Why do roosters crow in the morning? It can’t be because of the light otherwise they would crow during the day too.
Don’t have a specific cite for this, but I have known several people who kept chickens (and therefore, a rooster). The general consensus was that roosters crowed any damn time they wanted to. They also tended to sleep at night. So, the rooster crowing in the morning is actually just the first time they crow in any given day…
I have lived in very rural areas within hearing distance of chicken farms (which seemed to be a long damn way on a quiet country morning), and yes, they did crow at any time. They would frequently crow well before the sun came up in the morning, totally eliminating the idea that they crow at sunup.
My neighbor’s rooster would crow at 3 a.m., well before sunrise…:smack: Could’nt tell ya why though…
I read here (Cecil’s Mailbag) that rosters crow mainly in the morning (part of the dawn chorus of birds in general, re-establishing territories etc.). But that other sounds could set them off, thinking that their territory is threatened, or something else is trying to come in on their little kingdom.
I actually have a rooster as a pet and he crows at all times of the day and sometimes at night. I usually know when he is going to crow because he flaps his wings.
I don’t know if this is typical, but my roosters usually start around 3:30 and keep it up until I go out and feed them, generally between 7:00 and 8:00. Then they’ll crow a few times at random throughout the day, apparently just because they can. They have a very different noise for when they feel threatened–usually by a sparrow or lizard that’s come into the coop–that sounds more like honking than crowing. (They really are big chickens.)
When I was a kid my dad brought home the monster rooster from hell. This bad boy was at least 3 feet tall, all white and had bright red combs. During the day the chickens and rooster were let out of the pen to scavenge. My brother and I thought is was great fun to run up to the rooster, slap him on the back of the head then run away with the rooster in hot pursuit. After a few days of this the rooster would chase us when he saw us. He could have cared less about anyone else till after we had him a few weeks. After a day of being teased we had the rooster all wound up. My father went out after dinner to round up the chickens and feed them. 15 seconds after going out the backdoor he started yelling and hollering and we all ran out to see what was happening. My dad was laying on the ground on his stomach with his hands over his head and the rooster was on his back pecking at him. My brother and I acted as decoys to get the rooster off of him and we got it in the chicken pen. My dad claimed the rooster attacked him and when he tripped trying to get away, the rooster jumped on him. The rooster was given away a few days later. I told my father about what we did to that rooster a few years ago, he cussed me out even though the rooster attack happened over 30 years ago.