Please help me understand why it's OK for a rooster to crow....

[Cock-a-doodle-DON'T]

Hello,

I'm a dreaded neighbor who does not enjoy the noise a rooster makes. I don't like hearing it all day long, but I can deal with it. At 5.00am I cannot. I do not understand how someone living in suburbia can allow their roosters to crow this early.

City ordinance or not, it just simple common courtesy to keep your animals quiet when people are trying to rest. I've read many posts on this board about people dealing with complaints and most are extremely defensive. I just don't get it. To me it is irrisponsible and inconsiderate to allow this. If you cannot or will not control your animals you should not be allowed to own them.

I'm posting here because when I confronted my neighbor about her noisy birds (for which there is an ordinance) she gave me an earful and sighted many of the same nonsense excuses I've read on this board (excepting the occasional voice of reason) and rudely told me where to go.

So before I take my complaint to the city, how can the keeping of 50+ chickens (including roosters that crow before 5.00am) on a less than one acre lot be justified? Would not even chicken fanciers agree this is bad manners?! I do not understand how any reasonable person could believe this is OK.

Thanks...I needed to vent.

 

[Dixiedoodle]

Have you tried to talk to your neighbor and explain that you do not want the roo crowing at 5am?? I would guess that he doesn't know it bothers you--I actually LOVE to hear a roo crowing--even if it is at 5am..

Many chicken people will deal with not having a roo when faced with not having chickens at all. So, be a good neighbor and have a chat with you chicken-lovin' bud...

 

[Oblio13]

Uh, welcome to the board. :|

 

[MissPrissy]

If your local ordinances allow chickens, including roosters, you are wasting your time to complain.

Your neighbor can get rid of the crowing rooster but then most likely the hens will start to crow. It is what chickens do.

You would have more success trying to hold back the tide than try to control a rosters crow. They are programmed by nature to do what they do.

 

[joebryant]

Cock-a-doodle-DON'T :

Hello,

I'm a dreaded neighbor who does not enjoy the noise a rooster makes. I don't like hearing it all day long, but I can deal with it. At 5.00am I cannot. I do not understand how someone living in suburbia can allow their roosters to crow this early.

City ordinance or not, it just simple common courtesy to keep your animals quiet when people are trying to rest. I've read many posts on this board about people dealing with complaints and most are extremely defensive. I just don't get it. To me it is irrisponsible and inconsiderate to allow this. If you cannot or will not control your animals you should not be allowed to own them.

I'm posting here because when I confronted my neighbor about her noisy birds (for which there is an ordinance) she gave me an earful and sighted many of the same nonsense excuses I've read on this board (excepting the occasional voice of reason) and rudely told me where to go.

So before I take my complaint to the city, how can the keeping of 50+ chickens (including roosters that crow before 5.00am) on a less than one acre lot be justified? Would not even chicken fanciers agree this is bad manners?! I do not understand how any reasonable person could believe this is OK.

Thanks...I needed to vent.

WELL SAID! I agree with you 100%.​

 

[fullhouse]

Cock-a-doodle-DON'T :

So before I take my complaint to the city, how can the keeping of 50+ chickens (including roosters that crow before 5.00am) on a less than one acre lot be justified? Would not even chicken fanciers agree this is bad manners?! I do not understand how any reasonable person could believe this is OK.

The fact if the matter is, your neighbor doesn't need to justify to you what they do, if it's legal. If the crowing is illegal somehow and it is not being dealt with, then call the city. If 50+ chickens are legal, then move if you don't like it. Seems pretty simple.​

 

[Guitartists]

Well, roosters crow because they are happy and announcing their presence. It's not like the dog that barks because it is chained out and unhappy. I personally love the sound of a roos crow, even early. I think the invention of the alarm clock has conditioned us to wake up at the sound of any kind of alarm, including the crow of a rooster. I can condition myself to sleep through both

But, I understand the plight of the person who can not and does not enjoy the sound of a rooster at 5 am everyday.

I am sorry that you are dealing with a tough situation.... us chicken folk love our chickens and our roos and can be rather defensive about the whole thing if approached certain ways. (And I'm sure there are some that it wouldn't matter HOW you approached them) Chickens require a certain number of sq. feet per bird. It's not acreage like a horse or a cow needs. Without knowing exactly how many birds she has, what kind they are and how she has them housed, it would be impossible for any of us to pass judgment on her chicken housing/rearing choices.

Maybe she breeds that breed and needs her roo, or maybe he is a pet and she cannot bear to part with him.

You could suggest that she keep her roo contained and covered until later in the day when his crowing wouldn't be so much of a nuisance, or possibly just bring him in the house until later in the day. That way she gets to keep her roo and you get to maintain your sanity. If she's against local ordinances, and you are offering a win/win compromise for the two of you..... I don't see how that could go wrong.

I'm glad to see someone seeking out more info and opinions before opening a big can of worms for someone else. (And possibly themselves as unhappy neighbors make for a bad situation)

 

[WriterofWords]

I wouldn't say you are the dreaded neighbor, but I would say you don't understand nature. Dogs bark, cats meow, birds chirp, roosters crow. Only humans are arrogant enough to think they can change millions of years of nature by complaining to a political figure.
If the neighbors all get together and explain the are being bothered then there shouldn't be a rooster in their midst. If it is just you, well, get over it?
I'd love to take the radios out of all the cars sitting around playing what I call the mating call of the illiterate loon, boom, boom, boom, boom,, but guess what? I can't, and I can't shoot them either.

 

[Davaroo]

50 chickens on a city lot? - you got a point.
Crowing rooster bothering you (and probably others)? You got a point, again.
Lack of neighborly grace and rudeness? Another point for your side.

However, it is legal (although you mentioned there IS a nuisance ordinance, which is likely being violated). So do what chicken people do when ordinances prohibit them from owning chickens - and they want to. Lobby.
Go to your council meetings and try to overturn or modify the ordinance. You sound reasonable, I'm sure they'll listen. Present both sides in an amicable way and strike for a compromise.

We love to champion the underdog here and many of us would be happy to have a moderate neighbor like you. I don't know how many times I've heard this one here:
"If you cannot or will not control your animals you should not be allowed to own them..."

I'm sure you'll get nothing but support from this group.

Oh, and welcome. Please stick around.

 

[bluey]

I also must agree 100%. I realize that others may sometimes be intolerant of our birds but sometimes their feelings are perfectly justified. There are a lot of folks out there with a lot of birds on hardly no property with close neighbors.

Just because it's what the local ordinance says, doesn't mean it's the right thing to do. Whether it's chicken positive or negative.