My boyfriend and I have been wondering why we can't have a rooster in our neighborhood, obviously because of noise, but people can have loud dogs. It is 2:26 am right now, and there is a certain dog that just howls all night. And I mean aaallllllll night. It's starting to get old. Other people have dogs that just constantly bark all day and into the evening as well. Which is pretty annoying. I know there's a person in our neighborhood that has roosters, we can hear them crowing sometimes, but we think they live in a more secluded area, whereas we have neighbors all around us. I bet that we could get away with a rooster if we really wanted to, but we also have more hens than allowed, so we don't really want to draw unwanted attention to us. But the fact of the matter is, we're not supposed to have them, but people can have extremely loud and obnoxious dogs. Not only that, they get out and run everywhere, which is also aggravating. We have a big heavy duty dog kennel set up for our run (so animals can't bend the bars/break in) and we have the top covered. So that means my chickens don't get out unless I let them out. When they are out, they stay in our yard. It just annoys me sometimes. Sorry for ranting.
hmm.. It really annoying to see the other disturbing people with their barking dog when we're not able to have crowing roo.. well, I don't live in US. But I understand the feeling you got if I were you. is your state law prohibit you to have roo on your land? or is that just neighbors that didn't like you to have rooster? maybe you can learn from people at local chicken laws https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewforum.php?id=37 they give away eggs and persuade neighbors so they won't complain for roo crowing...
It's a law that in residential areas we're not allowed to have a rooster or more than 8 hens. We have 13..two of which are cockerels. We're planning on getting rid of them once they start crowing though, because obviously we can't have them. We live out in the country, but in a neighborhood, so I don't really know if it's still classified as a residential area or not. I always thought of residential areas as in the city, but I always say that we're in a residential area because of the closeness of houses. I'm also not trying to change anything. I just get annoyed when I know that we can't have roosters because of them being too noisy, but people can have dogs that are way louder than a rooster would be.
maybe you could ask law practitioner or friends who understand law to determine if your area is residential area or not.. since having roo will give your hens extra benefit to have fertile eggs and sit on them and reproduce more and more chickens.. hmm.. hiding 2 cockerels good... maybe you need to build sound-proof building for the cockerels when they started crowing..
I completely understand your frustration with the "rules" there. I would much rather hear a rooster than a dog. I would also rather have rooster nuggets than dog piles in my yard. Roosters don't usually eat your other pets either.
What are the local law about ducks? I always think it is funny that I cannot keep a rooster here where I live..But my female ducks can quack their heads off all day and night- and the council allow it.
Quote:I'm pretty sure you can have ducks, not 100% positive though. I used to have two, and have a friend that lives closer to town than we do and she has several. Hers aren't even kept in a fenced in area or kennel. They just run around the yard, even out by the road.
The research would need to be done as to what is City, County and where the urban growth boundary is that defines where it matters how many chickens you have and if a rooster matters. I am on 5 acres as are my neighbors. We are a breath outside the newest urban growth boundary line for the county. I can do what I want as to chickens/roosters but even in the county animals can't run at large so if my chickens caused a problem on someone else's property I would be at fault. Just as recent as yesterday I was reading through our city/county regs trying to find out if a friend in town could have chickens and our dog laws are very specific as to a nuisance dog and barking. You can have your dog but it can't bark non stop or bark unsupervised. It just means someone has to file complaints to get anything done about a situation like that. Of course if your gonna throw a stone your yard better be pristine human nature what it is.
I live in town and I can have a rooster I figure I put up with people's loud barking dogs, music, parties they can deal with my little bantam rooster. I think people have the wrong idea about roosters. I love the sound it seems so right.
We put our rooster in a wooden coop at night at the back of the garden. We can hear a faint 'cock a doodle doooo' at 4.30am (always a crow at false dawn), but it's really very quiet - I have to listen for it. Then we let him out at 7am and let him yodel to his heart's content. We keep all of our hens in a secure coop anyway because of predators, so it's no problem locking him up at night too (though he would much prefer roosting in a tree and blasting us every morning).
