Wading into enemy territory - my neighbor has 80+ roosters and I'm going mad

[plumcrazy]

Hi all,

I know this is probably not the best forum to complain about chickens, but I'm desperate to seek advice from people knowledgable on the subject. I am not against farming, raising animals, or just about anything, but I'm in over my head. We recently moved into a country setting and we knew that the neighbor raised chickens and we could here some noise when we saw the house prior to buying. What we did not bargain for is our neighbor is raising mostly roosters. When I spoke to him most recently he said he had ~ 80. Our house is 100's of yards from his coops and "dog igloos" for the roosters, but we are on top of a ridge and his roosters are on top of another ridge. The noise from that many roosters is annoying at best and completely unbearable at worst. Given the amount it is also constant, as in 14 to 15 hours a day with no more than 10 to 15 seconds between any number of them crowing. I have spoken to him, but no resolution came about. I don't want to put him out business or stop him from having chickens or any other animals, but I can't think of a reason why anyone would want or need that many roosters. Does anybody have any advice on how I can approach him about this without coming across as "that" guy who just wants things his way.

Thanks,
-plumcrazy

 

[lightchick]

I have no idea why he would have so many roosters! Did you ask?

 

[plumcrazy]

Not directly. I have heard that he may supply some not so nice activities, but to be honest I have no proof of that and he seems like a nice guy for what it's worth. In some of our conversations he did mention that he has some asian customers who like rooster for some traditional meals. He also mentioned a partner who he enters roosters into shows, and indicated that he has some nice bloodlines. I'm pretty clueless other than chickens used for eggs and legs, so it's hard for me to determine if any of that is BS.

For now I'm assuming that things are on the up and up. For context, he lives in a trailer 100ft from all of this. So when I try to explain to him that the constant noise is driving me batty from an ⅛ mile away it's hard for the two of us to find common ground.

 

[lightchick]

ok!

 

[Fred's Hens]

Not so nice things like rooster fighting?

BYC Rules. #14 Privacy/TOS

 

[plumcrazy]

Those are the stories one neighbor tells, but I have no way of knowing one way or the other. I tell friends that he has oogles of roosters and that's the conclusion everyone jumps to, but I don't know the first thing about it. The neighbor with the roosters has never said anything that leads me to believe that, but is he really selling roosters to Asians and putting them in the rooster show, I don't know. Unless I have proof of it, I would hate to assume that, but regardless what he's doing with them, I still can't enjoy my yard without wanting to scream from the constant crowing and screeching. :-/

 

[Godsgrl]

Is there a noise ordinance? Are the chickens well cared for? Could you call animal control for him having so many roosters?

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I would try putting up a sound barrier, like a fence to see if that helped.

But that might spoil the view....

It seems like a horrible deal for you. So sorry you are dealing with this.



But if he is insistent upon keeping that many roosters you may want to try some kind of divider like a fence. If all else fails - try to move if you can. That is expensive though.

 

[Blooie]

I don't have any solutions to offer you. The situation you are in stinks, and there's no other way to put it. But you know, you may have done us a favor here by telling us the non-chicken owner's issues with some keepers. This is exactly the reason so many people get upset when they see a chicken coop being built in the backyard next door. Granted, you could probably search BYC for days and not find a reference to anyone having that many roosters, but every once in awhile it doesn't hurt us to be reminded that just as we appreciate our neighbors' tolerance and acceptance, we have a huge responsibility to insure that our chickens don't become a nuisance, whether we have two hens for eggs or a breeding flock. If we keep our coops and runs clean, try to mitigate the annoyance factor, and are willing to listen courteously when a neighbor comes to us in good faith about an issue with our chickens, we have gone a long way toward making backyard chicken keeping not only acceptable, but welcomed in the eyes of the public. We become, in effect, good will ambassadors for our hobby and for our desire to provide our families with food products we control and trust to be safe.

I wish there was an easy way to get through to him how annoying you find his unusual number of roosters and the noise factor. But it's been said that the only person who doesn't hear a dog barking at 2 am is the owner of the dog, and I'm afraid nothing you or we can do will change that.

 

[lightchick]

He probably raises them for their feathers and breeds them.