I wasn’t sure if this qualifies as a biology question.
I’m not in the countryside, the city actually.
Point being is it’s exactly dawn and the roosters are crowing. I’m just wondering how do they know and why dawn? Wouldn’t that alert predators?
I wasn’t sure if this qualifies as a biology question.
I’m not in the countryside, the city actually.
Point being is it’s exactly dawn and the roosters are crowing. I’m just wondering how do they know and why dawn? Wouldn’t that alert predators?
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Actually, my friend had chickens when we grew up so I spent many days there, they crow all day. Dawn is just when they wake up.
Roosters crow all the time when they’re awake.
The sun wakes them up, then they start working on their full day of screaming their fool heads off.
They actually crow all day and half of the night. You should rather be happy that they give you a little respite because they also have to sleep.
And it is to claim the territory (and all the hens living in it) from any other rooster who might be interested in coming in. If you are a rooster and you hear that call, you better turn around, or be ready for a fight.
They are comically loud and crow when they feel like it
Roosters are reactive to motion and sound. At dawn, when stuff becomes visible and noisy, they’ll start crowing and will do it all day long.
It’s a common misconception that roosters only crow when the sun comes up, actually they crow whenever they feel like it.
They crow every 30 or so seconds the moment they wake( at dawn)
It’s just more noticeable when you are asleep and the rest of the world is still quiet.
The same reason why all birds sing at dawn. It may sound pleasant to us, but it’s actually them screaming at each other to stay away from their territories. Basically “I’m awake and I better not see anyone on my property!”
And just like how birds sing throughout the day, roosters crow throughout the day as well.
I learned while vacationing in Key West, where I ended up sleeping on the balcony (it was hot, but I was also not entirely sober), that some roosters do indeed wake up BEFORE dawn and they do indeed crow regardless. Or maybe they collectively wanted me to get the least sleep I could.
They actually crow all day, but when roosting, they will only crow at noise and lights. I would get off a late shift at work, and the headlights of my car would trigger my roosters at 2am. Lol.
When morning comes, they’re just starting to come awake on the roost. The daylight and noise of the world waking up triggers increased crowing, but it’s really just that roosters crow a lot.
They know it’s dawn the same way you know it’s dawn.
Much of birdsong is territorial, demarcating a territory and saying, look how great I am, males beware and ladies take note, I’ve got some great genes so I have!
Or words to that effect.
It’s true that cockerels crowing can call in predators and I know people who keep chickens who purposely don’t have cockerels because of that.
It has to be said they’re not the smartest of animals, I’ve kept chickens and only ever had the one cockerel, he was a little bantam and he was a feisty and proud bird, he took protecting his ladies very seriously, drew blood on me when I had to spray their legs for scaly leg. He’d very much have laid down his life to make a fox think twice about taking the hens.
I once came home to find him being chased by a cat (he was only very small) when I chased the cat away Little Ron came out and looked at me sideways clucking as if to say “you’re actually alright, we sure showed that cat didn’t we.”
I miss Little Ron, he was a brave cockerel.
From my limited experience as a neighbor, roosters crow whenever the hell they please which seems to be all goddamn day 😅
Mine will start crowing anytime after 4am if he heres you in the house or sees a light come on. Then crows every 4 hrs till dark.
Sometimes he’ll crow walking around the house for like a hour.
They do it all day and just start before sunrise. Grandma said roosters that crow too much make good soup.
They crow all the goddamn day. They just sleep at night