Hello Everyone - Is it acceptable to leave hens and cockerels without housing, forcing them to find a roost in trees?

[KittyO]

Unfortunately every one of these I don't like my neighbour disputes centred around chickens that reaches the official complaint stage drives another nail in the coffin of backyard and semi rural chicken keeping.
I lived for a decade with roosters shouting the odds from one tribe to another. In the summer at stupid o'clock in the morning they did wake me up, but so did the farmers cows bellowing just before milking two kilometers further down the mountain.
I live in the city now. I get woken up by the sounds of humanity with loud cars, barking dogs, people shouting etc. I would love to just have the sound of a rooster crowing disturbing my sleep.

Meet Cillin. His son threw him out of the tribe coop. He came to live with me for a couple of months while I waited hoping he and his son would come to some arangement. That nest box is about 2 metres from my bed.
View attachment 3243274
I was used to roosters crowing in the mornings and generally slept through the sounds of six or seven roosters shouting the odds at 4.30am in the summer months. Two metres away in a small building was pretty loud and on some mornings I did feel like this...
These sorted the problem out.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Pairs-Howa...ds=laser+lite+ear+plugs&qid=1662030978&sr=8-3

Thank you for your response Raingarden. I do appreciate where you are coming from. What more can I say beyond the trees significantly cloak the noise of the cockerels from his bedroom. We know using the decibel meter outside his bedroom window and outside ours. The farmer has had cockerels in the past, kept on the other side of us. We used to hear them early morning, but they were not under our windows, any more than our cockerels are directly under our windows. And I mean directly under our windows. They are sat in a small square of tall pine trees, the only gap - yes you have it - immediately in front of our bedroom windows.

I have spent the last two hours pulling together a Gannt chart for the clarity of all, most of all the Magistrates'. I am more than a little fed up... but I love Cillin and I would have done the same. Hidden behind your curtains he will have been fine and felt safe. It is not fun when they start fighting, father and son, been there and up went another run. My man is a gem and a big softy. But I have noted your feed and will emphasize to the court and the local newspaper that our intention was not to drive another nail in the coffin of hens and roosters and I will use your words.

Take Care.

 

[KittyO]

Thank you for your response Raingarden. I do appreciate where you are coming from. What more can I say beyond the trees significantly cloak the noise of the cockerels from his bedroom. We know using the decibel meter outside his bedroom window and outside ours. The farmer has had cockerels in the past, kept on the other side of us. We used to hear them early morning, but they were not under our windows, any more than our cockerels are directly under our windows. And I mean directly under our windows. They are sat in a small square of tall pine trees, the only gap - yes you have it - immediately in front of our bedroom windows.

I have spent the last two hours pulling together a Gannt chart for the clarity of all, most of all the Magistrates'. I am more than a little fed up... but I love Cillin and I would have done the same. Hidden behind your curtains he will have been fine and felt safe. It is not fun when they start fighting, father and son, been there and up went another run. My man is a gem and a big softy. But I have noted your feed and will emphasize to the court and the local newspaper that our intention was not to drive another nail in the coffin of hens and roosters and I will use your words.

Take Care.

Apologies should I have said Shadrach, not good with feeds, Facebook and the like.

 

[KittyO]

Apologies should I have said Shadrach, not good with feeds, Facebook and the like.

Perhaps I should have said rJohns39...

 

[Shadrach]

Thank you for your response Raingarden. I do appreciate where you are coming from. What more can I say beyond the trees significantly cloak the noise of the cockerels from his bedroom. We know using the decibel meter outside his bedroom window and outside ours. The farmer has had cockerels in the past, kept on the other side of us. We used to hear them early morning, but they were not under our windows, any more than our cockerels are directly under our windows. And I mean directly under our windows. They are sat in a small square of tall pine trees, the only gap - yes you have it - immediately in front of our bedroom windows.

I have spent the last two hours pulling together a Gannt chart for the clarity of all, most of all the Magistrates'. I am more than a little fed up... but I love Cillin and I would have done the same. Hidden behind your curtains he will have been fine and felt safe. It is not fun when they start fighting, father and son, been there and up went another run. My man is a gem and a big softy. But I have noted your feed and will emphasize to the court and the local newspaper that our intention was not to drive another nail in the coffin of hens and roosters and I will use your words.

