How to Stop a Rooster from Crowing

My neighbor Jimbo has a pet rooster named Mo. Mo is a very handsome rooster, but he is a rooster! Meaning he has to wake the neighborhood up every morning. As a free-range rooster, he can make the rounds to make sure his warning of the impending sunrise is heard. I get up early, though not quite as early as Mo most mornings. My neighbors are not early risers.

While I have no problem with Mo, a couple of the neighbors do. So I search the net for how to stop a rooster from crowing. I was amazed at how many suggestions were on the net about the subject. The top 200 suggestions were with a shotgun. Then to stop a rooster from crowing on Sunday, eat him on Saturday. Caponizing the bird was recommend but doesn't seem to work. Caponizing by the way is neutering. They crow anyway just with a higher pitch.

Chemical caponizing was mentioned. If enough female bovine hormones were slipped under the neck skin of the rooster, he stopped crowing. The roosters also grew fatter faster and tended to behave oddly. I saw no mention of what type of odd behavior, I could only imagine. If your rooster is kept for breeding, this is not a good option.

An article in the Honolulu Star-Bulletin had a good solution. Cock fighting seems to be legal in Hawaii as of 2004. The reporter interviewed the president of the local game breeders associate. The game breeders keep the roosters in cages covered with blankets or black plastic at night. See the article here. The dark coop idea requires catching the bird every night, or keeping him penned all the time. Not a good idea for free-ranging Mo.

Another good suggestion was building the cage for the bird that allowed him to walk around comfortably, but with the ceiling low enough he could not stretch out to crow. This is reported to work and there is no need to cover the cage. Still you have to catch the bird every night.