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

[summerwindsfarm]

Quote:
Noise isnt an easy thing to control. If its not a rooster or a dog its going to be a loud car or a train or a plane or something else. If a person desperately needs quiet to sleep then i think its their responsibility to create that environment in their home. Its more than easy to do. There thousands of ways to sound proof and there are plenty of ear plugs on the market.

Quote:
My son does also. And i suspect that if someones neighbor had this problem theyd be a lot more likely to get rid of their roosters than if the neighbor just found it annoying. That said..the responsiblity for getting enough sleep lies with the person who needs the sleep. Yes IF there was a sound ordinance hed be well within his rights to complain about the noise...but it would STILL be his responsibility to take care of his health..not his neighbors. Ear plugs are a simple cheap solution to the problem. They are easy to put in, comfortable to wear and cost less than $5.

 

[Chick_a_dee]

Quote:
I agree with sending a non-emotional/non-threatening letter, however I would state that if she refused to meet you half way then you would have no other recourse than to file a complaint.

I am wondering though, how long has this been going on? Are the roosters new, or did you recently move in? I ask because maybe it is a sound you will get used to. I remember when I bought my first house I thought I had made one of the biggest mistakes in my life. I felt almost cheated that noone had mentioned to me that 2-3 a day I would hear the train that went by. It was not directly beside my house but for the first few weeks/months I could not stand it. It was to me like listening to fingernails on a chalkboard through an amplifier several times a day. As the months went on I stopped noticing it. As the months became years, I'd find myself comforted by the sound when I returned home from a trip. I moved from that house about 10 years ago but to this day when I hear a train approaching I smile and get a warm feeling. I spent 5 lovely years in that house and what was once an unbearable nuisance became familiar and ordinary.

Good luck and I hope you can work something out.

The train... we have the midnight train from hell here, we live about a KM from the tracks, but this big mofo of a train goes by every single night, and after a couple nights you get used to it, and no longer hear it. We have all kinds of things like that at our house, like during the day when the cement works is blasting, eventually you get used to the mini earthquakes haha, as well as things like living behind a mall we get a lot of 18 wheelers rolling through the larger street next door. We're moving, but not because of those annoyances that have become very insignificant to us over the years.

 

[tiffanyh]

I tend to agree with the OP....

...i think neighbors need to be considerate..including the neighbor with the rooster. The OP is taking teh time to come here and discuss this with is first and get our opinions, and I am suprised but some of the rude reactions he/she received.

THere is a noise ordinance, the rooster can get taken away and the women with rooster should tread a little more lightly.

OP, I would consider approaching her again, maybe less confrontational, she probably felt very defensive. The letter was a good idea. Maybe you could work something out.

Town ordinances allow dogs, but if your dog barks all day, you are going to hear from animal control. I am suprised people are telling the OP to "deal with it." If your neighbors dogs were waking you up at 5am barking, you would be the first people on her complaining to us about it.

PS. I have a rooster and neighbors on a 1/2 acres property. I keep my roo in the coop until a reasonable hour so at least if muffles his crows.

 

[chickens4jojo]

Oh my, I received a rooster in a batch of my "All Female Chicken Order" Well, I also have about 1 acre & I got rid of him as he crowed so very early and so VERY MUCH!! My neighbors never officially "complained." They were very tactful and kind about letting me know that he was also bothering them. "I love your chickens, but....that rooster!!" *and they would grin in an amused, but I-hope-you-get-rid-of-him Look!*

I was planning on getting rid of him anyway though as he was not only an early bird noisebox, but he became a nuisance all around~~he started attacking visitors to my backyard~~Not good~~especially around young children.

So, yes I think you have a definite point & it is unfortunate your neighbor is so discourteous to you. O hope it all works out well for you.

Also, after my rooster "left," some of my hens did tend to cluck louder in an interesting way, but there was never any of that early morning "crowing," thankfully. No one has ever said anything about it and Oh Dear~I hope they don't because I LOVE my CHickens!! But I also want to be a good neighbor, too.

 

[Frozen Feathers]

Denece&Lacey :

Have any of you ever tried blackening out the coop. I am just wondering how well it works. I will have other roosters that crow when the chicks grow up. I just dont want to have to get rid of all of them so I need a solution to the issue.

