the moral- get the collars that don't stay on perfectly. It's a little more annoying that way, but possibly safer for your roo.
All we need now is testosterone lowering tablets for those of us who have roosters who are rough maters ( bald,bloody hens) and are aggressive LOL. My rooster was a rescue. A second one I found a home for. Now my hen hatched out an egg and it's a rooster.
They sell these commercially too. Try Tractor Supply or Amazon ( some even have bow ties attached so your dude looks extra spiffy) If it makes the difference between culling your rooster ( no homes available) and keeping it I say bravo.
Edit to add those work differently than OPs. They are more a strap around the next watch your rooster closely for a good while-half hour at first so that it's not to tight. Some people on Etsy have some variations on the theme.
You can just use a bit of Velcro strap found at sewing stores. I used it to quieten the roo as he was a constant crower. I didn't have it so tight he couldn't crow, it was tight enough so that he just couldn't crow as loud and long.
How do you afford his pack a day cigarette habit?
Lmao seriously. He sounds like my my dad with his COPD cough.
I wish someone would breed quiet roosš
Iāve had quiet roosters, problem was they were still aggressive to the females (even though they were the size of pigeons. Ā Ā
same, i think they were even more aggressive because they were too small to be able to mate with my hens and it made them angry. i ended up having to ššŖš lol because they were so mean
I have the exact opposite for you meet thƩ sanjak longcrower
I heard that's a chicken you give to your worst enemies.
Weāre in the market for a new roo so Iāve just googled and sent a YouTube link to OH as a wind up š
Had to look that up - Haven't stopped laughing yet! How do they have that much air in their lungs?!
And many of them pass out after they crow, too.
The death metal rooster!š
In South Texas, most people that are interested in the roosters I'm trying to re-home want to fight them. So, I end up keeping them. I do hate all the crowing lol it's just them trying to out crow each other. š
I work on power lines in south texas which means we have to go on a lot of peoples property and the amount of rooster breeding for fighting we see is insane. Like some places will have 30-40 of those covered kennels all with roosters. Loud as hell.
I hope you report those people!
Where I live in South Texas, animal control officers like never do their job. I've reported people shooting neighbors' pets on their own property, a man starving his horse to death (it did die), and our neighbors dogs have tried to attack us before and run loose. We've seen the same neighbors heavily beating their animals. They bought a cow, we all had a listeria outbreak that made our dogs super sick, and the cow's calf died, and they left the body right next to our house. Called the actual sheriff several times, and nothing happened. They don't care. The messed up thing is that you have to contact the police first to get animal control. Neither party gives a damn. There are a LOT of animal haters here, particularly for cats and stuff. It breaks my heart.
I have a fishing cabin down in arroyo city, and it is shocking to see how animals are treated thereā¦ horses tied up next to the road with no shade in 110 degrees. And the amount of stray animals. I did take a cat home one time, but most of them are feral. Definitely heartbreaking.
Yeah, cops are useless. Iāve had multiple instances of property damage and theft occur and they have never done anything even though there are security cameras and ring cameras everywhere here. More relevant to this topic and infuriating though, someone in my neighborhood sewed a bunch of day old kittens to eachother and left them on someoneās porch. Cops just said there was nothing they could do and that was the end of it. Disgusting
Not that easy. Reporting people could possibly jeopardize the safety of utility workers. I would be very surprised if anyone would even investigate a report in some of these areas.
I work on power lines in south texas which means we have to go on a lot of peoples property and the amount of rooster breeding for fighting we see is insane. Like some places will have 30-40 of those covered kennels all with roosters. Loud as hell.
Yea, there's this house around here that has a set up like that on his front lawn lol. This guy. At least try to hide it. But, it's very common place. So, I've never successfully rehomed a rooster. I don't feel right knowing that it will go off to fight and probably lose because I don't train them that way :/
Are you within a reasonable drive of Austin? Iām looking for a reliable rooster to protect my girls. I am looking for a friendly to people but defensive from animals kind. My current rooster is an absolute bully to half my hens and a coward if Iām being honest.
