Rooster Abatement

[Mr. Bloom]

Have you considered sitting down and reasoning with the rooster...explaining that it's possible to co-exist, but that he really needs to do something about his sleeping habits????

[Zen]

Roosters are notoriously difficult to reason with, Mr. Silver.

I would prefer a rooster over a thumping stereo anyday.

[mimitabby]

unfortunately USUALLY thumping stereos which I also hate don't come on at 330 am, 430 am and 445 am, etc, etc.
Roosters crow all night unless they are NOT disturbed.

[mimitabby]

I know that the shelter where I volunteer has humane traps for raccoons and cats and such, I wonder if something like that would work on a rooster.

Mimi--I was just thinking about gathering up a bunch of cut flowers from the garden and approaching the little girl next door in a gentle way. She always seems frightened of me so a complaint from me about the rooster might come across as extra scary. I'll work up to it, I guess.

I think it would be hard to trap a rooster. CHickens LOVE worms, ( you should see them go NUTS when you offer worms!!) but they also like stuff like fresh corn.. So a trap with fresh corn in it might work.

I see what you mean about the little girl. My hispanic neighbors have strapping sons bigger than me. They'd be easy to approach, and the parents would cave because they don't want problems with authority!
Good luck!

[RolliePollie]

Rooser update...

I think the poor guy roosted in one of the apple trees across the street. I could hear him crowing (first time at 4:56 a.m.) but I could tell he was a little ways off. So I turned on a fan and went right back to sleep. I just hope he stays over in the orchard and doesn't come back to my yard!

Yes, Mr. Silver, I did try reasoning with him...as a matter of fact, that rooster and I had a long conversation yesterday. I tried to explain to him that it wasn't personal and I didn't want to hurt him, and that I was sorry I was scaring him by chasing him through the woods with a broom, but that he really, really, really needed to go away and shut his trap because I was beginning to feel rage and hatred towards him. I'm not sure he understood what I was saying, but he did make some clucking sounds as if to acknowledge my point of view. And that fact that he roosted across the street makes me think that perhaps he was listening.

[mimitabby]

Sara, if you can keep him away from your property, you're going to sleep better. Now I have no rooster but a neighbor does. I can sleep through the night without hearing rooster sounds, but during the day, I can hear him and when I'm not trying to sleep, I love the sound.

Good luck!

[northstar]

can you borrow someone's dog?

Ohhhh, yikes! Cruel and unusual punishment!
I'm more of an axe person.

[mimitabby]

you could cut your foot off with an ax.

[Haudlady]

Too bad you couldn't send him over to New Hampshire - DH wants a rooster for our 25+ hens!

[bmccasland]

Sara,
Wyle E Coyote may be available to "handle" your neighborhood rooster.

[mcoleman]

I think I remember a series of letters in Dear Abby about crowing roosters. Seems like people wrote in and said the rooster could not crow if he couldn't stand up and stretch his neck. The solution was to put him in a pen with a low ceiling at night. Of course, they did not say how to catch him first.

[RoadRaven]

or maybe 11 herbs & spices. hehehe

This is how I dealt with our neighbours 4 roosters... I warned them and warned them and then out came the .22

I like roosters, but not when they prefer to crow after midnight and before 4am...

[Mr. Bloom]

Yes, Mr. Silver, I did try reasoning with him... I'm not sure he understood what I was saying, but he did make some clucking sounds as if to acknowledge my point of view. And that fact that he roosted across the street makes me think that perhaps he was listening.

I bet you charmed him

But his pride precluded him from admitting it directly to you, so he just left.

Congrats of the progress

[lph]

Hilarious thread

There's a Norwegian childrens book series (prob. originally Swedish, come to think of it) about an elderly gentleman Pettersen and his cat Findus, who live alone in the countryside with a lot of animals. The drawings are just gorgeous, detailed and very funny.

Anyway, one of the books is about how the rooster Jussi (named after the famous tenor Jussi Bjørling) comes to the farm, and drives them all insane with his crowing. They reason with him, and set rules - five minutes of crowing every hour on the hour, only in the morning etc - but all this just makes Jussi very very mopey, frustrated and unhappy.

SPOILER

He finally gives up and disappears during the night. The hens are left behind to sigh and mourn, and dream up heroic stories about him coming back someday

That's funny - it's been translated into German but I couldn't find it in English:
http://www.amazon.com/Findus-Hahn-Ko...695009&sr=8-16

[mimitabby]

Hilarious thread

There's a Norwegian childrens book series (prob. originally Swedish, come to think of it) about an elderly gentleman Pettersen and his cat Findus, who live alone in the countryside with a lot of animals. The drawings are just gorgeous, detailed and very funny.


That's funny - it's been translated into German but I couldn't find it in English:
http://www.amazon.com/Findus-Hahn-Ko...695009&sr=8-16

That's too bad, sounds like a neat book.