Neighbor mad about rooster...suggestions?

[U_Stormcrow]

Do you even keep chickens or have any interest in keeping chickens? From your general tone and how you approach the subject of keeping chickens, I'm kinda wondering why you've joined a chicken forum?

Responsible chicken ownership involves compliance with lawful authority, and/or lobbying for change where that authority is simply wrong or outdated. We have forums to help owners understand zoning, offer assistance and model legislation for changing zoning, and places to gather like minded folks for organizing about those attempts at change.

No evidence the offending owner has taken advantage of any of those resources.

Poster has expressed a view, and claimed local regulation prevents what the rooster owner has done. I say, do the responsible thing and start by finding out what local regulation actually *IS*. Ensure everyone is aware.

Then let the chips fall where they may.

We, as responsible chicken (and other critter) owners don't set the rules for how others use their property. Apparently, they have made different choices. Those choices may, in our minds, be wrong - I've never seen zoning I completely agree with, and I've read lots of it - but as with every exercise in line drawing, reasonable people can, and will, differ.

Fortunately, its a big country. If you can't make change with your vote, vote with your feet. Find a like minded community to call home.

 

[Pigeony]

Responsible chicken ownership involves compliance with lawful authority, and/or lobbying for change where that authority is simply wrong or outdated. We have forums to help owners understand zoning, offer assistance and model legislation for changing zoning, and places to gather like minded folks for organizing about those attempts at change.

No evidence the offending owner has taken advantage of any of those resources.

Poster has expressed a view, and claimed local regulation prevents what the rooster owner has done. I say, do the responsible thing and start by finding out what local regulation actually *IS*. Ensure everyone is aware.

Then let the chips fall where they may.

We, as responsible chicken (and other critter) owners don't set the rules for how others use their property. Apparently, they have made different choices. Those choices may, in our minds, be wrong - I've never seen zoning I completely agree with, and I've read lots of it - but as with every exercise in line drawing, reasonable people can, and will, differ.

Fortunately, its a big country. If you can't make change with your vote, vote with your feet. Find a like minded community to call home.

Yes, I do agree that chicken keeping should be done responsibly in regards to both the laws concerning them and the general health of the chickens. I don't like how many zoning laws are used but I abide by them. I just thought it was interesting that the poster seems to have joined just to complain in this thread and to be frank seems opposed to the realities of chicken keeping more than just the keeping of roosters by the negative general tone of their writing. That's why I asked if they personally keep chickens or have any interest in keeping chickens.

 

[ChicNmom]

Do you even keep chickens or have any interest in keeping chickens? From your general tone and how you approach the subject of keeping chickens, I'm kinda wondering why you've joined a chicken forum?

They obviously joined a chicken forum so they could post a giant rant about their neighbors and how annoying their rooster is.

I do hope the board of health makes sure the birds are properly cared for. And if there is a rule or law that they can't have a rooster then they need to rehome it.

 

[Sono]

Ive had 6 Roos together since hatchlings up to a year+ ( until I sold them ) My neighbor has Roos as well. It was awesome listening to them crow all day back and forth, mine, theirs, mine , theirs, just like they were carrying a conversation. After awhile you get used to it and sleep right through everything, The neighbor apparently pays too much attention to it for example, when I used to visit my uncle who lived where the train ran right across the street... the first few days the horns and noise would wake me, after that I slept right through it. Maybe he is just jealous ?

 

[Mrs. K]

I love roosters, have had one for years - but it is a fair distance to my house. If you would call the law over a non stop barking dog, then one cannot really complain about disgust about a non-stop crowing rooster.

I have seen where people have their birds very close to the neighbors, and I think you have to consider their viewpoint. How much you consider it, is up to you.

Personally I like Stormcrows solution.

 

[MROO]