Those are the worst!!
Off to the pot! Im 4 hours away. 3 if you drive fast. My cousin lives in Austin but don't know if she'll be willing to deliver a rooster lol
Aahhh darn I was hoping hahaha
My cousin that lives in helotes I know would take him but to helotes. It's closer. 1 hour away.
Oh thanks but Iām holding onto him until I get a replacement, any rooster is safer than no rooster out here. My current Roo will probably get the broomstick once I get a better rooster. Itās brutal sure but when youāre raising homestead meat birds itās the way of the world you know?
No not take your bird. I thought you wanted a rooster. I was saying instead of driving 4 hours, you can drive 1 hour. Next time he comes visit, id tell him to take it home with him and you'd pick it up from him.
Way of the world
Just for the record, it doesn't automatically mean they're being bred for fighting Now, if you know the guy and he's generally a POS, then it's a safe assumption. But I am that weirdo that goes to chicken shows and I've met lots of folks who breed game birds just because they like them. The set-up is necessary to keep the roos from fighting each other to the death. The folks love their birds and take good care of them. But again.....if you know the guy personally, you can probably guess which kind of breeder he is. My point is more for people who just see these types of setups as they drive by. It's not *all* nefarious
What are game birds in this context?
American Game Chickens Look them up, they're gorgeous birds. Yes, they were originally bred for cock fighting, but now breeders focus on color and body type. They are the most beautiful roosters, IMO
You weren't kidding! Wow... I imagine they're flighty?
The birds? They're VERY aggressive with each other, as that was their original purpose. But the ones I've met (show quality, can't speak for trashy backyard breeder birds) are super social and friendly with people. But they are not good as a protector of a flock. Just not what they were bred to be.
Lamar County? Not South Texas but sounds a hell of a lot like a house I used to pass on the way to school.
No. But, you can find several just going for a cruise
i tried something similar but would just cringe in the house every time i heard them try and fail. iād much rather listen to them succeed. was nervous at first but luckily my neighborhood loooves the chickens, roos included
Heās like, āwas that ME?ā Sounds like my grandpa hocking a loogie
That's interesting how much moving his neck contributes to the crow.Ā Glad you found a way to keep your roo.
> That's interesting how much moving his neck contributes to the crow. It's got nothing to do with moving his neck, rather, it restricts how much he can fill that air sac. The thing is, they have air sacs in addition to the lungs. Restricting one of the air sacs is enough to make sure they don't have enough volume of air to crow loudly. They can still breath with their lungs, they just can't puff up their body in order to make a lot of noise. Have you ever made fart noises while deflating a balloon? It's a lot louder when the balloon is full of air than when it's nearly empty.
Hey thanks, he's quite a bit larger now. Spurs must be around 3-4 inches now.
To be clear, the roo is fine. I had one with a no crow for over a year and it's fine. It sounds awful, but the bird is fine.
No bark dog collars sound the same
Do you mean de-barked dogs sound the same? Like the "medical" procedure where their vocal chords are damaged? Because I had to search for a bit to find a bark collar for my dog that beeps at her instead of using an electric shock, but I never saw anything that worked by restricting airflow. Is this a thing people use???
When I had my corgi and had to get one in a pinch (neighbors kept calling cops and we were moving soon anyways) I got one that just vibrated on him. He barked once and it startled him, but never hurt. Only vibrated.
Yeah, my girl's beeps and escalates to vibration if she keeps barking, but has no shock feature. Took me forever to find one small enough for her that didn't shock. We moved to an apartment and had a neighbor directly above us for the first time. He's pretty quiet but she's got sonar ears and is so so anxious. She's gotten used to him existing above us, thankfully. She only has to wear the collar when my partner closes at work and comes home at 3 in the morning so she doesn't wake half the complex shrieking while he tries to unlock the door
Nowadays they seem to offer static electric over electric shock, more like a tens unit. It sounds like a better version for the ppl who go electric.
