The Oh-so neighbor!

[PaulaSB12]

M.sue :

Quote:
I truly respect my neighbor even though they always seem to be the ones with the complaint about something, honestly. They at one point a few years ago politely complained about my son & his friend building a fort in some pine trees. The trees are ours, planted 50 yrs. ago by my grandfather and on our property! He nonchalantly told me that pine sap is very hard to get out of clothes and that it looks like the fort and the items on the ground (bike, backpack, boy stuff) belongs to them because the trees run along the property line and he has a driveway which runs directly parallel on his property to his pole barn. Soooo people are going think it's his fort and stuff. Really.....come on ....and my roo does crow but not that much, seriously he doesn't. I guess I just had to vent because they nit-pic about everything and I'm very good & christian like about ignoring it and going on with life. The extra roosters were just a humorous thought.
Also our propoerty is zoned and protected under farming & homestead act. If I wanted to I could legally get a donkey and he couldn't do a thing about it. Plus, we're not talking some elderly man. I'm in my 40's and this guy & his wife are only 10 yrs. older max. and I know that for a fact. I guess some people are never happy unless they have something to complain about!

Not being christian (either good or bad) I would go and get a couple of peacocks see how he would like the noise they make!​

 

[gertiie]

While I agree that he was very nice about the way he brought it up and approached you about it , I also believe if you live in the country
and farm animals are allowed , deal with the crowing. Your rooster has ever right to crow, let him crow !!!

 

[Mattemma]

Now I can see that happening to me since I am in the city,but goodness to complain about it out in the coutry is quite a bit silly(and nit picky!) You handled it well!

 

[froggie71]

I have 1.5 acres with lots of birds (75 total) including 8 roosters, 10 guineas, 4 geese and 3 pekin ducks (all my noisiest birds) I have consulted all my neighbors and all either love the noise or don't even hear it. I sleep during the day as I work nights, and I am never awakened by the birds. On the other hand, a neighbor down the road also has chickens/roosters/ducks/pigeons. The neighbors around them do not love their birds. They have gone to the township to complain about the noise. No ordinance here though. They have even used us as an example of " others in the neighborhood have birds and we can't hear them." I think it has to do with acoustics. Our closest neighbors laugh at the thought of being bothered by the noise as we "live in the country" and wouldn't have moved here if that would have been a problem.

 

[greeneggsandham]

Oh yea I have one of those, but worse.

This guy thinks he can do anything he wants on his property, but if someone else does something on theirs all you hear is those f'ing a's and on and on for hours.

I have one roo who does not get let out of the coop until 7am and is put back in at 5pm. He is left in the coop on the weekends with food and water of course. We all have at least 2 acres of more and the chicken coop is in the very back corner of our property well over 2 acres away from his house. But every time the roo crows he starts swearing and yelling. I'm waiting for him to threaten my birds then it will be all over. We have called the state police on this guy a few times and he is quiet for awhile, but then starts in again. Its funny because in the zoning for our area it specifies 25 poulty/fowl per acre. So techinically we could have 50 roos since we have over 2 acres. My husband told him that a few years ago to keep it up buddy and you will wake up to 50 roos crowing right in front of your property. Of course we would never do that because of our other neighbors who are all awesome. Oh and his crazy wife starts crowing when she hears my roo.

I have my camera at the ready for when he is shooting off fireworks that are illegal in CT or when he decides he wants to do target practice behind his house where there is another house about 200ft away from his backyard.

 

[kareninthesun]

It is your choice to raise roosters. What if your neighbor was raised by a family whom was seriously into band playing and drew comfort from that, so much so that they'd practice at odd hours? Now, might get used to it, but if that neighbor gifted me with a few CDs or tickets to a concert, I'd feel like they understood better about what u was going through instead of brushing me off as me not getting what country life was about. Neighbors shouldnt have to confront each other, but this isn't an idealistic world. If we choose to take on the responsibility to raise whatever, our neighbors are part of this community. My neighbors behind me and right across the street are drummers. They have bands. Another neighbor plays the harp. I've got a saxophone, piano and two guitars here. Choosing to practice at 4:15 AM isn't going to get me on anybody's Christmas card list ; )

Having raised three boys and a girl whom can keep up with them, and having pine trees, I know first hand what fort building fun can be. Pine sap is a pain in the neck in clothes and cars. Learned to avoid parking under them. And kids being kids and unsupervised beyond parents reach enjoy all the perks of freedom. We put the fort in our yard away from our grumpiest neighbor, where they could have all their friends over, have all their junk (important stuff) sprawl without it making the neighborhood look like cast offs from a flea market. I knew where they were.

If my neighbors ideal is to have a well manicured property with pretty flowers and butterflies, that is what brings him comfort and peace. That's part of what he worked for in achieving just as you did.

I'm guessing that if he made the effort to go back and have that conversation with you, that he's thought long and hard about it first. We need to be careful when addressing these things and not take them lightly. If we have roosters or kids, we can't be defensive, but proactive.

I'd gift them on a regular basis with eggs. Move the roosters till daytime to a barn or somewhere a bit soundproofed.

 

[Hennyhandler]

I agree with the majority here. Living in the country means living with country life. That is all there is to it. Yes, some neighbors may not like the crowing BUT when you decide to move or live in the country you are taking the bad with the good just like anywhere else. That means there could be animals that dont appeal. You take that risk, if you don't like the idea of those animals or noises. It's the country, that is why people live there is to have those animals and that lifestyle a lot of the time.

 

[pbjmaker]

The OP never stated that this rooster was crowing at unreasonable hours. While we can try to be good neighbors etc. I don't think that anyone living in the country should have to give up their rights to own a certain kind of animal. What gives any one person the right to pick and choose what noises they want to hear, or what kind of lawn they look at? If that is how you think it should be go live in an HOA.

Personally I live in the city and I have a silkie rooster that all my neighbors adore EXCEPT one. She can't even hear him as he doesn't crow loud or often and she lives clear down at the other end of the street. She just doesn't like the notion that I even have chickens and is a very controlling person. She has called animal control on us three times and guess what - I am totally legal. The funny thing is we live with barky dogs in the neighborhood and we are 4 blocks from the airport with National Guard Jets flying over often. You can really hear the UPS planes warming up on a still morning also. Why does she think she has the right to choose which particular noises she finds acceptable? Is she going to kill off all the wild birds that chirp all morning too?

People need to just get over themselves sometimes and realize they share a world with a variety of people with different tastes and hobbies.

 

[SarahBeth9394]

Great post Karen. My hubby plays guitar and our son is a drummer and we have always been respectful of the fact that we have neighbors so the cut off time for playing was set years ago. We have never had a complaint. The retired school superintendent lives across the street, his buddy the retired middle school principal is over regularly, and the next door neighbor is in his 70's. We've been respectful and everyone gets along.

If the so-called Oh-so neighbor even brought up the crowing he's definitely thought about it for a while. If he truly was an Oh-so neighbor he would have been much more blunt than he was. He would have said something like "oh it doesn't bother you. It wakes me up at all hours and it needs to be dealt with". Occasional noise happens everywhere. But consistent noise at sleeping hours is something that can be controlled. Karen's suggestion for the roo is a good one. How can one expect the neighbor to be respectful to them if one has no inclination to be respectful of the neighbor as well. That doesn't sound very christianly to me. The guy may very well be nit picky but he has a valid point about the roo.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Quote:
You know I've always wondered about this! My coop is about 35 ft form my house have had up to 9 roosters in there crowing and have never had one wake me up. I think some people have some serious insulation issues!!

This!