honestly, these posts are one sided and do not take into consideration ... consideration. We have a neighbor that has a son who decided to 'farm' last March...getting chickens with no research, no planning and not checking with abutting neighbors or the town (dad told us they did no research) including not checking about town permits, state mandates for sq footage and coop requirements or well water testing, which are mandatory.
So imagine you buy a house years ago, a big investment and expense no matter where you buy, and select a neighborhood and home to live in your peaceful oasis. All of a sudden one day, you're woken up 5am to non stop crowing, every morning. You go to locate where its coming from and find your neighbor's son orders chickens thru the mail, blindly, and unbeknownst to him, gets a rooster. The mail order company will not take back roosters btw for a reason, although they send the buyer a refund! They don't want to get stuck with the noisemaker.
Now this is not a farmer, or someone that lives there year round. Their lot is about 1/3 an acre and includes 2-3 outbuildings, a trailer, now 6 fruit trees and a garden. And now a chicken coop too. Yes, pretty crammed. They put the coop less than 10 ft from the neighboring property which shares the entire length of their backyard. And the bird crows incessantly. The parents are there on and off, their primary residence is hours away. The kid now is off at his job all day, so he's not home to hear it. And the birds have already been attacked with some killed, and has attracted predators on more than 1 occassion. One night 1am, the chickens woke us up screaming because an animal was threatening them trying to get into the coop. And the young man slept thru the whole thing while I was screaming out the window to try and scare the animal off. (I texted him there was something attacking his coop but he didn't reply, then I called him but he didn't pick up).
His attitude, while he says this is not intentional, is all about him. He loves his new rooster, he likes the sound of the country, etc. I think you get the jist of the inconsideration. Well, the neighbors do not agree. This is a 'thickly settled' older established neighborhood, with lots most less than 3/4 acre. There's a 20 acre state campground that is woods, with acres of more woods in the backyards if the homes. One reason people bought there. The town bylaws allow poultry, no mention of roosters. which are outlawed in almost all the towns on the cape. Or there are minimum acreage requirements which they do not meet. And the right to farm sounds like its meant for commercial farming which this is not. The comments on this post must be made by either people who have roosters and have fallen in love, like its your own pet or baby; or written by people who've never lived next to a rooster. Not sure what you mean by calling the upset neighbors 'mean', but not being able to enjoy their homes is not mean. And nyc people leave the city , like any city person, to love the peace and quiet which is why they moved there in the first place. Especially if there was no noise or chickens or roosters when they bought their 'oasis'. All the articles say that people should talk to neighbors before getting chickens. And while chickens may be fine, but require work and cleaning etc..its rooster(s) that cause daily continual noise...7 days a week...no days off...on and off anytime for any prolonged period of time. While locking it up at night helps to allow people to get sleep in their own homes, should hard working good people who chose to buy the house they bought because of its peace and quiet be subject to having to be disturbed consistently. (I like music but I wouldnt' be turning it on anytime day and night and disturbing my neighbors). On top of it, the coop was built too close to the property line and you can hear the bird even with all the windows closed. It's a most distressing alarm that goes off with no warning, and can crow for 5 minutes or hours (and has). Neighbors have the right to enjoy their home too. We have 8 neighbors all complained, everyone keeps to themselves and have lived quietly in the community, showing respect for the others. No loud cars, or motorcycles or dogs...and now everyone's peace is compromised because of a mistake by the mail order company? And the inconsideration of this family. If you don't know what its like to live with a rooster in your backyard, borrow one or better yet, offer to take this one. It's not just nuisance and noise laws, its consideration and respect for your neighbor. And it may be the law in your town too. They are living creatures who need to be cared for correctly. People should know how to care for them before embarking on the 'idea' of raising chickens. We have no idea if the coop is being cleaned or they are fed and watered properly but the coop appears too small as well, especially to include a very large rooster. Who woulda thunk, the few people who sell eggs in this town , there are no signs of the chickens or coops and they have larger acreage. This situation has caused such stress to so many including some elders who told me she gets scared everytime it goes off. Not like big ben, that you expect an alarm at the top of every hour either. It's the most disturbing noise which is why they are outlawed in almost every town across the country. I've researched it. The whole community would be grateful if anyone can cite cases where a rooster was required to be rehomed. No one is complaining about the chickens. It's before the board of health and we'd love to resolve without pursuing legal actions. Its not fun or funny

I sympathize, but unfortunately, if local laws allow chickens and don't specifically exclude roosters, your only options are to speak reasonably to the owner or petition to change the law. Often, successful petitions still don't work, because the original rooster is "grandfathered in." Your best bet is to work with the chickens' owner. Maybe you could help by finding a good home for the noisy fellow ... the rooster, not the neighbor!

 

[Goosebaby]

Nice story bro. You had me until I got to these bits:
“The comments on this post must be made by either people who have roosters and have fallen in love, like its your own pet or baby; or written by people who've never lived next to a rooster.”
And
“And while chickens may be fine, but require work and cleaning etc..its rooster(s) that cause daily continual noise”
And
“No one is complaining about the chickens.”

While I agree consideration and research should be done before getting any kind of animal I have my doubts about your story.
I have geese and ducks, 3 of my neighbors have chickens and while we are on larger parcels than what you described my upper neighbor’s coop happens to be within the distance you described to my house and after being here for nearly two decades and the many different breeds of chicken my various neighbors have exposed me too I can say for certainty that the hens are far more noisy throughout the day than the roos. Yes Roos do make noise but they can’t compete with the hen squabbles, shrieks, and the egg song.

