Help and advice please

[glocke12]

My neighbor has had chickens and/or a rooster for the past 15 years.

There has never been an issue for me with them and in fact I've helped them round up their bird when they've gotten over here onto my property and have tried to live trap and relocate foxes that were attacking their birds.

Something changed within the past two years, I think she had eggs hatch and most were males because since roughly 2020 I've been dealing with rooster noise that often lasts 12-16 hours a day at 10-15 second intervals.

I believe the main reason for these incessant vocalizations is the fact that she has 4 or 5 roosters (she doesn't even know) and only 5-6 hens. My research on this site tells me the correct ratio should be 1 rooster per ten hens.

Their chicken pen is probably 25-50 yards from my bedroom window and is heard plainly in my bedroom (they start at 330 am often times).

I've tried for two years to be a good neighbor and get used to this noise but it's impossible.
It has basically become something that has destroyed my quality of life as I cannot enjoy my outside spaces with that noise going on nor my inside spaces as I hear it throughout my home. White noise does't drown it out and it is unreasonable to expect me to wear ear plugs inside my home.

I asked them in a nice, calm, rational manner to address this by moving the pen further away on their property, putting sound proofing on their pen or changing the rooster to hen ratio. They basically told me to go pound sand and told me to my face that this issue is a " me " issue due to some health issues I've been having (I've been home on disability since may for back issues/surgery). This simply isn't true as I've been complaining privately to friends and family about this for well over a year and can provide those emails and texts to a judge or jury should it ever come to that.

here is a recording I made yesterday, these vocalizations had been going on all day long and did not stop until roughly 6 pm: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1dgWAkYnpyIOpoEx5BUu1lLVkmaRMAR9M/view?usp=share_link

To make matters worse, this woman is a vegan, does not consume any eggs from these birds and she considers them to be pets.

I know for a fact that in the past the roosters were poking holes in each other trying to establish dominance and one question I have is are the frequent vocalizations part of that behavior ? Are these roosters vocalizing this much because their biological need to care for a certain amount of hens is not being met ?

I am quite simply at my wits end here and this is going to end in one of two ways. Either me spending thousands of dollars I don't have by hiring a lawyer and getting this declared a private nuisance or by me moving to get away from it.

any advice this community can give me would be appreciated.

This is the type of person that ruins a hobby or interest for everyone else by being irresponsible.

 

[K0k0shka]

What are your zoning laws regarding how close chicken structures can be to human dwellings? Sounds like her chicken pen is too close to your house. You can start there. If there's nothing specific about chicken coops/pens, look up animal shelters in general - barns, corrals, pens, etc. and the setback requirements for those. You may have a case there. Also look up general domestic disturbance regulations - there's usually some kind of something in place for daylight hours, so you don't have to wait until 11pm for the nighttime noise ordinance to kick in.

And last but not least. Sounds like the neighbor's chickens wander onto your property (which in itself is another problem...) How about any chicken that makes it onto your property becomes your dinner. As far as the neighbor is concerned, the chicken may have gotten lost in the woods just as well, or been eaten by one of those foxes you've been trapping. Stop trapping foxes, maybe even leave food out near the property line to draw them in and let them do their job. That would draw the chickens in, too, make them easier to catch. Unreasonable neighbors don't deserve reasonable treatment.

 

[K0k0shka]

I'm going before the board of supervisors to encourage them to amend the ordinances so they are empowered to address situations like mine by adding specific language about keeping an acceptable rooster to hen ratio, adding in language to address nuisance animals, and also something that addresses soundproofing. I don't expect much to happen but it will be a start at least.

Going for an amendment to the ordinances is actually a great idea! A lot of these laws and ordinances are old and outdated - times change, animal ownership changes, etc. This happened in our town, too, except in the other direction - grumpy neighbors used vague ordinances to demand that chickens be restricted or downright banned. So I led a revolution, got the town's chicken owners together to protest and petition and the Board of Health ended up rewriting the animal ownership ordinance with specific language addressing (and protecting) chickens. It can be done! Good luck!

 

[K0k0shka]

Roosters who see each other as competition do crow more though, as crowing is also an expression of dominance or a challenge. So one single rooster with his own flock of hens won’t crow as much as several roosters competing with each other for insufficient hens. So the ratio does matter in the context of the noise.

 

[K0k0shka]

So for the same number of roosters, adding more hens really will reduce the noise? I had assumed they would all compete anyway.

As long as they are in competition with each other, they’ll try to out-yell each other. Maybe if they had SO many hens, that there was plenty to go around, they would chill… But how many is that? And would they chill, or would they object to the very presence of other roosters, period? Who knows. Some roosters strike a divide-and-conquer deal, if they have enough hens, and live peacefully together in sub-flocks. With others, if one has a clear advantage, and the other roosters accept his dominion over all the hens, they can stop crowing and live quietly as non-procreating members of the flock. I’ve seen that with injured or disabled roosters who realize they stand no chance, and take themselves out of the mating game. The reigning rooster doesn’t see them as challengers, leaves them alone, and only crows the normal amount. But if each rooster wants to try his luck, and they don’t have enough hens for their only chance at peace - reaching a divide-and-conquer deal - then they’ll keep yelling and challenging each other.

 

[LaFleche]

Based on other replies in this thread, is it safe to say that having multiple roosters can lead to frequent vocalizations as they are trying to establish dominance over one another for whatever number of hens there are ?

Yes, as they start crowing contests.

 

[DLA]

You might start by checking what the local ordinances are regarding chickens and what the ordinances are for excessive noise. That may perhaps give you some recourse.

 

[glocke12]

Is your municipality one in which keepers of chickens must have a permit?

