What are Your Thoughts on 'No Crow Rooster Collars?

I don't have a rooster at this time, partly because my boy Barry was getting too aggressive with me.  He might have been less aggressive with me if I had hatched him out myself.  Perhaps then we would have bonded.  But I got him and seven other babies when they were just 3 weeks old.  I don't think they were handled much before us.

However, the noise was the biggest factor for us.  We live in a rural area so roosters are allowed, and I do love the sound of a rooster crowing, just not at my bedroom window at 4:00 am!  We thought he was a she until he started developing a much bigger comb then his sister.  Then one morning I heard the craziest noise coming from the coop.  It sort of sounded like a mix between a prepubescent human boy trying to crow like a rooster, and a chicken with his nuts caught in a trap.  Okay, I know they don't have nuts hanging, but the sound wasn't pleasant either way.   It was kind of funny to hear -once I knew what he was trying to do.  It took him quite some time to perfect his crow.  He was successfully mating with my older hen and fertilizing her eggs long before he got that crowing thing down.

Then it became a problem.  He would crow just before the sun came up, then right after it came up, then when he was trying to woo the girls in hopes of mating, then after each mating session, then...you get the idea.  We would be awakened by his crowing at 4:00am and hear him crow at least another 20 times before 6:30 am, which is when we gave up all hope of sleeping through it and just got out of bed.

Unfortunately Barry had to go.


Today while I was reading the current issue of Backyard Poultry Magazine I discovered a product that might have helped us.  It's called the 'No Crow Rooster Collar'.  Have you heard about this product?  I am not sure how long they have been around but I think it is a neat idea.  The theory behind this product is that you prevent the rooster from crowing by reducing the amount of air he can build up in his throat to make the crowing sound.  This collar doesn't obstruct his normal breathing airway, or inhibit him from eating or drinking normally, it only prevents the throat from expanding to hold a pocket of air needed to make the crow sound.

I found this video on YouTube showing how it works.  The rooster's crow sounds kind of like a tracheotomy cough, but it's much quieter than a normal crow sound I guess.  Also, as you will see in the video, it does NOT inhibit him from performing his masculine duties!  The guy who made this video, made his own collar using an extra wide Velcro strip.  The official 'No Crow Rooster Collar' is prettier and they have already worked out the fitment issues, (and actual users tell me there is a big difference) but if you didn't want to spend the $14 for a official one from the NCRC company, you could try to make your own I guess. 

[Author's note: I don't mean to sound insensitive to people who have a tracheotomy, it is just that I have worked in the nursing field, so when I heard the crow in these videos, that is the sound that it reminded me of.  Also, I have been informed by one of my readers who uses the official No Crow Collar that the sound is actually a muted crow sound.]  

Here's another video of a different rooster wearing the official 'No Crow Rooster Collar'. 

Do you have roosters? Is their crowing a problem at your house? Have you tried this collar or some other device or method to stop crowing, or at least quiet the crowing noise?  I would love to hear you thoughts. Maybe once we get the new coop built away from our bedroom I might get another rooster.  I haven't decided about that yet, but knowing that such a product is available if the noise became a problem, kind of makes the thought of another rooster to fertilize my eggs a little tempting.



*This was an unpaid, unsolicited post merely 'mentioning' a product that I have not tried, I am just curious what my readers thoughts are about this or similar products .  There are no affiliate links in this post.  Please see my Full Disclosure here.

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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Weird Egg Laying Event Right in Front of My Camera. ~Chicken Pro's Please Chime In!

Tonight when I was spending some time with my chickens, like I do almost every evening an hour or so before their bedtime, the weirdest thing happened.  Maybe you chicken experts can explain this one to me.

I happen to have my camera with me and caught this whole thing in pictures, how cool is that?  Okay, so here is some background information first.  Big Red laid a beautiful egg at about 8:00 am this morning.  A perfect egg in every way.  Then this evening at about 7:30 pm while I was snapping pics of the chickens, I happen to turn towards her.  She was standing still by the door of the run.  She looked like she was about to go poop...you know what that looks like -she pulls her butt feathers in, slightly squats and her tail feathers pull downward as she pushes it out.  Well when she did that I noticed nothing came out.  I wanted to take her picture so I waited another second then snapped a shot (thinking I would miss the actual pooping and get a still shot before she walked away).  Instead I got this shot.