I don’t know what country you’re in and neither do I really care but in a lot of the western world roosters are being banned not because they are necessarily louder than hens but because of people’s perceptions of them being loud which has been weaponized by animal rights groups such as PETA who are advocating for rooster bans everywhere because they believe it will greatly reduce incidences of cockfighting but this has backfired in the case of animal welfare as it’s becoming virtually illegal anywhere to have roosters leaving people who have them the only options of kill them or abandoning them to die a horrible death of neglect and predation as most don’t exactly do well on their own.

So if you do actually have a neighbor and that rooster is his “own pet or baby” what you’re really asking is that he kill his “pet or baby” to make you feel better because you’ve fixated on it being a “rooster” and selectively blinded yourself to the female death metal band that is the hens…….but usually only people that have never been around chickens think that the hens aren’t noisy so really that leaves me to the conclusion that you’re just a troll.

 

[Pigeony]

Nice story bro. You had me until I got to these bits:
“The comments on this post must be made by either people who have roosters and have fallen in love, like its your own pet or baby; or written by people who've never lived next to a rooster.”
And
“And while chickens may be fine, but require work and cleaning etc..its rooster(s) that cause daily continual noise”
And
“No one is complaining about the chickens.”

While I agree consideration and research should be done before getting any kind of animal I have my doubts about your story.
I have geese and ducks, 3 of my neighbors have chickens and while we are on larger parcels than what you described my upper neighbor’s coop happens to be within the distance you described to my house and after being here for nearly two decades and the many different breeds of chicken my various neighbors have exposed me too I can say for certainty that the hens are far more noisy throughout the day than the roos. Yes Roos do make noise but they can’t compete with the hen squabbles, shrieks, and the egg song.

I don’t know what country you’re in and neither do I really care but in a lot of the western world roosters are being banned not because they are necessarily louder than hens but because of people’s perceptions of them being loud which has been weaponized by animal rights groups such as PETA who are advocating for rooster bans everywhere because they believe it will greatly reduce incidences of cockfighting but this has backfired in the case of animal welfare as it’s becoming virtually illegal anywhere to have roosters leaving people who have them the only options of kill them or abandoning them to die a horrible death of neglect and predation as most don’t exactly do well on their own.

So if you do actually have a neighbor and that rooster is his “own pet or baby” what you’re really asking is that he kill his “pet or baby” to make you feel better because you’ve fixated on it being a “rooster” and selectively blinded yourself to the female death metal band that is the hens…….but usually only people that have never been around chickens think that the hens aren’t noisy so really that leaves me to the conclusion that you’re just a troll.

Yeah my hens make much more noise than my neighbor's rooster. They scream their egg song all day long while he only crows intermittently for about 3 hours in the morning. There's also another neighbor that seems to have about 20 small dogs that go off randomly during the day and feed off of eachother in a noise loop, but I don't hear people saying dogs should be banned within city limits. It really is a myth passed around by people who don't understand or keep chickens that roosters are loud and hens aren't, because chickens in general are just kinda loud.

And another point: I think people's right to produce their own food should always be valued and protected over so-called noise pollution. Roosters are part of that. By denying people roosters, you deny their ability to have a self-sustaining flock. I don't think you should be banned from keeping hens pretty much anywhere either. People should have a right to raise and eat their own fresh eggs and fresh chicken meat. My state just passed a great law where every household now has the right to own 6 hens regardless of what city you live in. People need to eat, costs are constantly going up, raising food yourself is a matter of survival for many. Self-sufficiency shouldn't be a privilege. PETA's goals may not be to force people to rely on corporations to feed themselves, but that's what ends up happening when they're trying to gradually force people to stop keeping livestock altogether.

And I completely agree that banning roosters does nothing but bad things for the welfare of the roosters. People who want to do cockfighting will ignore or find a way around those laws and do it anyway. But for regular people who want to keep chickens while following the laws, all it does is make them have to cull roosters or torture them with no-crow collars and other crowing deterrents in a well-meaning but misguided attempt to try to keep them quiet so they don't have to die. There is no other realistic solution for excess roosters other than killing them when everywhere within 100 miles has them banned. I'm very lucky to live in one of the imcreasingly few places that does not ban roosters.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

PETA who are advocating for rooster bans everywhere because they believe it will greatly reduce incidences of cockfighting

Just want to point out that nobody fights egg layer roosters. So the fact that PETA doesn't know that is rather telling.

 

[MROO]

Just want to point out that nobody fights egg layer roosters. So the fact that PETA doesn't know that is rather telling.

FYI - Egg layer rooster fights are regular occurrences at my family's weekly gatherings and are often a huge source of entertainment. Some even spark serious betting aforehand ... on which of the cousins will get the biggest drumstick or the tail-head. And don't EVEN get me started on the wishbone wagering!