Neighbors Complained to Town about Rooster Noise!!!!

[puglady]

With noise complaints, RTF act or not, you will lose.
If they only have a problem at night, insulate (sound proof as best you can) your coop to help muffle the noise. let the Zoning Officer know that you are taking steps to minimize the noise, also talk to your neighbor.
I now you don't want to, but believe me, it will go a long way. Once the war starts, it gets ugly, all kinds of different issues will pop up. Make peace while you still can.
I am a Zoning Officer in PA, if they don't get you with Zoning, the police will get you with disturbing the peace. I deal with this kind of stuff every day. Noise is the toughest one.
Believe me, from the town standpoint, its easier to get you to get rid of the roosters, then try to justify the noise when the neighbors complain at the next town meeting, which they will.

I respectfully disagree. Perhaps RTF RSAs are written differently in PA however here ours were specifically written to protect agricultural operations from these types (noise, smell etc) of nuisance complaints. As long as our small back yard farm was not found a nuisance within the 1st year of operation and there has been no significant change. Neither of these apply to us as we have had chickens, roosters as well, for more than a year.
I have forwarded for the towns review a specific NH supreme court case which used the specific RSA I quoted them as well as one pertaining to GLS dogs. In this case their neighbor was complaining about the noise of the dog at night and the town had fined the owner for noise. The supreme court reversed this as the NH RSA has precedence over the town noise ordinance. I also provided the town with a second example of a case in the next town over from us. At first the farm was found at fault however after being informed of the rsa (Immunity from Suit) the selectman reversed their initial decision that the farm in question was a nuisance. In fact the selectman did their homework and found that they believed the farm was further protected under the 2005 Farm Bureau Policy & Resource Booklet under Planning & Zoning RSA 672:1, III-b
At this point the town has still not written me the letter they had promised to send me about the noise complaint. I'm not sure if one is forthcoming or not as its been 2 1/2 weeks. I'm hoping they realized that we are indeed protected. I have spoken with the neighbor once prior to this and tried to explain the importance of keeping roosters. At the time of the complaint we were down to only one crowing, its been more in the past. I have a very nice, well built 8x16 raised coop. Aesthetically appealing, weather tight and predator proof. Despite this I am actually more than willing to have the coop sound proofed if that's what the neighbors want. However, as soundproofing would be for their benefit any changes made to the coop would need to be at their expense.

The great news is that a local fellow BYCer saw this thread and has offered his help (and been helping) Pro-Bono. He lives in NH and is a lawyer in MA . He does not practice in NH but has some experience in this and can offer me his expertise without really becoming my "lawyer". Such a wonderful resource to have, I am immensely grateful!

 

[puglady]

I think your neighbor is an ***, you live in rural area that liek you said was zones for animals and such. If they didnt want to live 'country' they should have stayed within the city limits! You have a right to your chickens and the laws are on your side in this case...I hope they actually come in handy and protect you and your coop!
Please keep us up to date on what happens because I am very curious as to how this will turn out!! I hope all goes in your favor and you get to keep your flock and I also hope your neighbor stops the pissin and moaning. Tell them to turn on a fan and use that as a noise barrier...thats what I do just so I dont have to listen to the noise my own 100yr old farm house makes GOOD LUCK!!!

Thanks Nickichicki, I appreciate your support! I was so po'd at one point by this my thoughts were right along with yours. As I strongly believe I'm in the right, hopefully to be acknowledged soon, they need to take steps to sound proof/dampen their bedroom. We'll see where this goes. If you buy a house in an agricultural area, you're bound to have agricultural sounds. I'm not opposed to sound proofing/dampening the coop however if I'm correct and I'm protected this would need to be at their expense. I'm suprised as I've had roosters for so long that they haven't gotten more used to the sound. I remember when I moved into my college dorm room many moons ago I could hear the train running by at night VERY loudly. It woke me up the first few nights however after about a week I was so used to the sound I'd sleep though it.

 

[puglady]

It drives me absolutely crazy when people focus on the "odd" animal noise and ignore the regular ones......I find it funny people will complain about a rooster who is really no louder than the wild birds........or even the barking dogs in the neighborhood.......just because the sound of a rooster isn't common, people focus in on that and ignore the other nuisance noises.

