I'm just venting some frustration here, but I would really love to hear about other experiences on this matter!
I'm relatively new to chickens (started our "flock" this past spring). We bought 7 austrolorp pullets (so we were told)...much to my dismay, as they grew up, it became quite apparent that we had 5 roosters! This was very obvious when they began practicing their morning "songs" which surprisingly took place all day long.
Oh course, my neighbours were not too pleased. I live in the country and none of the noise by laws restrict rooster crowing. Unfortunately, one neighbour in particular (the closest in proximity) was getting quite annoyed. The noise of 5 roosters going off in unison was quite obnoxious (my husband and I were not oblivious to it!) and I started to think we needed to get rid of a few of them. This was solidified when my neighbour called me after work one afternoon saying that "we just HAD to do something about the roosters...I haven't slept in months... Blah blah blah" ...I rolled my eyes and let her know that we were killing a bunch of them soon. We killed all but one (I kept the largest, most beautiful one and named him Big Poppa)...and believe me, I cried like crazy! But they were very tasty.
So we got a new batch of pullets and guess what, 3 more roosters! So, same old thing...including a phone call at 3.30 in the morning from my neighbour telling us to shut them up! To be clear, they only occasionally went off at 3.30 am... Usually it's 4.30 am So, not wanting to go through the anguish of killing more of my sweet creatures, I researched rooster crowing mitigation and did everything I felt I could do... Locked in the coop at night, no porch lights, etc...this seemed to help, but not enough so we ended up killing 2 more roosters
So I have 2 left and I love them both: Big Poppa and Benedict. They look after the flock and let us know if there's anything going on outside that they don't like ...I really don't want to feel like I should get rid of them both (kill or give away), but their crowing starts to stress me out sometimes because I just know my neighbour is fuming about the noise. In fact, I forgot to put my girls and boys in the coop one night (they love roosting outside), and Big Poppa started crowing very loudly around 5am...needless to say, I got another angry early morning phone call from next door.
How do I stay respectful of my neighbour but still keep my roosters? ...perhaps I should tell her to move back to the city if she can't handle the country living just kidding.
I'm relatively new to chickens (started our "flock" this past spring). We bought 7 austrolorp pullets (so we were told)...much to my dismay, as they grew up, it became quite apparent that we had 5 roosters! This was very obvious when they began practicing their morning "songs" which surprisingly took place all day long.
Oh course, my neighbours were not too pleased. I live in the country and none of the noise by laws restrict rooster crowing. Unfortunately, one neighbour in particular (the closest in proximity) was getting quite annoyed. The noise of 5 roosters going off in unison was quite obnoxious (my husband and I were not oblivious to it!) and I started to think we needed to get rid of a few of them. This was solidified when my neighbour called me after work one afternoon saying that "we just HAD to do something about the roosters...I haven't slept in months... Blah blah blah" ...I rolled my eyes and let her know that we were killing a bunch of them soon. We killed all but one (I kept the largest, most beautiful one and named him Big Poppa)...and believe me, I cried like crazy! But they were very tasty.
So we got a new batch of pullets and guess what, 3 more roosters! So, same old thing...including a phone call at 3.30 in the morning from my neighbour telling us to shut them up! To be clear, they only occasionally went off at 3.30 am... Usually it's 4.30 am So, not wanting to go through the anguish of killing more of my sweet creatures, I researched rooster crowing mitigation and did everything I felt I could do... Locked in the coop at night, no porch lights, etc...this seemed to help, but not enough so we ended up killing 2 more roosters
So I have 2 left and I love them both: Big Poppa and Benedict. They look after the flock and let us know if there's anything going on outside that they don't like ...I really don't want to feel like I should get rid of them both (kill or give away), but their crowing starts to stress me out sometimes because I just know my neighbour is fuming about the noise. In fact, I forgot to put my girls and boys in the coop one night (they love roosting outside), and Big Poppa started crowing very loudly around 5am...needless to say, I got another angry early morning phone call from next door.
How do I stay respectful of my neighbour but still keep my roosters? ...perhaps I should tell her to move back to the city if she can't handle the country living just kidding.