- May 19, 2011
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Hello all,
I have a cockerel that is starting to crow and we live in a subdivision with an HOA that prohibits roosters, but a couple of my neighbors have told me they enjoy hearing his crowing. We want to keep him and let him fertilize eggs because we have a great broody and this year she raised a beautiful group of chicks from some fertile eggs we bought her.
I'm currently trying out the sock over the neck idea proposed in a recent thread, and he did not crow this morning, which is great, but I'm wondering how viable that is long term, with molting and all.
Anyway, I wrote up a letter last night. Here it is:
Dear neighbor,
You are receiving this letter because you live in close proximity to my property and I have a request to make
of you. We are a homeschooling family that also likes to be as self-sufficient as possible and have come into
a situation that we would like to explore further.
I recently purchased several chicks from a hatchery, expecting them to all be females. One has turned out to be a
rooster and has recently woken me up (and maybe you) by crowing early in the morning. I was prepared to re-home
him immediately as I know the HOA frowns upon roosters, but it was suggested to me that I poll my neighbors to get
their opinions.
My understanding is that most people simply dislike being woken by roosters, as do I, so I would crate my rooster
in our garage, keeping him in the dark until 9 a.m. in the morning. Roosters generally do not crow until they see
light and I feel that 9am would be a more reasonable time to hear crowing than 6am. The crate would also be small
enough that he would be unable to extend his neck far enough to crow. His pattern so far seems to be to crow a
few times in the morning and then not at all until the following morning. I'm a stay-at-home mom and so far,
have never heard him during the day, expect for first thing.
We are always looking for enrichment opportunities for our children and think that being able to raise our own
chickens from start to finish would be a wonderful opportunity for our kids. It would allow them to observe
natural behaviors and be able to appreciate where eggs and chicks come from.
Please understand that it is not my intent to create ill-will in the neighborhood and if I receive even one negative
response I will immediately rehome my rooster. I'm sending this letter out to about 30 homes surrounding mine. I
understand that I may receive a complaint from someone who does not receive the letter, and again, I would re-home
the rooster as soon as possible if that were to happen.
Thank you for your consideration,
Anyway, I'm fairly certain I'd receive some negative responses, so I'm tempted to just crate him as stated until 9am and just wait to see if anyone complains. If they do, I could try the sock again, especially if it seems effective, or I might consider shipping him to Dr. James in Oklahoma for the de-crowing.
What do you think? Permission or forgiveness?
Edit: Forgot to add that before we even purchased our first chicks, we notified our neighbors with some lit on chickens and said that we wouldn't keep a rooster.
Thanks,
Sarita
I have a cockerel that is starting to crow and we live in a subdivision with an HOA that prohibits roosters, but a couple of my neighbors have told me they enjoy hearing his crowing. We want to keep him and let him fertilize eggs because we have a great broody and this year she raised a beautiful group of chicks from some fertile eggs we bought her.
I'm currently trying out the sock over the neck idea proposed in a recent thread, and he did not crow this morning, which is great, but I'm wondering how viable that is long term, with molting and all.
Anyway, I wrote up a letter last night. Here it is:
Dear neighbor,
You are receiving this letter because you live in close proximity to my property and I have a request to make
of you. We are a homeschooling family that also likes to be as self-sufficient as possible and have come into
a situation that we would like to explore further.
I recently purchased several chicks from a hatchery, expecting them to all be females. One has turned out to be a
rooster and has recently woken me up (and maybe you) by crowing early in the morning. I was prepared to re-home
him immediately as I know the HOA frowns upon roosters, but it was suggested to me that I poll my neighbors to get
their opinions.
My understanding is that most people simply dislike being woken by roosters, as do I, so I would crate my rooster
in our garage, keeping him in the dark until 9 a.m. in the morning. Roosters generally do not crow until they see
light and I feel that 9am would be a more reasonable time to hear crowing than 6am. The crate would also be small
enough that he would be unable to extend his neck far enough to crow. His pattern so far seems to be to crow a
few times in the morning and then not at all until the following morning. I'm a stay-at-home mom and so far,
have never heard him during the day, expect for first thing.
We are always looking for enrichment opportunities for our children and think that being able to raise our own
chickens from start to finish would be a wonderful opportunity for our kids. It would allow them to observe
natural behaviors and be able to appreciate where eggs and chicks come from.
Please understand that it is not my intent to create ill-will in the neighborhood and if I receive even one negative
response I will immediately rehome my rooster. I'm sending this letter out to about 30 homes surrounding mine. I
understand that I may receive a complaint from someone who does not receive the letter, and again, I would re-home
the rooster as soon as possible if that were to happen.
Thank you for your consideration,
Anyway, I'm fairly certain I'd receive some negative responses, so I'm tempted to just crate him as stated until 9am and just wait to see if anyone complains. If they do, I could try the sock again, especially if it seems effective, or I might consider shipping him to Dr. James in Oklahoma for the de-crowing.
What do you think? Permission or forgiveness?
Edit: Forgot to add that before we even purchased our first chicks, we notified our neighbors with some lit on chickens and said that we wouldn't keep a rooster.
Thanks,
Sarita
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