"Chester County Municipalities with Backyard Chicken Keeping Regulations. As of March 2019, approximately eight Chester County municipalities have zoning ordinance regulations related to the keeping of backyard chickens. Most require permits." As far as I can discern there are also regulations limiting how many chickens are kept and so forth:

https://www.chescoplanning.org/MuniCorner/eTools/04-BackyardChickens.cfm

Im in Bucks County sadly. The case I referenced was Chester County which is in PA also which tells me there is legal precedence for the courts being on my side of this with regards to it being a private nuisance should it come to that.

 

[glocke12]

The ratio of 1 rooster to 10 hens is not relevant here.

That ratio is correct for commercial breeders with hundreds and thousands of hens & roosters. Roosters eat feed but do not lay eggs, so those breeders want to keep the fewest possible roosters while still having all the eggs be fertile. 1 rooster for 10 hens is about right for some breeds, while others need more roosters (as high as 1 rooster per 5 or 6 hens) and others can get by with less (1 rooster for 12 to 15 hens.) But since your neighbor is not trying for maximum fertile eggs per rooster fed, the commercial ratio does not matter.

People breeding chickens on a smaller scale (like for shows) will sometimes keep equal numbers of roosters and hens, or a ratio of one rooster to two hens, or various other numbers. It depends on the breed, the individual chickens, and the owner's goals.

For people keeping chickens as pets, who do not care if the eggs are fertile or not, ANY ratio can work as long as the individual chickens are not causing issues for each other (like roosters injuring each other in fights, or roosters injuring hens by over-mating.)

Some people even keep flocks of just roosters (sometimes called a "bachelor flock.") That can work fine too.

Some people raise roosters for specific purposes (like feathers for flytying and other crafts), but of course raising roosters for that has nothing to do with any rooster/hen ratio.

None of those has anything to do with the amount of noise the roosters will or will not make, just like none of them has anything to do with what chickens would "naturally" do in the wild, or what would make any specific chicken "happy."

As regards your neighbor's chickens, if she kept the males & females in separate pens, that would guarantee no overmating of the hens, but would probably not do anything to fix the noise.

Personally, I do not think that more hens would make your neighbor's roosters any quieter, but of course I could be wrong about that.



No matter what rooster to hen ratio you choose, someone will be able to provide good evidence of times when it is wrong for one purpose or another. So I suggest you make sure you have good points to support whatever number you suggest.

I suspect it would work better to have a limit on roosters-per-acre, or some kind of total noise limit, rather than trying for a rule about rooster/hen ratios.

Ok thanks thats good information and I appreciate it. I didn't realize that the 1:10 ratio only applied to commercial breeders as the websites I got that information from didn't specify that. I had thought that was just a ratio that existed out of long established animal husbandry practices of keeping chickens and roosters no matter what the reason for keeping the birds was.

I'll omit that part when I go in front of the BoS and just address it from the standpoint of it being a private nuisance as below "

1. A Township Ordinance provides that it shall be unlawful within
   the Township for any person or persons to own, possess, harbor or control any animal or bird which makes noise continuously and/or incessantly to the disturbance of any person for a period of 15 minutes or more between the hours of 8:00 a.m. through 10:00 p.m. or for a period of 10 minutes or more between the hours of 10:00 p.m. through 8:00 a.m. or makes such noise intermittently for 1/2 hour or more any time of the day or night, regardless of whether the animal or bird is physically situated in or upon private property, said noise being a nuisance, provided that at the time the animal or bird is making such noise, no person is trespassing or threatening to trespass upon private property in or upon which the animal or bird is situated. "

Based on other replies in this thread, is it safe to say that having multiple roosters can lead to frequent vocalizations as they are trying to establish dominance over one another for whatever number of hens there are ?

As far as getting other neighbors on board with this, I know the people on the opposite side of me don't want to hear these birds as they have commented on it but they just moved in and don't want to get involved, other neighbors have issues with this woman for one reason or another that range from her horses and birds wandering onto their property, to her pulling out survey stakes placed by a licensed surveyor when someone bought a neighboring property and had his land surveyed to be certain of the the property lines. She disagreed with the survey and pulled the stakes out. Those other neighbors don't want to get involved as they are afraid of retribution from her (they have kids, animals of their own, etc..)

It's just an awful situation. As I said earlier, I've been trying to get used to it for two years and cannot, and this summer I've been home on medical leave for back surgery and was laying there recovering after getting home from the hospital listening to all of this and just couldn't deal with it any longer and thats when I nicely asked her to address the situation somehow. I offered to pay for baffling on the pen to keep the noise down, I offered to buy no-crow collars, etc...and was basically told to pound sand and she and her boyfriend went onto imply my complaints were due to my health status. Fortunately I've got texts and email to friends and relatives that document my complaints for almost two years.

I was hoping to retire here in 2-3 years but I can't imagine retiring here and dealing with that noise, and if I were to try to sell this property I can't imagine anyone in their right mind buying it after hearing that racket next door.

 

[glocke12]

You might start by checking what the local ordinances are regarding chickens and what the ordinances are for excessive noise. That may perhaps give you some recourse.

I've been down that path, there is nothing. Local zoning for raising of fowl was written assuming people would be raising these as a food source and not as pets and was also written assuming people would be following good animal husbandry practices and maintaining a proper rooster to hen ratio.

Noise ordinances don't kick in until after 11 pm.

Its basically a private nuisance and is looking like my only recourse is to either move or take legal action. Fortunately there is case precedence here in PA for that.

https://chestercountyramblings.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/592_Law_Reporterv68_Issue44.pdf

This is the equivalent of living next door to someone who is playing some obnoxiously loud music 12 hours a day that you can hear inside your house starting at 4:00 am