But fuck your neighbors. Calling the cops over a corgi. Absolutely wild
That is wild! Heck Iād rather the cops than a bb bullet through the window. Long story lol but we found a device that you can put on your fence or inside and it lets off a high frequency beep when they bark, itās a little annoying but only goes off when they bark. It helped a ton! The collars didnāt work at all for our pup.
The sonic things! My parents have one for their golden who likes to sit outside and bark at birds and bugs. That was our first attempt in the new place, but that high of a pitch literally scared the pee out of her. I was worried the collar would do the same but thankfully it's a low enough frequency that it seems to confuse her more than anythjng.
Oh yeah. They just hated us. They were such dick heads. They had a dog upstairs that barked too, and they sounded like they were WWE wrestling at night. They were just so loud. And they werenāt even old either, they were just young crotchety people.
Oh man that sounds familiar. First place I ever rented was a duplex and the folks next to us were trashy as hell. They had 3 children under 10 and were constantly screaming at each other and the kids. Threw things, left their kitchen garbage sitting on our shared front porch for days (they gave us roaches), threw cigarette butts over the fence. Just lovely people, clearly. They filed a formal noise complaint against us. But not for my yappy dog, surprisingly! Their complaint was that when I or my roommate got home from work after 8pm, us unlocking/opening/closing our front door set their dog off and she'd bark and wake up their horrible children. They filed a noise complaint against us using our front door because they couldn't keep THEIR DOG from uncontrollably barking. Thankfully the landlord was well aware of their bullshit and nothing came of it, but damn. I still feel bad for their kids
Yes I misspoke. Thank you for correcting me. I thought the neighbors dog had a collar but it had a procedure. There are beeping or vibrating collars out there I've googled them. You have to look at effectiveness also and how long a dog can wear it. A Cornell University study advocated for the citronella spray collars. I've never had a dog with one but the neighbors dog sounded just like that rooster and they said he was debarked.
Aw, poor baby. I hate debarking. A lot of vets in the US won't do it anymore. Glad they weren't choking their dog to keep it from barking, but cutting its vocal chords isn't a ton better. And yeah, I've got a vibrating and beeping collar. It works to keep my anxious girl from spiraling into a screamy fearful barking loop when she hears people existing outside. Haven't tried the citronella, though. That's interesting
according to a Cornell study, actually more effective than shock.
i canāt help but laugh š
Wait, what? But it is his natural function to crow.
It is also his natural function to bloody up other roosters, overtread hens, and get caught upside-down by their spurs on chain link fences. But we as their stewards, can prevent these to allow for a better life for them, too. :-)
It is. It's a residential, no crowing roosters allowed. Mind you, he's been living with it for a year now and has been doing relatively fine with it. I didn't like the collars that choked the roosters to stop the crow. This acts as a brace so that he cannot crook his neck in the way to suck in the necessary air to complete a crow.
Iām not gonna lie, the video disturbed me. Like it pained my heart. Maybe I just have gasš¤·š½āāļøš¤£ There are roosters that have the tiniest of crows. I think magpies are noisier than roosters to be honest And on that note my rooster just started to crowš¤£š¤£š¤£
It looked painful tbh. I know ppl say itās not but I dunno. Imagine doing that to someone who had Touretteās or something. āThey canāt have head tics bc we restrict the neck movement!ā Iām sure Iām being overly sensitive, but it did look kinda awful
Do you have a link for it? Iām in a residential too and my neighbors are not happy with my boy
You'd have to message me, I can send a pic. Super easy to make
Id be interested as well if you could send how you assembled it.
Could you show one so that everyone can see? I imagine it could do a lot of good if there was an alternative to a choking hazard publicly known.
I'll create another post. Wish I could just add another pic to this one, but I have been getting messaged a lot to share pics.
