By Jennifer Sartell
(This post is not sponsored. The product interested me so I decided to share it with our readers.)
A local reader recently got a hold of me and asked if I was interested in taking a rooster off her hands. She lives in a downtown village setting and the law for her area states that only hens are allowed to be kept for noise purposes. Her rooster was a 3% male taken from a 97% pullet bin at the local feed store and was starting to crow.
She was extremely upset at the thought of re-homing him because she was afraid that whoever took him might butcher him. Her children had grown attached to the roo, they named him and she described him as a “puppy dog”. It was sad really.
Unfortunately I couldn’t take him. I have too many roosters right now as it is and introducing another full grown boy would most likely end up in a fight. I directed her to some farm sites where she could advertise a free rooster “to a good home”.
I get an e-mail like this at least once a month. More around this time of year when the spring chicks are starting to sexually mature and there’s no mistaking that one of the hens turned out to be a boy. Our own spring cockerels have recently started crowing and mating with our hens. I imagine there are many urban chicken keepers that are starting to panic.
No-Crow Collars
I did a little research to try and help the above lady out and I found a somewhat controversial product called the No-Crow Collar. It’s a Velcro collar that wraps snuggly around the rooster’s throat and softens the crow to a hoarse whisper.
How a Rooster Crows
When a rooster crows, it fills its lungs and its air sack (a pouch that rests above the lungs) in an inhalation. When the crow happens, all this air is released in one large burst. The result is quite loud, as anyone knows who’s ever heard a rooster.
The collar claims to slow this flow of air from being expelled all in one burst, resulting in a quiet, whispery crow.
How the Collars Work
“NO CROW Rooster Collars work by diminishing the force behind roosters’ crows. Reserves of air from air sacs (in addition to their lungs) are expelled all at once when they crow. When the NO CROW Rooster Collar is worn snugly around the neck (like a belt is worn around the waist) it tends to limit the force of the air and makes the crow quieter.”
There are a few of these collars on the market, and even some DIY instruction pages. (Links found below.)
Here is a video I found on YouTube by Jake 333.
Most of the controversy that I found seems to come from chicken forums and comments in the video responses of people using them. Most of the negative comments seem to come from people who haven’t used the collars but are concerned that the rooster is being “strangled”.
While I admit, the crow seems pathetic and somewhat gaggy, the rooster doesn’t appear to be in any pain. Most say that their rooster fought the fitting at first, but soon got used to the collar.
People who have used the collar also say that the rooster can eat and drink comfortably and live out a normal life.
I personally have no opinion on the product as being humane vs. inhumane, as we live in the country and our roosters can crow all they want. I haven’t used it personally but wanted to give our readers the opportunity to research it for themselves.
If it works, it may allow people in urban setting to be able to keep their roosters and participate in small scale breeding programs. It may allow more people to raise and perpetuate endangered breeds of poultry.
It may also keep a lot of roosters from the stew pot. And I bet any rooster would choose to wear a collar to that alternative.
I would love to hear your thoughts on this product, especially if you’ve used something similar. What was your experience? Do you believe it to be a humane practice? Did it stop the crowing? Let us know by leaving a comment below.
(This post is not sponsored. The product interested me so I decided to share it with our readers.)
7 Comments
Hi, I purchased the No Crow Collar about a month ago for my 8 month old blue laced red wyandotte rooster, Potluck. When he crowed which was morning, noon, and night, he roared (yes,roared). What made it worse was that it echoed through the woods behind the chicken coop. The No Crow Collar does work by making his roar into a gurgle. He still “talks” to the hens with clucking sounds,etc.
I have another rooster, Mr. Bojangles, that I got as a chick at the same time, and he crows beautifully, “Cocka Doodle Doo.” It is lovely to hear. lol
I made an anti-crow collar to save our roosters from the stockpot. One of them was very clever and would rip it off, so sadly got turned into soup. All pretty traumatic for us. However, the second one has one day Velcro colour and his feathers since the demise of his brother and very rarely crows. He’s a beautiful and docile bit so I’m so relieved it’s working. I have soft Velcro ties for garden plants so tried out those. It is important to make sure it’s not too tight; as the cockerel grows bigger it needs adjusting. On occasions I have loosened it too much and he started to crow again so I had to readjust the next day. Now he seems pretty used to it and he’s quite happy about me handling him and changing the tightness. As we lived in a semi-urban area close to neighbours and our neighbours were quite clear we shouldn’t have noisy cockerels, it seems like a win-win solution to me!
I’ve had a hard time figuring out exactly where on the neck do I put the no crow collar, and then also how long can I safely leave it on? once I put it on and find that it helps reduce the crowing, is it something I can leave on for days or does it need to come off every night?
breed chook no crow coller rooster
yes get rooster
I have a Turken Rooster… I wonder if I would have any problems with the collar such as raw skin issues? I can’t seem to find any references to have a this collar on a Turken.
That you for the video❣️That’s what my Nieghbors rooster was doing and I thought he was in pain his antics were unique. Thanks also for showing what the band looks like❣️I thought he was getting an electic shock….. relief thanks again, Amy
I recently purchased a no-crow collar for my rooster. He is a 6 month old Faverolles and was the “free exotic chick” from McMurray. He’s been anything but free (haha!), needing three staples in his neck after surviving a hawk attack and now the no-crow collar and saddles for 11 hens to protect them from him. The little guy didn’t crow much … maybe 3 – 4 times a week total, but I live in an area where roosters are a no-go. He’s a good rooster and extremely docile, so we wanted to keep him. I have had a difficult time with the no-crow collar, and assume I haven’t gotten on snug enough yet because he still crows and it’s loud. I have tightened it a bit. What I do notice is that while he still crows and it is loud, he is now crowing only on a rare occasion and during the mid-day (no early morning crowing). He didn’t like the collar at first, but was totally fine with it within 5 – 10 minutes. He’s been in it for three weeks now. We made sure there was nothing in the run or coop that he could catch it on. Ultimately, he still has to go. He doesn’t tread lightly on the ladies and while he is docile toward us, he has ripped the girls’ feathers off and they run from him all day. We fortunately found a friend who was more than happy to add him to their farm flock.