My neighbor did the same thing yours did - complained about my chickens - the only difference is, they complained I had the chickens period - long before the boys started crowing. It got very nasty this summer as they blasted their stereo from 8am until 9pm every single day in retaliation for me having my flock. I actually paid off the rest of the neighbors with eggs and apologized for having to suffer with the stereo every day. It worked out so that a couple of neighbors got into verbal altercations with the complainers - which was nice because it got the radio turned off.....

In my area, we are allowed up to 50 birds and there is nothing that says they only have to be hen's and there is no restriction on lot size. My neighbors are actually in the process of selling their house and moving this weekend because they hate my completely legal chickens so much (she also hates my large vegetable garden). I'm fine with that. No one else has ever complained about the chickens and I sent a letter to each of my neighbors explaining that if they had any problems, please come to us. We are more than willing to address and possibly fix issues. We did have 7 roosters culled and we're doing one more next weekend so we still will have two (for 23 hens). I explained in my letter that although I really didn't want to have any roosters, the presence of predators such as foxes, raccoons and opossum's in the neighborhood meant I needed to keep at least one to protect the hens. I also explained that I would be giving back to the local school by donating fertilized eggs in the spring for the 2nd grade class to hatch out. Periodically I leave a dozen eggs on my neighbors porches and that keeps everyone happy......so far!

I wish you luck - my village responded to her complaint by sending her a copy of the law and moving on. There is nothing she can do (besides blast the radio) and they just weren't going to deal with it.

I am so hoping that my outcome is the same as yours. The town sending the neighbors a copy of the RSA so they can move on sounds so good at this point. Selling a house because of neighbors having chickens sounds a little drastic but to each their own. Hating a large garden is just silly! I bet the house they're buying is zoned resi and has bylaws! Hopefully your next neighbors will love your ladies. Its funny because one of the days I was speaking with the town about this a different neighbor walked down some huge cucumbers for them. Too overgrown for salads but just perfect for my ladies, they loved them!

 

[CrzyCknLady]

I had offered her eggs to kind of be a peace offering - but then she had a fit and was totally offended. Then she claimed she was a vegan (sure you are lady - you smoke and drink like a fish! Why are you worried about eating animal products???).......fine and dandy - I then offered to throw the eggs at her.......she didn't like that much either.

It did get her to shut up and go away that day though.......and to think, that was the very last conversation we ever had...... haha

I really think that the roosters - most days - are no more annoying than the crows and the vultures and the barking dogs in the neighborhood. Some days I want to go out there with a shovel and whack mine - but for the most part, I can't even hear them in the house and my house is the closest to the coop..... I don't know what she was complaining about.....

 

[puglady]

So funny. The neighbors actually seem to be trying for payback tonight. The LOUDEST owl sounds I've heard are coming from through the woods from the exact direction of their bedroom! I went online and found the EXACT owl call that I heard outside, right down to pitch, length of call, space between sounds, you name it. Its available as an MP3 file. It seems they're playing it in a loop (about 1/2 hr now). I've got to give it to them, owl sounds are actually a very smart form of payback as its not a radio or some other loud noise meant to keep/wake us up but a "natural" noise. I noticed it of course as its unnaturally LOUD but also because I thought the call was so beautiful! That and I thought "oh goodie, an owl, maybe it'll keep the hawks away!"

Thanks neighbors!

 

[CrzyCknLady]

You would think that the noise would be driving them crazy themselves....eeh, to each his own I guess. Whatever makes them feel better. It certainly won't help them sleep better though........maybe you could tell her that you enjoyed the owl noises but were a bit disappointed it wasn't an actual owl........

People need to learn to just mind their own business and stop worrying about everyone else.......it would make them much happier in the end and alleviate a lot of unnecessary stress......

 

[puglady]

Its been well over a month and I emailed the town to find out what was going on with the situation. Here is their reply.

"We have received no further complaints to date. The noise complaints received have been discussed with Animal Control Officer McCarthy, who will be monitoring the area on occasion.

Should we receive further complaints additional discussions will be held at the Town level as to what if any response will be forthcoming.

At this point in time it appears to at Status Quo."

Sounds like good news to me as no noise complaint letter was issued!

 

[coolcanoechic]

I'll be keeping my fingers crossed for you!