One of my coops is "blackened" (haven't put the windows in yet

). It's softens the crow, though. They will crow throughout the day anyhow. It's not like you can train a rooster not to crow and there are many people (like myself) who enjoy the sound. I would take it over a barking dog and traffic any day.

I am lucky I guess that the only neighbors who complained moved away. They would complain about the goats baaing and the horse neighing as well

, while revving their POS truck (which their driveway is outside our bedroom window) all hours of the night and day!! Hello!!! I was so happy when they moved, I was dancing on the front lawn.

I too am curious how long has this been going on. Like Jaruca, we have a train that goes by several times a day (and night) it is close and will rumble the house a bit. Plus where it is close to a road crossing we can here the whistle. I don't even notice it anymore.

Anyhoo...I'm allowed to have roosters, my new neighbors knew I had roosters before they moved here, but if my new neighbor decided to up and confront me about them one day, I think I would look into getting Guinea hens as well.

 

[chcknrs]

I have two roo's that crow all day. It is annoying, but my neighbor's have never complained. Their 3 y/o, however, was blatantly honest, and told me the roo's were annoying. I believe I pacified the family when I told them the roo's were being butchered in two more weeks. I live in the country, and there are other roo's out here, but none as obnoxious as mine.
I think it's important to be courteous of others. I DO want a good roo, I DON'T want to be known as a bad neighbor. If the lady who has the roo', in town, in violation of city ordinance, won't respect her neighbors, then she deserves to be turned in.
We really have to get away from this "all about ME" attitude, and look at the bigger picture.

 

[Nupine]

I don't really mind it. It does make me nervous though, like when the goats and sheep cry at feeding time.

 

[conny63malies]

Quote:
Noise isnt an easy thing to control. If its not a rooster or a dog its going to be a loud car or a train or a plane or something else. If a person desperately needs quiet to sleep then i think its their responsibility to create that environment in their home. Its more than easy to do. There thousands of ways to sound proof and there are plenty of ear plugs on the market.

Quote:
My son does also. And i suspect that if someones neighbor had this problem theyd be a lot more likely to get rid of their roosters than if the neighbor just found it annoying. That said..the responsiblity for getting enough sleep lies with the person who needs the sleep. Yes IF there was a sound ordinance hed be well within his rights to complain about the noise...but it would STILL be his responsibility to take care of his health..not his neighbors. Ear plugs are a simple cheap solution to the problem. They are easy to put in, comfortable to wear and cost less than $5.

Saying to use earplugs is like telling an kid with peanut butter allergy not to go to school ,because other kids want to eat Pb&j sandwiches at lunch.
Nobody should have to bow down to an animal.
WE want our animals safe, we comlain when the neighbors cats come over and kill a chick or poop in our sandbox> Earplugs are not really the solution, how can he hear the alarm clock or other things.?

 

[Josie]

People are not bad just because they disagree on what sounds are "pretty" and what sounds are "pretty annoying". I like classical music, but I am sure my neighbors wouldn't appreciate if I blasted it randomly throughout the day.

I think that if people want to keep an unusual animal (and chickens are unusual in the city to most people) they should be prepared to be faced with differing opinions and misunderstandings. The city chicken owners should take the extra steps to be considerate.

The reason I think this is not primarily because of the individual neighbor, but because future chicken owners may have to face prejudice based on inflexible owners that came before them. If chicken owners were overwhelmingly the best neighbors, then there would be far less negative preconceptions about city poultry keeping, and that translates to less restrictions and complaints in the future.

 

[speckledhen]

Krysstyllanthrox wrote:

I see a lot of people on this board decrying about their property rights, their right to keep animals, etc. What about when your rights infringe upon my rights?

That's what I'm asking. Why are your rights more important than mine? Its just a simple question I would like answered, but no one will answer. Life is noisy, especially country life. I dont remember a right to silence anywhere. There are all kinds of noise and I never understood why rooster noise is in a special category all by itself, when it is usually heard in a distance and rarely goes on all night, while I've often been kept awake by dogs barking all night. I always wonder why the owner can manage to sleep through his dogs barking unless it's just roaming dogs off their own property.
AGAIN, if laws are being broken, all these points are moot. Doesn't matter if her roosters never crow and its just hen noise. People take a chance when they get poultry in violation of public ordinances.​