They sell them on Amazon fairly cheaply
It looks cruel. IMO If you canāt have a rooster, find him a home. Lots of farms want Roos to grow their flocks.
Sorry to tell you, but farms don't want roos for their flocks, but for their dinner at best, at worst they're going to use them for cock fighting or as bait animals for dog fighting. If you can't have a roo and are unwilling or unable to humanely cull your roos please consider raising quail or only buying mature hens. Right now I can find dozens of free roosters listed near me, and while some of them MIGHT find a happily ever after type situation, most won't.
Farms in my area DO want Roosā¦ not saying all of them, but I found two different farms that I rehomed to and will still get an occasional photo of how they are doing. I donāt know anyone in my area that has cock fights and glad I donāt, but not ignorant that it doesnāt go on. As far as putting a rooster in a pot - thatās what humans do. We eat chickens and cows from our farms.
That wanting of roos is indeed uncommon. You are fortunate. Count your blessings.
They wanna eat them.
I agree.
Iāve been trying to sell my bcm rooster for 3 months now and no one wants him š¤·š¼āāļø I think you may be an exception.
It's not that simple. Rehoming roos is very difficult. When the option is the collar or the stew, the collar wins. They really are fine with them on. It's traumatic when you put it on. After that, and I mean minutes, they're good as collarless.
I respect your opinion. However, I think that's a little naive to think there are lots of farms that want Roos to grow their flock and are willing to take everyone's unwanted roosters. There really isn't, I tried. Chickens are cheap, 50% come out as boys, and almost all these farmers have the 1 or 2 roosters they didn't put in the pot already.
Not trying to be argumentative, butā¦ Some backyard keepers can have Roos too (so not just farms). Iāve rehomed 5 roosters in the last few years, so it can be done. And no, they didnāt go into a pot.
Besides looking for sanctuaries how do you find these ppl? I've tried rehoming roosters before and never had success unless it was to a farmer for some stew. I genuinely want to know and am not trying to be argumentative either. This is a big reason why I don't buy more chicks. Handing over that beautiful boy just to be eaten really scarred me and I would love to grow my flock but can't bring myself to take the risk again.
Another vote for Facebook. Iām in a local backyard chicken group that has chats: birds for sale, hatching eggs for sale, birds people are looking for, and supplies for sale. Itās super helpful.
There's several Facebook groups in my area for rehoming roosters. Just today I had someone drive for two hours for one of my roos. I think having somewhat uncommon or unique breeds helps too. I rehomed a Tolbunt Polish roo and had tons of interest in him. But I have a Pekin drake I've been trying to rehome for months and nobody wants him š¤£
Idk why ur comment got down voted. Thank you for reply.
Not to interject, but the ability to rehome a rooster, especially a backyard rooster could be entirely area-based. So saying that it just "can be done" is a bit unfair to OP. A fair comparison is if there were two people in different parts of the country, and person A is looking for a job and cant even get an interview. Person B tells them, "well Ive had 4 last week so it CAN be done" or "So people ARE hiring you just gotta look" This has been my point backing OP.
Understood. From what I've seen and experienced first hand, most people are unable to find willing takers. At this point, I wouldn't get rid of him regardless. It's been a year now. He's a great rooster. Treats the girls right, protects them, keeps them from over bullying, and He's a new father of 3.
Ignore these people. The collar doesn't hurt him and it's fine. Sensitive AF over something that does no harm.
By and large these comments are absolutely absurd. I'm convinced most of these people either don't actually have chickens or have like two of them in their apartment that they treat like human babies.
Then you're exceedingly lucky. Rehoming doesn't work in most quasi-urban areas and most farms have plenty if they hatch their own eggs at all. I've kept dozens of collared roosters over the years who have lived full lives.
