Rooster and neighbors?

[jkg]

What have been the most common reaction most people have experienced from their city neighbors when adding a rooster? Our neighborhood, like many or most city areas, bans roosters (middle or upper middle class, Ward and June Cleaver kind of neighborhood). I know somebody nearby owns a rooster because I can occasionally hear him. Without having experienced it, I'm sure the overwhelming majority would freak out and say "hell no". After being near a rooster, however, my guess is most people realize they are far more tolerable as neighbors than an average dog.

I'm asking because we are about to launch an incubator to add a couple birds to our small backyard flock and will obviously get roughly half roosters. As of now, I have the kids primed that we have to give away any roosters. I'm sure they will become attached, and frankly I wouldn't mind keeping a rooster so long as it doesn't cause a ruckus in with our neighbors. I can talk to our immediate neighbors and I'm sure will be fine, but I can't realistically talk to everyone within earshot.

Let me know what you all may have experienced.

 

[ChickensRCool]

We have always "warned" our immediate neighbors that we are getting or have chickens and roosters. We have had very few (like none) complaints. Most, after a few months, come and tell us how much they actually enjoy listening to them and watching them. Of couse we bribe them with plenty of eggs.

 

[mom'sfolly]

My rooster hasn't caused any problems; but my closest neighbors do leave 2 dogs out all night. In comparison, the rooster is quiet, and only goes off a few times in the wee small hours. I do, hoever, live on a cul-de-sac and have no neighbors behind me and the coop is over 100 feet from the other neighbor and blocked by my house.

 

[neighborhoodchickens101]

i have a couple of chickens but no roosters. i have been wanting to get some to try to hatch out some chicks but i dont know if my neighbors will care

 

[gryeyes]

I warned my neighbors just before I got chicks, but I rent a house on an acre, so I really only have three neighbors: my landlady, the People With The Pool "behind" me, and another family with an incessantly barking small dog they CHAIN in their yard. Oh, I didn't warn them... they're not all that close.

Anyway, one of my chicks was an accidental roo, and I was apologetic to the Pool People, asked them to let me know if he bothered them.

As of this weekend, the lady of the house said she never heard him at all. Five minutes later, he crowed. I went to the fence - she was still in her yard - and called, "That's my boy - how is that?"

She was laughing and said, "Oh, I guess I have heard him, but thought it was the other roosters I hear around here all the time. He's no bother - he's cute!"

***huge sigh***

But I still intend to give her a dozen eggs when everybody is laying!

(And my landlady is totally cool - she gave me permission to get chickens, and even keep one rooster.)

 

[emys]

Talk to your neighbors, tell them you'd really like to try a rooster, and that you will be raising some chicks.

Choose your favorite rooster quickly and rehome or process all others PROMPTLY. That way their will be no crowing contests. Check in with your neighbors periodically once they start crowing to let them know your plan and timeline. Let them know you are willing to re-home your favorite if need be, but you really hope it doesn't come to that. Ask them to let you know if he is bothering them, so you can take steps to correct the problem if need be. Most people are quite willing to work with you, and when they give it a chance, they realize that most roosters can be lived with, and are kind of cool to watch.

 

[SallyF]

I lived in a neighborhood in Charleston SC with 1/3 acre lots. We were in the city, but the line between city & county was our back property line. The people behind us lived in the county, had animals, moved, and couldn't catch the chickens or guineas, so we had a feral flock behind us. Of course, they all roosted in various trees around the area. My next door neighbor HATED the sound of the rooster crowing in the tree right outside the bedroom window. I would wake up in the night to the sound of the rooster crowing, Terry yelling, and water running as he turned the hose on the roo to get him out of the tree. I never heard the rooster until the foofaw began each night! Terry and I eventually built a live rooster trap between our houses, and baited it with various things, including a hen. We eventually did catch him and relocated him to the flock at Middleton Plantation.

 

[emys]

A spacious, well insulated coop will help with the early morning sound dampening - and put your coop as far from the neighbors windows as possible. Running a small fan inside the coop also helps keep the rooster from hearing and reacting to far off crows and song birds.

If your neighbors do say something about how they think he is too loud - and you've tried all this already - listen to them and re-home!

 

[FortWorthChicks]

I live in a small lot subdivision right down by TCU in Fort Worth.

Before I moved here from Austin Ivisited alot. I remember being awoken by a rooster crow right outside the window. I laughed and looked at the rooster and his hens in the side yard.

Apparently they had decided to cross the street and go for an adventure. My now husband told me that they would visit his house here and there but were owned by the guy across the street.

So, in my neighborhood it is so commen. I hear roosters in all directions right down in this city. lol So Strange yet fun somehow. My neighbors noticed the rooster but what could they say, its nothing new.