Take Care.

You might find this thread interesting. It's the other extreme where instead of the chickens being free range they were kept confined full time in a coop and run. My daughter, knowing how much I missed the chickens in Catalonia took me to where the chickens in the thread were kept mentioning that these chickens needed some help. The first few posts should give you an idea of the grim conditions.
The person who was then responsible for the chickens had an attitude much like your neighbour. It is not at all an uncommon attitude in many rural areas all over the world.
This person who I've called C in the thread had numerous complaints to RSPCA, the local council and even an two articles in the local newspaper condeming the situation the chickens were kept in. The complaints in my view were legitimate, but as you may have discovered, the RSPCA isn't interested and the council sent some clerk who knew about as much about chickens as I do about knitting, maybe less now I think on it. Fortunately for C and the chickens who in a different set of circumstances would have had to be rehomed or killed, C has a smallholders licence that permits the keeping of livestock. There wasn't much interest by the council, or animal welfare on how they were kept unfortunately.

I volunteered to help out with the chickens, something I've been doing for a year now a few hours a day. I make sure they get fed properly by buying them feed and taking it to them from my city flat each day. I let them out to range the allotments each day and more recently improved thier living conditions by striking a deal with C to split the cost of a new coop with them which I am currently improving and adding a nighttime run to so Henry the rooster and his favourite hens can roost in the open air which they prefer.

I'm not known for being the master of tact and diplomacy as many on BYC will attest to but, after months of biting my tongue, showing by example and educating when listened to I have improved these chickens welfare considerably.

I don't write this to show what a wondefull man I am, I write it to try and persuade you that once disputes like this get in to the hands of the courts and officials, nobody wins except perhaps the lawyers involved. I have managed to make considerable progress with C to the point we now discuss things rather than each making a point with no further attempts at a resolution to the issue.
The most important part is the chickens are better fed, get out to do proper chicken things, get basic health care and are now better housed.

Have a read. I'm told it's an interesting thread.
https://www.backyardchickens.com/threads/shadrachs-ex-battery-and-rescued-chickens-thread.1502267/

 

[Tookie]

Hello and welcome to BYC!

 

[McChooky]

My neighbors chicken flew up on my brothers house when 3 labradoodles tried to kill her.2 circled the house & one got on the roof & chased her. The chicken went to the edge of the roof where we saw her.We went up & caught her & the dog came down on its own.

 

[Boppo]

ChickensComeHometoRoost, I hope you mean the labrodoodles were trying to kill the chicken, not the neighbor. It sounds terrifying either way. Good for you helping out.

 

[007Sean]

Howdy, and Welcome to Backyard Chickens.

Happy to have you here with us. Enjoy your time here at BYC!

Thanks for joining our community!

 

[Henhouse Harlot]

@Shadrach
I value your opinions and respect your incredible rooster knowledge, and I am 100 percent behind you when it comes to the welfare and acceptance of roosters. (Yay! France! They have a phenomenal law protecting the roosters crowing!!)

However...with that being said, I am currently in a similar situation. It's beyond frustrating because it's difficult to say "that is the problem" with neglected chickens. They're incredibly resourceful creatures! "Too many roosters" to me, I suppose, means an uneven ratio of hen to roo, constant fighting and stress, and a stressed rooster is a LOUD rooster!!! Oh my GOODNESS.
My own roo crowed maybe 4-5 times a day before we moved here. Now? Maybe every 4-5 minutes! (Ok, I'm exaggerating there, but if I count all the others crowing seemingly non-stop....it takes a humongous toll on one's state of mind. Shudder.)
I get the feeling the OP is in a similar situation, though I could be wrong... It's really difficult to explain it without the experience. An unbalanced flock, with more roosters than it can handle, is a nightmare to be around, much less live by. A well managed bachelor roo flock is NOTHING like an unbalanced flock.
I'd say it's the neglectful owner who's giving roosters a bad name, not to mention setting a horrible example.
I could be mistaken, and I am most definitely projecting my own feelings here! But I don't think so...

P.S. @Shadrach I love that you not only stand up for the unwanted, unloved roosters of the world, you literally take them into your home. You're a total rooster rockstar, and I'm a huge fan of the awesome work you do!!