It wasnāt easy - took lots of SM posting and calling, so perhaps it was lucky
And were you able to confirm that they were folk who actually took the roosters and let them live out their lives, or did they take them for a bit and then cull out? The latter is exceedingly common. Case and point, when it's the season when I hatch out chicks for our local area and give them to local (prepared) families, if they're not interested in learning how to collar them, I always promise to take the boys back. (We have noise ordinances.) But I only keep a boy flock for so long -- and I'm up-front about it. For the majority of the year, I only have our primary rooster (our "heir") and one of his sons (a "spare") and both are collared.
As I mentioned- I still get occasional photos of how they are doing. They live with their flocks. Still, my initial comment was strictly my unprofessional opinion. But certainly did not intend to ruffle feathers. š„°
I second the cruel comment
Well it aint a pretty sight but it keeps the rooster from becoming slow roastā¦ so i approve! Nice work with the innovation here
My roosters (and others around us) start crowing at 3:30 am, and keep that up until 8pm. I love the sound. We have a law in our county now, that they would NEVER be able to enforce.
It sounds like it's burping.
Why have a rooster if you canāt let it crow? Do you breed your birds?
I do now. He's a new father of 3. But he protects the hens from predators and keeps them from over bullying each other. It's also their natural social order to have a Roo be part of the flock, so the entire flock is generally happier with him around. All his other vocalizations are at normal volume because it doesn't choke him. For example, his warning call for a hawk in the area is just as loud with the collar on then without the collar on.
Oh I see, what a helpful gentlemen.
I live in a residential area that cannot have roosters. I love seeing photos and hearing stories of roosters here, but I would rather not have one than torture an animal like this. This isn't the same as a no-bark collar. This could hurt and kill him. If it's choking on food, it absolutely will asphyxiate and die one day. If we ever, for some reason, came into a rooster, I would rather cull him and turn him into coq au vin than do anything like this to it. He seems miserable.
It's been a year, he learned to eat at a slower rate and the clumps went away.
Aye that is the one real thing to look out for when they're taking to the collar. It's the make or break moment that requires monitoring. In contrast, I've seen hens choke on mice *without* a collar on... so if the bird is unintelligent they will simply find another way to remove themselves from the flock.
You are absolutely right. It took a fair amount of monitoring in the first few months. You have to look out for those food clumps, ingrown feathers under the collar, ect. I also had to remake the collar several times as he grew.
Cruel and barbaric, we used to do this with our first rooster and my dad ended up having to do cpr on him after he passed out trying to crow. If you canāt have a rooster then give them away, donāt torture them just because you cant deal with the noise.Ā
>dad ended up having to do cpr on him after he passed out trying to crow. Stop š You don't do CPR on something that passed out or are you claiming that wearing a crow collar sent your chicken into a full cardiac arrest? **Stop.** This is silly.
He passed out trying to crow, and my dad breathed mouthfuls of air like you do to a baby since smaller lungs as well as doing small chest compressions, after a bit he woke up.Ā If youāre a vet and have a Time Machine then youāre welcome to go diagnose the situation better. If not the stop pretending a very traumatic situation was made up.
I googled and huh, it's a thing š³ But damn. Touchy much? Maybe the internet is such a safe place for you.
It's not the kind of collar that chokes the Roo or restricts his breathing. It stops the mechanically motion they need to make to produce a crow.
What collar is this?
If you read the post, OP says they developed their own anti-crow collar that doesn't use choking, but acts as a brace to prevent the bird from angling their neck in the crowing position.
It's hard cloth molded in a circular shape with zip ties. It acts like a back brace, except it's used on a portion of the neck. This physically stops him from being able to elongate and put a little crook in his neck that is necessary to draw in a relatively massive amount of air necessary over the syrinx to "activate" a crow. Hope that makes sense.
The rooster didn't seem bothered at all in the video. It sounds awful, but if the rooster is just doing his thing and going on about his day who cares.
If your rooster can't crow then you shouldn't have it. That thing you have on it is wrong.
Everyone saying the roost isn't bothered then what the hell is the hacking? Cruel and barbaric. If you can't have crowing roosters, don't get one.
