Quote:
Originally Posted by
Schrebergaertner 
If his first crow is at 5:45, maybe the real issue is your roo waking her up? We, too, were 100% in the right legally (they called the county animal control, who came over and said we were fine, they needed to move). Nevertheless, to be good neighbors, we started putting him in the garage at night and letting him out no earlier than 7:30 am. Things have been much, much better with the neighbors. He crows quite a bit all day, but taking care of the morning wake-up calls solved it.
I'm hazy on that point myself. I mean, he mentioned that he started crowing at 4AM, but that's just not true beyond that one morning (which was my fault for being paranoid and disturbing him). Trust me, I'd know, because their run is built into/under our second story front porch and at the farthest point in the run, no chicken is more than 25 feet from my bedroom window. I didn't argue with them, though, I just restated that when I had asked about adding a roo that I was very clear that he WOULD crow and it COULD be at ALL hours. That's when he went into the "well, but they can hear him". Ok, but is it loud? "No, but they can hear him." And I can hear their dogs barking, but I've never raised a complaint about it.
I thought about putting him in the garage (which is right under our bedroom and where he spent his quarantine time). It wouldn't bother us, but my husband and I are typically out of the door and on our way to work no later than 6:30AM on any given week day morning. So we'd have to set him loose in the run before that. I'll see what today brings - my husband is planning to speak with this neighbor again today to see where they stand at this point.
Quote:
Originally Posted by
la dee da Well you say you've never really spoken to the wife. Speaking as a neighbor who has felt isolated from most of my neighbors, this makes it really, REALLY easy to not appreciate something that they do/something of thiers. She may not like the rooster by the simple fact that she doesn't know you and it brings in an unfamilier sound that she feels she shouldn't have to put up with. Being familier, even a little familier, with your neighbors and knowing that they care about you can make a huge difference.
What I suggest is that you go over and talk to the wife. Tell her that you know the rooster bothers her, and that you wish to resolve the problem without getting rid of him, because you and your family love him so much. Don't bring in the fact that you may legally keep him, as this could cause her to go on defense. When do you let your rooster out of the coop? If it's earlier than when she gets up in the morning perhaps that's why the rooster bothers her. I know I get grouchy if I don't have enough sleep, and with 5 children she could be quite stressed already.
You do make some very good points on that, but going up there to talk doesn't mean she'll be around. In the past, whenever we've been up there, she's nowhere to be found. Either it appears that no one is home, or it'll be the husband and kids we see/talk to. Even our other neighbors, who've been around much longer than either our family or the one who doesn't like the roo don't even know her. Her husband was president of our HOA (and I was the vice prez at the same time), so we've worked together and did well, but she never came to any of the meetings, nor to the community events. Another neighbor mentioned that she might have a social anxiety issue or something; I don't know. The only thing that I can think of is to somehow bring up to her husband that we'd like to meet her to and then go from there?
No no, I'd never throw out there that we have every right to keep him like that. They know that, because the husband said it to me when I said that the only thing we could do was get rid of him if it was going to be a problem. I mean, I'd bring the feathered bugger into a kennel in my bedroom if it'd solve the problem, but since it went from mornings into "do they really crow all day?" I'm not sure where to begin. I won't keep him isolated like that, because he was miserable and so much more mouthy when he was alone - probably because he was bored to death.
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Originally Posted by
speckledhen
Sigh. Doesn't sound like he crows much at all. And if the issue is just that they can hear a rooster crow at all, well, that's sort of tough, if you are legally allowed to have him. Gosh, it's ONE rooster, for cripes sake! Sometimes, I jokingly would want to say I can hear their kids screaming, too, but I don't ask them to get rid of them, LOL. Really, kids make much more noise when they're playing than one rooster when he crows a few times.
Oh, my DH and I have said the exact same thing to each other numerous times over this past week. They have two kids, but their yard is the meeting place of 5-7, total, on fair weather weekend days, and they make quite a racket. We've never complained, because we truly don't mind. They also have two big black labs (that escape and roam the neighborhood regularly), and since we've got security cams on our house and can view them remotely, whenever we see them out, we'll let them know. If we're home, we'll help coral them back home. And when the kids are all out playing, that's when he will go into crow mode...like non-stop psycho crowing, and if we don't keep him and the girls in the run or keep close watch, he'll try to run right over to THEIR property to do it. We've never let him get that far, but that's what he tries to do...he really takes offense to children's voices. At that point, it breaks even, because the noise levels are consistent on both sides and we'll end up corralling and herding him to the opposite side of our house for a time out.
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this was 4 years ago, I have never had another next door neighbor as the daughter left it as it was and to this day it's still empty ( prayer lol ) neighbors can be a blessing or a curse, this man was a curse, but I was determined not to let him bother me, to this day I'm glad I never fought with him. I'm also glad the rest of my neighbors are cool with my birds and all is well. But my story is really , try to go to her, make the effort, try and try, and see if you can at least be on speaking terms and let her know you are there. Make her a nice cake, give her personally a dozen eggs, not him but her. Show her you care. You never know she may be quit nice. And with that you may be able to break through and she let you have the rooster with out strife.