Do you see the bulge at her vent?  Here is a close up with an arrow...

What the heck?!?  That looks like a baby crowning!  And then all of a sudden it is out on the ground.  Even Big Red was shocked by this.

Big Red: "Did I do that?"

She laid an egg! But wait, she just laid an egg about 11 hours ago...what happened to the 25 hour ovulation thing? 

And this was not a normal egg either.  For one, it did not have a shell, and it had a....uh, (for lack of a better explanation), it had what looked like an open umbilical cord on the end.

And the 'white' of the egg was slowly dripping out of the tube opening.  The outer egg sack was thick and did not break when I picked it up. What the heck happened here?  Surely you longtime chicken keepers have seen this before.  Can you tell me why she laid another egg after only 12 hours, and why this one had the open tube on one end?

Could this be like when we humans have miscarriages because the baby is not formed properly?  Could this be a miscarriage of an egg that wasn't suppose to be ready until tomorrow morning? After she laid this 'egg' she took a few steps away then took a standing nap.  She does that on occasion, just her thing I guess.  But obviously she felt comfortable afterwards so she just napped a few moments.

I am not going to freak out or anything, weird stuff happens when chickens begin laying eggs, this I know and understand, but this was just so weird, probably because it happened right in front of me (and my camera fortunately).  Please share your experience on this if you have seen this before.

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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Keeping the Chicks Cool in the Hot Arizona Summer

One of the toughest times on chickens in my area is the heat in the summer.  We live in the high desert of Arizona.  Although we're not nearly as hot as they are down in the Phoenix Valley, we still feel the summer heat.  But thankfully we cool way down at night, sometimes as much as 20+ degrees cooler than down in Phoenix.  Its because we are not covered with pavement.  We have exposed earth (and lots of it) to help cool things down when the sun sets.  In Phoenix the hard man-made surfaces (roads, parking lots, and buildings) absorb extreme heat all day then radiate it back at you after dark so sometimes it can still be 95 degrees after the sun goes down!  I feel sorry for those chicken keepers trying to keep their chickens from becoming 'oven baked chicken' with the feathers on!

To help my chickens stay cooler I have done a few things that I hope adds up to enough to keep them more comfortable in the summer.   First we have a mister that runs on a timer that comes on at about 10:00 am and automatically turns off at about 4:30pm.  By this time of day the sun is on the other side of the chicken run and partially blocked by the hills around us, but the sunlight is still out so it will dry up any water left on the ground by the mister.  The chickens don't like the water to spray directly on them so I have to make sure it is not too close to where they eat or drink because I don't want them to avoid eating and drinking all day.  It is actually placed on top of my grazing frame...so it gently mists the greenery growing in the frame.

Green mister attached to the wire fence, misting over the grazing frame with the wind blowing the cool air towards where the chickens hang out under the coop.

The coop itself serves as a source of shade because it sits on approximately 12" high posts and it's 10 feet tall.  So during the early and late part of the day the coops tall stature provides shade in front of or behind the coop.  And at all times after about 8:00am there is shade underneath the coops 6' x 6' floor.  The chickens love to hang out under the coop during the hottest time of the day because the wind blows the cool air from the mister towards them (we live on top of a hill so the wind is almost always blowing). That wind also makes for a nice breeze when sitting in the shade anywhere in the chicken run.

Chicks chillin under the coop.

Since the coop is a large wooden building with a metal roof and no insulation, it can get pretty warm inside during the day.  When the sun sets, it cools down pretty quickly to a comfortable temperature inside around the low 70's.  The chickens don't hang out inside the coop during the day, but Big Red does go inside to lay her egg.  Big Red seemed to be following the 25 hour rotating schedule (chicken ovulation cycle), she was laying early in the morning, but it has moved back 1 hour each day until now she is deciding to lay in the hottest time of the afternoon.  It can get pretty hot in there from noon to 4:00pm so I needed to move that hot air out so she and her egg don't cook while she is laying the egg.  The side windows are approximately 21" square and has about a 1-1/2" boxed in frame, so I bought a 20" square box fan to fit in the upper window on the side opposite of the most shaded side.  I used wire in the corners to attach the corners of the box fan to the hardware cloth in the windows.