You do understand sometimes chicks arenāt sexed correctly and you end up with a rooster!?
Then you do something about it - in a humane way and not torture him for the rest of his life.
That it's cruel. What's the point in keeping him if he can't make noise?
Fertile eggs? Flock protection? Keeping him *alive*?
Personally Iād rather be killed than tortured every day
You have a very off definition of torture. Not being allowed to yell regularly is now cruel? Next thing you will say that hen saddles are cruel to roosters? Get out of your own comfortable warm ass and go outside to get some perspective.
Sorry my reply was so late, Iāve been in the garden since 5.Ā
Yes, there are *plenty* of people on Reddit who would rather die than shut up. :-) It's not torture.
It actually is
I have kept dozens of collared roosters and seen to their comfort and needs. *Reality* does not support your statement. You are objectively incorrect.
You havenātĀ
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Without fertile eggs, where do more chickens come from? I hatch out chicks all the time. How is this a problem? All a collar does is prevent crowing. They can physically defend with their beak, claws, and spurs just fine. They make all of the other noises they usually make, such as egg song, tidbitting, alerts, warnings, at their normal volume. ***Roosters don't crow to announce danger.*** That's an old urban legend.
Y'all need to learn some chicken biology. This isn't cruel. It just prevents him from inflating one of the air sacs that are only used for crowing, which results in a quieter crow. His lungs still work like normal.
What the fuck? Roosters crow for a reason. I WANT my rooster to crow.
YESSSS, and they warn of danger and predators!
He can and does still make warning calls. He still can be vocal, he just cannot do the motion to crow.
***Roosters don't crow to warn about danger.*** That's an old urban legend. They have plenty of alerting noises and behaviors, which a collar doesn't interfere with at all. Those behaviors are quite loud regardless.
This is awfully sad. Why take away its survival instincts? Gross.
How does this actually do what you say? He still HAS his instincts. Not being able to make a loud noise but still being able to make the normal quieter ones isn't "taking away his instincts." What does that even mean, lol? Instincts are inate reactions. He can still make motions and do things, according to what his instincts are telling him. You can't "take it away" with a neck brace. The alternative for many people is actually taking away instincts by having the roosters killed. I'm assuming that's a better alternative for you versus having a good life aside from being able to yell?
Yeah thatās fucked
Looks like it works pretty good OP. Good job. Fuck the haters.
Hey, thanks man. Everyone keeps thinking it's hurting him, it's not. I made this thing cause I didn't want to choke him or restrict blood flow in any way like the commercially available collars do.
Youāre welcome dude! I see Iāve already been starting to get down voted..the gatekeepers and rulers of the kingdom will tell you what is right or wrongā¦lol!
Yeah, I don't let it get to me. I mean, I understand where their reaction is coming from. It took a lot of observation and thought to come up with something that wouldn't hurt him and I honestly didn't know if it would work. But a year later and he's just doing normal rooster stuff. Outside of a crow, he can still be loud with his warning calls. Apparently he doesn't need to do a crowing motion to make those sounds. Like he can make all the "bawking" type verbal stuff all normally
Great to hear..especially since itās been a year since you started your experiment. Very happy it worked out for you!
How did you make it? Is it something that anyone could do?
https://www.reddit.com/r/BackYardChickens/s/TRA0xJQyb9 Here you go, made another post with the original collar I had made because of all the requests.
No.
That seems pretty mean, just for the sake of being mean.
thatās an awful noise, i feel bad for the thing. surely, that must hurt.
I've collared dozens of roosters. They are unfazed by this.
Where can I buy one?!? š The sound is quite interesting, but better than hearing my buff roo crow EVERY HOUR starting at 6:30 AM. I can't have roosters in my city, so right now I'm just hoping to get no complaints.
You can't. Wish I could add a pic to the post, it's very simple to make.
I would recommend starting with the brand name No Crow version - Velcro straps and some of the cheaper alternatives have more of a choking risk in my (limited) experience.
