I think it is weird....

[buckabucka]

I did not sleep well last night, - it was hot and the windows were open, and it suddenly struck me as very odd that roosters crow at daybreak. The neighbor's rooster started first, -a faint sound in the distance, and then our three roosters chimed in.

I love the sound, and I love that each rooster has a different crow. It makes sense that a rooster might crow if there is danger, but why at day break? Is there a purpose in the wild? I don't know of any other bird, or animal that greets the day like this. Perhaps I need more sleep.....

 

[Smart Red]

You must have a very well-behaved rooster. Mine seem to crow way too often throughout the day. I love the sound of having a rooster and I appreciate their calls for food and danger, too.

Still, I could understand a neighbor not liking crowing all day long like mine tend to do. (That's why I'm building the coop right next to the neighbor's bedroom window.)

 

[thistlebloom]

Well my roosters always seem to greet daybreak a few hours before it actually arrives.
Over achievers I guess.

 

[Chickie'sMomaInNH]

same with mine, usually if i'm having a difficult time staying asleep and wake around 4am i hear the roos starting to crow. a neighbor complained and i have to get rid of them. i took 6 to get butchered last weekend and i'm trying to hide my last 2 in the insulated coop. 1 is a 6 year old bantam cochin who doesn't seem to crow till after 7am (think it might be because i crate trained him at an early age), he's also short and quieter than most of my roos. the other is CC, bantam fav/cochin cross, who has a crow stop collar (doesn't really stop the crowing but does take the volume and continuous crowing down a notch). it is much quieter in the coop and the 2 remaining roos have to stay cooped-i have a couple areas i shelved off to use as broody pens/quarantine areas inside the coop.

 

[thistlebloom]

Chickie, my current rooster is a barred bantam Cochin. He's a really nice little rooster, very calm and does his roosterly duties with a certain charming chivalry, if you can use those terms for a rooster. His crow is subdued and not as strident as a few full size guys we've had. I like hearing him.

Are your neighbors that close that the roosters are so annoying to them?
Sorry you had to get rid of them.

 

[buckabucka]

We are in the country, but our neighbors in all directions are not far. One likes the roosters crowing, another claims not to hear them, but the one directly across the street is in close ear-shot.

I've given them all free eggs from time to time, but I've never discussed the noise with the across-the-street neighbor. One day I was working in my garden, behind the hoop house so not visible. Every time the rooster crowed, I heard the neighbor whistle a responding crow back. He stopped when he realized I was out there, but I took it as a sign that he was enjoying their presence!

 

[canesisters]

I've wondered the same thing. I don't know - but I suspect that it's a sort of "check in" thing for the flock.
If they were not being kept in one area - either by a pen or by us providing a steady source of food and water - I think that the flock would range over a large area. When they start to stir in the morning, he sounds off with sort of a "Is everyone here?" crow. And then in the evening he goes off again with sort of a "Time to roost, everyone nearby?" crow...
Just a thought

 

[digitS']

Don't you hear the robins singing some mornings at 3:30am?

This is my space. I'm a little nervous, right now. Gotta work off some tension. Can't see beyond the end of this branch. The world is a scary place. You girls are safe with me. Hey! Over there! LoudMouth!

Steve

 

[Ridgerunner]

I think the crowing is mostly a rooster marking his territory. In the wild a normal set-up would have each adult rooster having his own territory but with several roosters in the same general area with their own territory. Each rooster would have his harem along with any immature chicks. It might even include a few subordinate roosters that accept his authority, I'm not sure about that. When the cockerels reach a certain age and start to become rivals he would drive them out of his flock. When those cockerels matured enough to start their own flock they'd set up their own territory and attract a hen or two, not necessarily from their parent's flock. That would keep the genetic diversity up.

Instead of one large flock in the wild it would be more like a cluster of many flocks. Since chickens are prey animals there would be a constant turnover of chickens, so things would be constantly mixed up genetically. One of the members of BYC, Centrarchid, keeps his chickens this way. They have a big territory and sort themselves out like this, while he and his dogs are constantly patrolling for predators. I think he is a college professor that enjoys studying the chickens and how they behave. He keeps mostly games and Dominiques. The games are as close to wild chickens as you can get but the Dominiques do OK. His roosters tend to defend their territory but not encroach on another's territory, at least not much.

Cane, there is probably an element of gathering the flock involved too, or at least letting his flock know where he is. But I think the main purpose is marking his territory so the other mature roosters know where not to tread. Something like a bear or pack of wolves marking their territory.

 

[MoonShadows]

My two Delaware Roosters usually start soon after 3:30am, but I think that may be because I get up at 3:30am, and they probably see the light from the house. I read in a few articles that said scientists really don't know why roosters seem to crow more as the sun is about to come up.

But, according to a GRIT Magazine article:

Turns out the answer is simpler than you might think. First, roosters crow all the time. The connection with the sun coming up is a misconception. “They might, on occasion, crow right at dawn. But it’s just a coincidence,” Pete Alcorn (TransitionsAbroad.com) says. “Roosters crow whenever they feel like it: morning, noon and night, not to mention afternoon, evening and the parts of the day that don’t have names.”

Roosters crow because they hear other roosters crowing, to show that a certain place in the barnyard is their turf, to try and assert their authority over another rooster, or even to gloat when a hen cackles after laying an egg. Joe Faust, the Accidental Farmer (JoeCliffordFaust.com/chickens), says, “I think the general rule for this is that a rooster crows any time it wants to – or feels the need. For all I know, mine may crow on and off all night, but I just hear them in the morning.”

As a diurnal animal (one that is active during the day), the rooster starts his daily doings when the sun comes up. If you think about early morning, it’s almost always associated with bird song. Most birds seem to spend time shouting their messages to the world in the morning, and chickens are no different.

David Feldman addresses this question in When Do Fish Sleep? He quotes Janet Hinshaw of the Wilson Ornithological Society who says, “Most of the crowing takes place in the morning, as does most singing, because that is when the birds are most active, and most of the territorial advertising takes place then. Many of the other vocalizations heard throughout the day are for other types of communication, including flocking calls, which serve to keep members of a flock together and in touch if they are out of sight from one another.”

The reason that we associate a rooster’s crow with the dawn is most likely because that’s when it’s most noticeable to our sleepy selves. When the relative quiet of night is disturbed by the local rooster, we sit up, take notice, and maybe grumble a little on the way to the barn.