Will castrating a cockerel stop it crowing?

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Drumbeater

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Hi there
This may be a very odd question, but would having a cockerel castrated (thereby turning him into a capon) actually stop him crowing? I'm asking out of sheer curiosity, but a friend of mine recently bought what she though were three POL pullets, and one of them has turned out to be a cockerel! She doesn't want to get rid, but has a problem with the neighbours complaining about him crowing.
Any ideas?
Cheers
Drum
 
If she bought the birds as POL pullets, the best thing to do would be to contact the breeder to ask for an exchange, or for him to take the cockerel back. By POL an experienced breeder should be able to tell if the birds are female or not, and be willing to exchange or take back if a late developer turns out to be a cockerel. There will still be the problem of introducing a single bird to the flock so it would be best to get two rather than one.
 
Caponising would, in theory, stop the cockerel from crowing. It should then behave like a non-laying hen. It will then just get big and fat and there is not much of a life there. The testicles are situated below the shoulders under the rib cage. A massive operation to remove them involving moving most of the internal organs and I doubt any vet would agree to do it, no matter how much you offered. Capons used to be produced because they grew big but had very tender meat even at a year old. The barbaric operation was done on the cockerels between 3 and 4 months (highest survival rate) WITHOUT anaesthetic and had a 25 -30% mortality rate as a result.

Marigold's advice is your friends best option. I would get two hens to replace him as suggested.
 
Gosh, I had no idea the operation was so big - I'm used to dogs and horses, where it's quite a simple operation!You can still get capons for Christmas, but I've no idea where they get them from.
I'll pass on your advice but they've got really attached to their little cockerel and don't want to have to get rid.
Cheers!
 
The option for her is to keep him inside the coop until a reasonable hour, with the vents positioned facing away from the neighbours. Cockerels are a particular problem in the Summer months with the early sunrise. Ours start when the wild birds start singing (same reason, different noise), at about 4.00am.
 
I have cockerels in a residential area, they are 6 months old and making more noise every day. I let all my chickens out after 9.00 am so as not to disturb anyone close-by. They do, however, start to make a noise around 5.00 am, but it is muffled by them being in the coop and I have not received any complaints - so far. So if your friends want to keep their cockerel then they should follow these guidelines. But, I cannot see why they would want to keep spending good money on something that is unproductive. Most people keep chickens for their eggs, if no eggs, then the only reasonably alternative is "in to the pot", so long as you can do the deed and also do the feathering and gutting, not up most peoples street. But if you think about it, this is what happens to any of the chickens you buy at the supermarket, only thing is, you have to do it yourself.

Regards,

James
 
Hi Jamesb4. I find that the cockerels have the most character by a long way, if you have the inclination to get to know them. Worth having one just for that, aside from the peacekeeping, defence and breeding aspects. Of course the downsides are another beak to feed (but they eat very little when adult), noise and trodden hens. So from our breeding of 20 most of the cockerels were eaten, three were kept for us for breeding (but one died defending his hens from a fox) and two were sold. One of those (Billy) went to a local breeder and has fathered many hundreds of laced Wyandottes with his 6 girls -lucky boy!
 
In answer to the question, if the cockerel is already crowing then caponisation is unlikely to effective in stopping the crowing once it is started. Chris is correct in that in chickens the errr...male bits are tucked up well out of the way and not that a straight forward operation as say a dog or a cat where things are a bit more shall we say accessible? :D
 
hi i dont think it will he will just go up an octave i mean does it stop a dog barking,uncle fox
 
charliefox said:
hi i dont think it will he will just go up an octave i mean does it stop a dog barking,uncle fox
Click to expand...

I swear those shrill little cockerels are the worse! :D :D
 
But horses and bulls lose their male characteristics after castration.
 
not all the time they dont chuck , i have been with horses for nearly 30 yrs now and i have met some that even though they have had the chop they can still carry the stallion insticnts but that is getting rare now its mostly caused when some of the testicle is left behind and the animal in turn becomes known as a rig and some can be very very nasty .i would of given anything to have kept my to boys :(
 
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