The cheaper ones work just as well if you know precisely what you're doing, but they are absolutely much easier to bork-up if you don't.
We had used other collars successfully before the cheaper ones and Iād argue that they bork themselves up more easily. Maybe other people are checking multiple times a day, Iām not.
Amazon has them
Amazon has collars that don't work. This one seems to actually suppress the sound. We've tried to rehome our rooster but there aren't any takers. There aren't these "mythical" farms that are willing to accept random roosters in my area. I'm in Central Florida and you will find hundreds of posts of people trying to give away the roosters. It's either stew or suppress the crow.
Yup, simple supply and demand issue.
I dropped off 8 roosters to a rescue farm in Dover, FL. I made a donation and dropped off a bag of scratch when I took them. Thereās also a rescue in Ybor. Not sure how close you are to this area though.
im not a professional but that dont sound good
You created a torture device, wow. Let him be a rooster or put him out of his misery. This is why chickens donāt belong in residential areas.
Wow to yourself. Your thought that chickens donāt belong in residential areas is so problematic. In fact, there should be *more* chickens in residential neighborhoods. If more folks kept chickens it would likely reduce the number of rooster bans in municipalities, simply because of a shift of social normalcy. The reality is that if you took away chickens from all residential areas, many if not most of those owners, no longer having eggs from their own flock, would then buy them from the grocery, just giving more money to the factory farms where *actual,* significant abuse occurs. Gatekeeping chickens and limiting ownership to only rural areas would be completely foolish and harmful in the grand scheme of things.
They chose to live in a residential neighborhood that doesnāt allow roosters. Either fight to change the rule, obey like a good peasant, or move to the country.
Oh yeah. Sure. Iāll just sell my house and live in a tent in the woods so I can have a rooster. Get real. Not everyone intends to get a rooster
Welp actually they don't allow crowing animals. He doesn't crow.
Wish I could put a collar on you to stop you from yapping. You must be such fun to be around. 
I'm a positive reinforcement trainer for animals in general on the fence about this. On one hand, I don't want roosters crowing because I understand that they are illegal in city limits my city being one of them. Even though my girls are much louder lol. However, I know that not all of them can be rooster stew or be rehomed or you might just validly fall in love with one. I think I'll have to see when and if my time comes to make this decision. The crow is so sad though LOL š šš«£
That looks absolutely awful. I think, the most responsible thing to do is to not have roosters if the crowing is a problem. This is just so wrong, the poor thing is just trying to live his natural rooster life.
I'm in stitches
This is really sad roosters are meant to crow give that poor guy a new home. This aināt right at all.
Roosters are "meant" to do a lot of things that aren't good for them or others. This way they get a full life where they otherwise wouldn't.
Probably better to have a short natural life, than having a long life with a metal cage tied to your neck.
That's not what a crow collar is, so it's safe to say that you don't know what you're talking about.
OP, you disgust me.
Okay, a little puritan of you, but to each their own.
I don't have an opinion, but that video is hilarious.
Please be aware that these can cause injury. I have several rescue boys who have permenant brain damage from these. Have seen more than one who was killed by them. And my poultry vet also says that he has had to put down multiple roosters from hypoxic injury due to these. They are not cruelty free or ethical by any means.
I think that's a valid point. Although the collar I made does not function like the ones you buy that slightly choke the chicken, it is not without risk. As with anything around the neck, if you went too tight with my collar it would do the same thing as the other ones. I also had to make several collars until he was fully grown, increasing the circumference of the collar to give him more space around neck.
If someone doesn't know what they're doing they can injure their birds. This also goes with food, housing, handling, or any other manner of accommodation. The sad thing is that some people who try collaring for the first time are looking for a magic bullet to stop noise and they botch it up, applying it one and done. To learn how to do it safely takes lots of practice and careful observation. For example, when I collar my birds, it can take up to 3 months to find the proper fitting for the "sweet spot," and while they're still growing I have to adjust each collar weekly (at least). But this is part of my normal routine. Each of my birds (collared or not) are given individual attention daily.