Box fan installed in upper window of the coop on the side with the least amount of shade. Blowing out.

The fan is set to blow the air out.  Since this is the side with the least amount of shade I didn't want to pull that warmer air inside the coop.  By making it blow out, it would essentially suck air in from the opposite side which is in the shade most of the day.

As you can see in the picture above, the window on the inlet side is a lower screened in window so the current of air moving will come in from the lower section of one side and blow out on the upper side of the opposite side, thereby moving more of the inside air around.  If I had opened the upper window on this side I might have only moved the air at the upper level in the coop.  Having the fan blow out, rather than in, also prevented the current of air from blowing the litter around (I use the deep litter method).  The normal temperatures inside the coop on a hot day (when outside temps are in the 90's) would be about 110-120 degrees, but with the fan on I can keep it at about 5 degrees warmer than outside, and of course it is shady in there.  Warm, but not unbearable if you need to go lay an egg.

Another way the chickens say cool is to follow the shade.  In the am they stay pretty much under or behind the coop.  As the sun gets pretty high in the sky the house offers about 4 feet of shade for the full depth (20 feet) of the run.  So it stays pretty comfortable up against the side of the house.  That is where I have the water fountain installed.  The chickens tend to dribble a bit of water when they get a drink from the nipples so this makes for a great place to scratch down to the earth and cool themselves.   Once it starts getting about 5-6:00pm the sun is mostly blocked by the house, height of the coop, and hills around us, so everything starts cooling down.

Chillin around the Chicken Fountain.

One other thing I do to help them stay cooler is bring them cool treats just before it starts to get hot.  Watermelon, strawberries, and veggies scraps from the night before are a favorite around here.  I can eat an entire watermelon in a day...I shouldn't, but I can (and do) so the chickens have a never ending supply of cool watermelon to share with me.

Chicks at 6-1/2 weeks old enjoying watermelon.

Cool Summertime Treats.

When it was cool at night I was giving them some scratch before bed so the corn would warm them up for the night, but not anymore...it is just too hot for that now.  But they have been enjoying the results of my fodder experimentation's...cool greens are always a welcomed treat!  

How do you keep your chickens cooler during the hot summer months where you live?  I would love it if you shared your tips and tricks...we could all learn from each other to benefit our chicks.

Keeper of 1 husband, 2 grandkids, 3 dogs,
3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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Question for the Chicken Pro's: How Real is Salmonella Risk in Handling Your Chickens?

Back when I was a child raising chickens we never gave a second thought to the risks of Human Salmonella infection, and never did I or any member of my family become ill because of it.  However, now that I am reading everything I can get my hands on about raising chickens again, I keep seeing articles telling me how risky handling chickens can be for humans.

I just read an article on TractorSupply.com about Poultry Handling Safety Guidelines and they make it sound like chickens are practically toxic.  The article says that children under the age of 5 should not touch chickens at all.  They also said to not let Chickens inside your home, especially in bathrooms.  Not that I planned on having chickens in my house hanging out like my cats do, but I would have baby chicks inside if it were to be too cold for them outside.

An article on the CDC website seems to be saying that the high risks are related to baby chicks (and ducklings). However is says that these baby chicks can contaminate the coop and the grounds where they roam.  They didn't specifically say adult chickens, however if the babies contaminate everything, wouldn't the adults be able to carry and pass on this infection? 

So one question I would love an answer to from you chicken pro's is how do you clean out the coop and use that material in your garden/compost if everything that comes in contact with the chickens has a potential risk of contaminating you with Salmonella?  

Also, both of these articles say to not snuggle or kiss your birds....well I have fond memories of having my favorite chickens sit in my lap quite often and I have read many of your blog posts sharing stories of your chickens being sociable and sitting in your lap.  So are we expected to wear a HazMat suit when handling our chickens so they don't get Salmonella germs on our clothes???

Is Human Salmonella Infection really so much more of a higher risk these days?   Are chickens more Salmonella-ridden then they were several decades ago or have our immune systems become more susceptible to it?  Or are people just more paranoid about things these days?

Please share what you know about this issue and how you have dealt with it.

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3 cats, and 17 Chickens!

 

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