Wow. This has been an adventure. I wanted to share and see if anyone else has tried this with success.
I read somewhere or heard from someone that they trained their rooster to not crow by hanging around all day next to the run with a squirt pistol, a lounge chair and a good book. I thought that sounded silly but it works to train cats to not do things we don't like in a safe, humane way. I decided to try.
Day 1 was the most interesting. At daybreak I'm out there in my jammies with a little pistol ready to go and he crowed and got shot about ten times before the gears started to very slowly turn. After 15 minutes goes by with no crowing, I turn to walk away and he starts crowing and he gets the squirts. Another 15 goes by and I go to leave again and he crowed as soon as I was past his point of view. I return to apply more squirts. Except this time I hide around the corner of the shed 2 feet away and wait. He crows, I squirt, and hide. After an hour of no crows I packed it in and went to work. 3 total hours were spent over the course of the half hour before sunrise to the time I left the scene. A discovery was made day 1, and that's that a rooster can swallow his need to crow. He was still trying, but he was stopping any attempt to crow with me visible. This was important, because if I saw no signs of learning I'd likely have stopped trying. But he can! So I'm gonna keep trying.
Day 2 was much like day 1. It was sort of a "refresher course". It took only 1 hour this time instead of 3.
Day 3 and this time I've locked him in the coop where it's dark until 8 am. This way I can catch him at the first crow and keep on him with consistency. He has begun to watch to see when I go back in to the house to begin crowing. Since I greeted him first thing and immediately went to hide, no crows happened while I laid in ambush. So I go inside. If course, he crows. He watched me as I went in the house, and must think that since I'm not in the yard he's safe. He's very wrong, of course, so I watch and wait at the back patio door waiting for him to try. He crows, I bust out and book it across the lawn to apply squirts. His insolence is annoying me. I begin assuming he gets the point, knows what I want from him, but he's gonna push every boundary trying to do what he wants. So I grab the hose, set to "destroy" and wait. He crows and I run to the coop and give him an "I said I mean BUSINESS" blast. I go back inside. 15 minutes pass and he crows again and I give him another taste of the hose. No crowing after. I come out and towel him off so he's not soaking wet. The jokes I have been crafting about this are amazing, juvenile and delightfully NSFW.
Day 4, also today! This time husband has volunteered to squirt the rooster. He's already up before dawn for work anyways, so I guess he thought he would try for a while. Hubs used just the pistol, no hose, spent a half hour applying my methods and I'm sitting here writing to you all hearing only the low murmur of road noise and wild birds. It is glorious. I woke at 7:45 and haven't heard any crowing. I really think this is working. Hubs and I discussed building a turret with a mic that would pick up a dB level and fire, so that we could pin him in a show cage with his own food and water and be away all day while the turret takes care of solving the problem of consistency. Because we both work, after we go for the day we can't be consistent. But it would take a few weeks to acquire parts and construct. In the mean time, low budget hustle n' squirt is going to continue.
I will return for day 5.
I read somewhere or heard from someone that they trained their rooster to not crow by hanging around all day next to the run with a squirt pistol, a lounge chair and a good book. I thought that sounded silly but it works to train cats to not do things we don't like in a safe, humane way. I decided to try.
Day 1 was the most interesting. At daybreak I'm out there in my jammies with a little pistol ready to go and he crowed and got shot about ten times before the gears started to very slowly turn. After 15 minutes goes by with no crowing, I turn to walk away and he starts crowing and he gets the squirts. Another 15 goes by and I go to leave again and he crowed as soon as I was past his point of view. I return to apply more squirts. Except this time I hide around the corner of the shed 2 feet away and wait. He crows, I squirt, and hide. After an hour of no crows I packed it in and went to work. 3 total hours were spent over the course of the half hour before sunrise to the time I left the scene. A discovery was made day 1, and that's that a rooster can swallow his need to crow. He was still trying, but he was stopping any attempt to crow with me visible. This was important, because if I saw no signs of learning I'd likely have stopped trying. But he can! So I'm gonna keep trying.
Day 2 was much like day 1. It was sort of a "refresher course". It took only 1 hour this time instead of 3.
Day 3 and this time I've locked him in the coop where it's dark until 8 am. This way I can catch him at the first crow and keep on him with consistency. He has begun to watch to see when I go back in to the house to begin crowing. Since I greeted him first thing and immediately went to hide, no crows happened while I laid in ambush. So I go inside. If course, he crows. He watched me as I went in the house, and must think that since I'm not in the yard he's safe. He's very wrong, of course, so I watch and wait at the back patio door waiting for him to try. He crows, I bust out and book it across the lawn to apply squirts. His insolence is annoying me. I begin assuming he gets the point, knows what I want from him, but he's gonna push every boundary trying to do what he wants. So I grab the hose, set to "destroy" and wait. He crows and I run to the coop and give him an "I said I mean BUSINESS" blast. I go back inside. 15 minutes pass and he crows again and I give him another taste of the hose. No crowing after. I come out and towel him off so he's not soaking wet. The jokes I have been crafting about this are amazing, juvenile and delightfully NSFW.
Day 4, also today! This time husband has volunteered to squirt the rooster. He's already up before dawn for work anyways, so I guess he thought he would try for a while. Hubs used just the pistol, no hose, spent a half hour applying my methods and I'm sitting here writing to you all hearing only the low murmur of road noise and wild birds. It is glorious. I woke at 7:45 and haven't heard any crowing. I really think this is working. Hubs and I discussed building a turret with a mic that would pick up a dB level and fire, so that we could pin him in a show cage with his own food and water and be away all day while the turret takes care of solving the problem of consistency. Because we both work, after we go for the day we can't be consistent. But it would take a few weeks to acquire parts and construct. In the mean time, low budget hustle n' squirt is going to continue.
I will return for day 5.
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