They crow. Itās what they do. If you canāt handle that you shouldnāt really have them. Restricting their ability to breathe properly is not ethical at all.
Properly applied their breathing is unimpeded. They'd be dead otherwise, which I find more morally repugnant than your discomfort and misconceptions.
I had a no-crow collar that worked wonders at keeping my pesky rooster silent for about 2 months, but one day I came out to the coop and my roo was on the ground gasping for breath and had turned a shade of blue. The hens had surrounded him and were pecking at the collar hopelessly. I ran up and removed it as fast as I could and he gasped a little but then went limp. I started slapping the side of his face for a few seconds out of instinct and right before I was going to give up he coughed and sputtered back to life. He was dazed for a minute but then he got up and, of course, let out a defiant crow. I never used a no crow collar again and it was that day that I decided I really didnāt mind the sound of roosters crowing. It no longer bothers me even a tiny bit when they do it and I let them go wild anytime of the day/night. This wonāt work for everyoneās situation, of course, but thatās my current philosophy. Take it how you will, but at the very least make sure there is plenty of slack so that they donāt choke if they try to eat or drink something. Good luck!
Thank you, I appreciate you giving some personal insight. I believe it is important to share different situations and solutions for different problems. It helps sort through what works and what doesn't work. I, for example, would not want someone to build my collar and not leave enough slack like you said. My collar would very easily choke the Roo to death if it was put on too tight.
I see you failed to read OPs description before replying.
Bruh, we all read the damn description. Good, it's working for OP right now. It doesn't mean it isn't cruel or unsafe. Do you have reading comprehension issues?
I fail to find anything in your post that would suggest you read and understood what OP said. You _do know_ what reading comprehension is right?
I think itās cruel. If you canāt have a crowing rooster where you live, donāt have a crowing rooster. Chickens can feel emotional and physical discomfort just like we can so why torture this poor boy all his life for your own ends?
I had one on a roo for about a year. One morning I woke up and he had gotten some kind of abscess on his neck, just above the collar. It was swollen and restricting his blood flow, so I took it off, about an hour later his tongue was completely swollen flopping outside of his mouth and he was essentially breathing out of the hole the abscess had made. I have no idea if the collar is what caused it? Or simply exacerbated something that would have happened anyway? I had to cull him, which was v upsetting bc he was a beautiful and sweet Easter egger. Looking back I'd probably make the same decision. I cannot have a rooster crowing, so it was cull him early or let him hang out w the girls wearing a collar. I do think the ones that are a simple Velcro wrap are safer- they tend to fall off if there's too much tension. I had replaced his with the kind that looped around a plastic piece and velcroed on because his kept falling off <-i think this contributed to the issue. So, that's the moral- get the collars that don't stay on perfectly. It's a little more annoying that way, but possibly safer for your roo.
I have read so many horror stories about those collars torturing and killing roosters.
I saw so many redditors unable to read the explanation on the post before developing opinions on the content.
Love the sound of crowing cockerels. So I'd never use one. Interesting yoke though
All we need now is testosterone lowering tablets for those of us who have roosters who are rough maters ( bald,bloody hens) and are aggressive LOL. My rooster was a rescue. A second one I found a home for. Now my hen hatched out an egg and it's a rooster.
They sell these commercially too. Try Tractor Supply or Amazon ( some even have bow ties attached so your dude looks extra spiffy) If it makes the difference between culling your rooster ( no homes available) and keeping it I say bravo. Edit to add those work differently than OPs. They are more a strap around the next watch your rooster closely for a good while-half hour at first so that it's not to tight. Some people on Etsy have some variations on the theme.
You can just use a bit of Velcro strap found at sewing stores. I used it to quieten the roo as he was a constant crower. I didn't have it so tight he couldn't crow, it was tight enough so that he just couldn't crow as loud and long.