Why do roosters crow at daybreak?
As someone who used to keep a few chickens in the backyard, I have to disillusion you about roosters crowing at dawn. They will crow anytime of the day or night. They will crow whenever anything startles them – a mouse in the coop, a fox snifffing around the henhouse, a hawk flying overhead, the family dog barking, even the purveyor of food (me) coming into the pen to feed them. My theory is that the sun rising startles them because their memories are so short that they don’t remember that it rose yesterday, as well. I have heard them crowing at midnight, at 2 a.m., at 2 p.m., any old time. They might be warning the rest of the flock about a danger (personally, I think this is just anthropomorphization), claiming territory, warning off rivals, even within the same flock, trying to get the hens’ attention, who knows, who cares. My point is that roosters crow any old time. We tend to think that they crow at daybreak because : a. they do; b. at daybreak, we are coming out of our own deep
When a rooster crows, he’s sending a signal to other roosters that if they trespass, they’re asking for a fight. A rooster will often crow from a vantage point above his territory so he can make others more aware of his presence and so that his songs travel farther. Even though roosters are the most famous crooners of the chicken world, hens aren’t exactly silent. When a hen spots a hawk, she’ll let out a harsh scream to send her chicks into hiding. But if she sees a less-threatening human, she’ll merely cackle.
