Another thread about a rooster, a crow, and a neighbor who is complaining.

[jjaazzy]

So we recently purchased a nice size piece of property that is rural inside the city. It looks lush through there and we have the largest park in the town really close. Before we purchased we had the Realtor check with the city about Horses and Chickens and other critters, there were no restrictions on this piece of property. Infact I can keep 1 horse per 1/4 acre. Made the realtor call 2x to make sure we were in the clear cause I really wanted to start raising and selling chickens. I got the green light. Our lots are not longer then wide like most lots, it is wide which means I have a double lot close to 2 acres and I have two neighbors in the back, they are pretty close. I have gotten many compliments from many neighbors that they enjoy hearing the birds.. GREAT~well you know when things are good and you are just waiting for the bomb to drop. Well it dropped alright, right into my mail box hand delivered (not suppose to do that) a typed out letter saying we your neighbors can't get sleep and we are disturbing the peace and before you moved in... bla bla bla.....
A moment for a little background on this guy. X strip bar owner, spent more then 7 years in Jail, house was once a gorgeous two story with a las vegas style pool with water fall and orchids all over. Sun bathing nude strippers around the pool, parties all the time. Well the place has hit the skids. the whole thing is a dump Gazebos falling into the pond, the fence (built onto our property) broken and falling down (we will have to remove it-he wont) a green pool that produces Mosquitos by the truck load......literally went into the barn/garage with recently painted white walls were covered in mosquitos... covered! we, and the animals suffered this summer horribly. I did call mosquito control every couple of weeks, I never called code enforcement because I don't want to be ONE OF THOSE neighbors but what he is doing is not a noise but a health violation. Oh he also tried to weasel property from another neighbor. So I get this letter and the reason I just didn't read other reviews on this site and go about my way I had to share that this guy has included the sound decibels allowable during the day and night for agriculture. So it is whatever the sound is on his side of his fence. Which unfortunately for me, and him is pretty close to his pool patio and then I guess the sound goes right across the water. I don't know where I stand with the city, they are not the easiest to communicate with. I guess it boils down to if no one complains. I don't think this guy would make that actual call, he would run the risk of the city taking a closer look at him. But I don't like pissing people off either. But I don't want to get rid of my Rooster he is my business. So what about this sound decibels! We googled how loud is a Rooster and found them to be over 100 I don't think that is all of them but I am sure a prize winner. My Silkie roosters can be quite loud but my Cream Leg bars are ridiculous, they live in the garage, opposite side of the house, I knew I would be asking for trouble with them, but the Buff Orp is right in line with his back yard then I have 3 baby silkie roos who are learning and then my Barred Rock who I think is pretty quiet. The Buff is loud.... I will try and do something crow collar, bring him up into garage at night. But should I do my own test of decibels. I know people say approach the neighbor but this guy, well he gives me the creeps.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

To kill two birds with one stone so to speak you can remove the broken down fence and replace with shrubbery. Bushy trees and plants act as baffles to sound waves. Why some areas with broadened roadways and high traffic have so much state/city plantings. It's not because it looks pretty, in reality it's to deaden the sound to make residential areas habitable. The second bird being if the fence is truly his then you only have so much time after purchase of property to remove it or he has claim to that land. The fence if not yours needs to be removed from your land so might as well put up somee shrubbery/hedge while your at it.

Build a bat house or two too. They will keep down the mosquito population.

 

[jjaazzy]

Egghead you make a really great point about the removal of the rotten fence, and him staking claim. He already tried it with one Neighbor and their was a court battle. He asked that neighbor if he could plant some trees/plants and when the neighbor agreed to let him do it the guy tried to stake claim to the property. There is a huge section of shrubs that grew up through the old chain link and probably what killed the wood fence too. But there could be more green along that fence line. Thank you for your time and bringing this to my attention.

 

[Free Feather]

If you are allowed chickens, then I would not worry too much about the neighbor, especially if he is as lousy as he sounds.

 

[Mrs. K]

One of the things you do mention, is that you have several roosters. Sometimes several roosters get into crowing contests. Might be you don't need to get rid of them all, but maybe a few of them?

Distance to the rooster is a big deal, I think. Personally, my set up is a long ways away from my house, and I kind of like the crow, but I would not like if it was closer to me, and that is my own rooster.

Mrs K

 

[lazy gardener]

I know that when I have cockrels in the grow out pen, on my own rural land, they drive me crazy b/c they are too close to my house. I can only imagine how irritating it must be to have rooster crowing contests in town. Egghead makes some nice suggestions regarding protecting your property from neighbor trying to expand his property line with misplaced fence. Shrubbery, (maybe with some prickles!) might be the way to go. Any thing you can do to provide some sound wave baffles would be a good thing. As far as the neighbor's pool with green water and mosquitoes, that definitely is a health hazard. I'd be doing what I could do to have that cleaned up. It's not just affecting you and your property, but neighbors on all other sides as well. Good luck. Bad neighbors can be a horror show.

 

[jjaazzy]

You are right lazygardner and Mrs k I've seen the crow contest. I do have the silkie roosters listed for sale cause I know I have too many, but have only moved one.
I have a bunch of memory foam I could put up in the gazebo but where do I put it? The roof has not been completed so some places leak. Maybe strips of foam hanging like ribbons. That will be attractive : (
Free Feather yes but he says I am violating the noise tolerances....he gave me windows of time and the decibels cap is at 50 in the Night hours and he says we are at 62. The day hours are capped at 55....I am still above the tolerance.
I left the light out tonight. Weird thing happened tonight we were feeding my buff Orpingtons were fine one minute next they are getting on their perch to roost one bird falls to the ground others jumped on it it was dead! I am glad it happened in front of me cause I would have thought the neighbor had something to do with it. But no clue what happened. What the heck!

 

[Mrs. K]

Sometimes they just die. Might have been a heart problem, or who knows. Some people will spend money on a necropsy. I don't, I just get more chickens.

If all of a sudden, you would be loosing 3-5 birds in a couple of days, and others were looking poorly, you might need advice then, something is wrong, but chickens do die and often times without a lot of symptoms.

MRs K

 

[jjaazzy]

Thanks Mrs. K I like your approach and will monitor....thank you!

 

[Free Spirit]

While reading through your neighbor troubles I couldn't help thinking that all those mosquito's could be a very bad health issue. I'd be especially concerned if you're in an area known for cases of West Nile Virus. It can affect both humans and chickens.