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Rooster stopped crowing

aprilfool
15 years ago

I have a Road Island Red Rooster who was crowing and strutting around with his hens. He got out of his pen and was attacked by my neighbors dog. His tail feathers were pulled out but are growing back and he eats good but has never crowed since that happened. I don't see any injury on his neck area or anywhere else. That was about 2 months ago. Anyone have an idea as to why he won't crow?

Comments (10)

  • velvet_sparrow
    15 years ago

    Is the dog still around where your roo can see him? Being attacked by a dog is pretty darned terrifying for a chicken, and if he is still worried about the dog, it can stress him out quite a bit.

    How is he acting now? Does he seem normal, healthy & perky? Has he lost any weight (feel his breastbone or keel)? Open his mouth and look in his mouth & throat for signs of injury, growths, fungus, etc. Listen to his breathing for sounds of rasping or gurgling, and check his eyes & nares (nostrils) for watery discharge. There's nothing saying he can't have something ailing him besides the dog attack, so make sure he isn't just plain sick.

    If he isn't sick, and cannot see or hear the dog anymore, perhaps he just needs time to recover mentally as well as physically. Strange as it seems, it may help to stroke his ego a bit. Talk to him and tell him what a pretty boy he is, and give him lots of affection to reinforce how safe he is. When you take the chickens goodies, offer him the first bites from your hand for HIM to pass out--that shows that you respect his place as head of the flock and are deferring to him to pass out goodies and call his girls. At our house we call this 'tithing the roo', and it goes a long way towards building & maintaining the flock dynamic, even though it seems a bit weird! More on how roos work & think is here on my chicken info site:

    http://jackshenhouse.com/VSChickRoosters.htm

    Velvet ~:>

  • aprilfool
    Original Author
    15 years ago

    Thanks for the response. My neighbor pinned up his dog and my rooster can't see him.
    After the attack we put our rooster in a seperate pen to recover. When he recovered we put him back with the hens and they jumped on him, he just hunkered down so we seperated him again and got another rooster for our hens as we needed the eggs.

    He is healthy as can be and seems to enjoy his space by himself. Like you mentioned, he may be mentally stressed out and his ego is shattered. We will take your suggestion and pamper him more often and later after his tail feathers grow completely out we will get him a new hen to see how he reacts.

  • seramas
    15 years ago

    We live out away from town on 2 acres and have a dog problem. Why do people think that its OK to let their animals run free on land they don't own. I have about 550 chickens (sometimes as many as 2500), 4 quail, 21 pheasants and a dog. My wife has about 20 cats. We don't let one single animal run loose! I've lost 27 chickens (Seramas)to a dog that went thru the greenhouse door that was closed. Owners came after their dog and said that he would never do such a thing and refused to pay for damages-after the threat of legal action did pay. After the dogs visit it was 7 to 10 days before the hens were in full swing. I could imagine the fear and trauma still lingering in the poor rosters mind. I'd move him to another cage inside the coop. It is important that he stays in sight of the other chickens so when he is released they won't treat him like a newbe. Give him some of his favorite treats and maybe a new hen-sort of take his mind off it and in a few weeks return him to the group. Wish you and he the best. Keep on Chick'en!

  • newbiegardner
    15 years ago

    My rooster also stopped crowing about a week ago. He was in a separate coop by himself as we just got him and wanted to introduce him to our two hens s-l-o-w-l-y.

    While he was separated, he crowed just fine. We put him together in the following coop a week ago and he stopped crowing:

    {{gwi:46313}}

    One problem is that the bigger hen is a bit of a bully and picked on the rooster for the first few hours they were togther. She has stopped picking on him now...but I think his ego is bruised. He is also a bantem rooster and they are small...while my Americauna hens are much bigger than him. Perhaps their size has intimidated him out of crowing.

    I'm curious if a bantam rooster and americauna hen will mate and if the eggs will hatch. I would love to grow my small flock.

    Anyway, my guess is your rooster and mine are going through the same thing. A bruised ego/fear and that is why they stopped crowing.

  • seamommy
    15 years ago

    My rooster, Rusty, stopped crowing after I pulled out his tail feathers. Oh now calm down, I didn't mean to do it. I was just trying to catch him to dust him with mitecide but he jumped and I grabbed, he flew and all I had in my hand was tail feathers. He didn't crow for a long time after that and I don't think he was mating with the hens much either. But the feathers are growing back, he's mating again and all seems well in the chicken yard. Cheryl

  • OCONNER_alex
    10 years ago

    I have a bantam rooster and i noticed he won't crow, and he won't eat or drink like he should, and he's always walking around with his mouth open. So I opened it up and saw what looked like a piece of soggy,wet dog food. So I got it out, but he started to bleed a little. I thought that he would be fine but I checked on him again a week or so later and it had grown back!!
    Can some one tell me what it is and if it could spread to the rest of the flock. Thanks in advance!

  • Sumatra
    10 years ago

    Please post a pic (his beak, the whole rooster, and the stuff you found down his beak), as it is nearly impossible to diagnose a chicken's condition by description only.

  • John
    6 years ago

    Old thread but I just want to comment that the guy seramas up there complaining about a dog is full of sh*t!! 550 chickens on 2 acres of land???! Why do you think it is okay to pollute your neighbor's well water with poop from 550 chickens? I live on 2 acres and we can hardly free range 30... Lol.

  • Vanessa Garibay
    6 months ago

    A very simili incidincident happened to my rooster two days ago stop crowing since a dog attack same thing he doesnt have any open wounds not broken bones everything is fine je eats fine drinks fine he just doesnt crow

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