Niche market: Crowless roosters for urban chicken keepers

Is anyone out there deliberately selecting for roosters with the least amount of crowing, generation after generation?  The urban folks could keep their own lines going and not need to buy chicks every year.

TFox wrote:
Is anyone out there deliberately selecting for roosters with the least amount of crowing, generation after generation?  The urban folks could keep their own lines going and not need to buy chicks every year.

I actually think this might be possible and Im going to try, but I doubt I will be raising enough chickens anytime soon to pull it off.

I got interested in trying a few months back and tried studying it. what i found is several breeding projects that altered the quality or length or sound level of the roosters crow. Kinda like how people with motor cycles might change their mufflers to have them sound different.

I also found a few offhand mentions on various chicken forums, of people with a nearly silent and in one case totally silent bird.

So I might as well try I figure, Im also going to work at one that is a heavy layer, and personable.

Im not positive Im going to be raising enough chickens this will be feasible, but your right it would be a neat trait for urban folks...

If anyone has an unusually silent rooster, or one who has a lower level of sound to his crow, and is a banty... Id love to get some eggs from one of his ladies.

Quite often in a cockless chicken environment, one of the hens will actually take over the role of crowing.  I know of a lady in an urban area that prohibits roosters who gave her "roo" to a friend outside of town.  A couple weeks later the "roo" started laying eggs!

John Polk wrote:
Quite often in a cockless chicken environment, one of the hens will actually take over the role of crowing.  I know of a lady in an urban area that prohibits roosters who gave her "roo" to a friend outside of town.  A couple weeks later the "roo" started laying eggs!

very interesting.... that certainly might imply is isnt possible... Im going to try selecting for quieter birds anyway though.... you never know...

I do select for roosters that crow less and quieter. So far I have not gotten a rooster that doesn't crow at all. Some crowing during the day to call in the hens and warn against predators is good but 4 am is not appreciated by me.

I start with the year's roosters. Those who crow too early in the morning I catch and eat. By the end of the summer I'm generally down to one or two roosters. They keep breeding. Maybe someday I'll have ones that crow to the limit of my satisfaction.

Cheers

-Walter
Sugar Mountain Farm
Pastured Pigs, Sheep & Kids
in the mountains of Vermont
Read about our on-farm butcher shop project:
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/butchershop
http://SugarMtnFarm.com/csa

That would be fantastic! However, the crowless rooster doesn't change council laws. If council rules don't allow roosters and your neighbour is bad then he (or very often she) will insist that the rooster must be removed.
Maybe you select a rooster which doesn't crow and doesn't really look like a rooster, at least not to neighbours eyes (they would have no chicken and no idea of chicken).
Our rooster crowns enclosed or not. You might breed a rooster which does not crow while he's enclosed.

If someone did, I'd want one, especially if it crowed enough to warn the hens about predators, but not super-loud.  I live in the suburbs, and while roosters aren't specifically prohibited here, the neighbors probably wouldn't appreciate them, nor would my in-laws with whom we share a home.

Is there any way to surgically silence a roo?

The easiest way to silence a rooster is to send him to freezer camp.

John Polk wrote:
The easiest way to silence a rooster is to send him to freezer camp.

True, but when you do that he can hardly manage all the other tasks a roo has to do, can he?

What about using one of those anti barking dog collars?  The rooster crows too loud, he gets zapped.  After a couple of batteries he should learn to be quiet.

All I have right now is hens, when I get a rooster I might try the collar.

I understand the issue with crowing and an urban environment I really do because some of the people who have gotten chicks off of me despite my warnings have fallen victim of the laws regarding roosters because of the crowing. In most urban environments it is illegal to have a rooster much less chickens. Even if chickens are allowed you cannot keep enough chickens (including chicks) to bother having a rooster for breeding anyway. In fact the average allowed number of chickens in an urban environment is 3 hens only. My question then would be how much of a niche market would there be? Exactly how many people would want a crowless rooster knowing they are breaking the law and could be fined (in some cases heavily). Personally given the same locations I would need a rooster who did not crow not only does not allow roosters but also allows only a limited number of chickens (many places as few as 3 hens) I would choose to only have hens for productivity because roos do not lay eggs.

That all said am I the only person who is commenting in this thread that feels one of the reasons to have a rooster is to hear him crow? I love hearing mine and if for some reason I am away from home and feeling down I have been known to look for someone with a roo and hang out to hear a crow because it makes me happy to hear it.

A crowless rooster would be great.  I have a hen that cackles for 15 minutes after she lays an egg and she is as loud as any rooster.  I may have to give her to my sister who lives a mile from neighbors.  
Are there any breeds of cackless hens.

You can put a soft cloth collar on the rooster and it will mute his crowing, plus he won't want to crow so often.  Apparently, it can cut the noise and frequency by more than 75%.  The collars can be bought online but you could also sew your own.  It fits around his neck snugly but not tight.  When he wants to crow, he'll feel the pressure on his throat and won't want to crow as it  will be too uncomfortable.