QUIET COCKERELS - An Option For Chicken Fanciers Without The Noise Problems

*** QUIET COCKERELS - An Option For Chicken Fanciers Without The Noise Problems ***

Many chicken fanciers dream of keeping cockerels, but in reality unless you live out in the sticks or not surrounded by neighbours sadly for many chicken fanciers keeping a cockerel is just not an option. For those who decide to run the risk and keep a cockerel in a built up area or where they are prohibited usually end up getting served noise abatement orders. But is there a way around this??? Many chicken fanciers advise to use different things to tone down the noise of a cockerel, these range from...

• A cockerel box
• Being put in a darkened cage until a more appropriate hour
• Fitting a cockerel collar
• Sound proofing the coop

But these options in our opinion are temporary measure at best and do not always work. SO..., is there a more permanent option??? YES there is and this involves surgery which we recommend that you research first and consult a vet or avian specialist to carry this out and DO NOT try this at home.

THE PROCEDURE 

Here I will briefly describe the anatomy, sound production, the procedure itself, after care and the desired results.

Anatomy

In birds, the syrinx or voice box is located within the chest. It is represented above with the red arrows. The syrinx is a small, flexible piece of the trachea. It does not have the cartilage rings found throughout the trachea. All of this is contained within the clavicular air sac. Birds have many air sacs that help lighten the bird and serve as storage for air. It is possible for birds to exchange air through any of these air sacs. If you would like a more in-depth explanation on bird respiration follow this LINK. The yellow triangle is the beak and the pink ovals represents the lungs.

Sound Production

I like to compare the syrinx to a balloon. If you have stretched the neck of a balloon and it make that whistling sound, you can understand how the syrinx works. There are muscles attached to the syrinx that will stretch it and the abdominal muscles force air through it, creating the sound. The way this procedure works is to create an opening on either side of the syrinx to allow the air to escape into the air sac instead of through it, out of the mouth. The blue oval represents this artificial opening.

Procedure

The cockerel is anesthetised using injectable drugs. Gas anesthesia cannot be used because the surgery is taking place within the respiratory system and always is a risk to birds. Anesthesia is one of the risks of this procedure, as it is with any other surgery and can result in death. The area around the thoracic inlet (where the neck joins the body) is plucked and a small incision is made. Then the clavicular air sac is entered, exposing the trachea, heart, lungs etc within the chest. The syrinx is entered and the split is created.  I have built some very specific instrument to create the opening in syrinx that have increased the success of the surgery substantially. The skin is closed with 2-3 small, dissolvable stitches and a piece of gauze is stitched over the closed incision.

After Care

The gauze that is stitched in place is removed after 1 day. It seems that the end results are better if the cockerel crowing is minimized. This may be accomplished by keeping him away from the other birds and/or placed in a short cage inside away from the sounds of the flock. The short cage discourages him from stretching his neck out to crow.  The stitches dissolve after a couple of weeks. The feathers grow back quickly and it leaves them looking like before the surgery.

Desired Results

The goal of this procedure is to leave a permanent opening in either side of the syrinx to allow the air to pass into the air sac. This does not seem to cause any pain or discomfort to the cockerel. The cockerel still crows, cackles, fights, mates etc. There is no clinical evidence of pain for this procedure but with any type of surgery there maybe and a pain killer (metacam/loxicom) is recommended to be used for 1-2 days following the procedure and 'if' this was painful then the cockerel would not try to crow and this procedure does not seem to impact life in anyway just make the cockerel quieter but with a more permanent solution. We believe this procedure is better than putting a cockerel in a cockerel box, darkened room, fitting a crow collar and such like. A young, pre-crowing cockerel will have a higher success rate because they have less inflammation to the syrinx which may lead to scar tissue build up, that is why it is recommended to try and reduce the amount of crowing post surgery.

*** ALWAYS CONSULT A VET OR AVIAN SPECIALIST *** To carry out any such surgery, please DO NOT try this at home even 'if' you have the equipment and think you are up to the task. The Poultry Pages DOES NOT endorse or advise any chicken fancier to carry out any such procedure but this gives you another avenue to consider. 

© The Poultry Pages | With Credit to (www.quietroosters.com)

<== Back to The Poultry Pages