What is reasonable time to let the rooster outside?

[GimmeCake]

Luckily, out of the 3 houses next to me, one has a rooster, another has goats, and the other hasn't complained.

The other rooster though sounds like it's small, can't wait for my Black Australorp's wake up call!

 

[TulsaChick]

I old fence in barbed wire and put no trespassing signs up. That way she can't sneak over to measure the distance. I agree with giving her free eggs. Buy a nice, cute basket lined with a hand towel. Fill it with eggs and tell her to suck on them. No - tell her you enjoy having her as a neighbor and I hope you enjoy fresh eggs. " if you do please let me know and I will fill the basket again." Sweetly smile turn and walk away.

 

[TulsaChick]

I would not I old lol

 

[tniron]

Th

You are legal to have your rooster, so I would suggest that you just let him be with the hens. It seems to me that 70 hens would be far noisier than one lone rooster! If you're concerned about the neighbors you like, go ask them if the rooster bothers them. If not, let him crow his little heart out. The other neighbor needs to realize that when one moves to the "country" there are certain sounds and odors that go with it. If your neighbor complains again and tells you to get rid of your rooster, just smile sweetly and tell her that you are legally well within your rights to have him, and then offer her some earplugs. Or, you could try being nice and offering her some eggs. (In a carton, not thrown at her house!

) Just keep being kind and polite, and let her blow off steam. You keep being nice, and she's the one that's going to look like a jerk to the rest of the neighbors.

Sounds like great advice. Kill them with kindness. I love people who move to the country to get away from it all then expect it to be like it was where they came from. By the way with 70 hens dont you need 5 or 6 more roosters?

 

[GimmeCake]

Haha, he doesn't need another rooster! That rooster must be happy.............

 

[SoftBoiled]

I old fence in barbed wire and put no trespassing signs up. That way she can't sneak over to measure the distance. I agree with giving her free eggs. Buy a nice, cute basket lined with a hand towel. Fill it with eggs and tell her to suck on them. No - tell her you enjoy having her as a neighbor and I hope you enjoy fresh eggs. " if you do please let me know and I will fill the basket again." Sweetly smile turn and walk away.

I agree with this advice, this lady reflects a great poverty of soul, so you will not win any "war" by retaliation. I wonder if there is a way to measure the decibel levels? Some by-laws will have a definition of "loud noise" and if you can measure your rooster's impact, I'm sure it would be well within these limits. Even going as close to this house as you could and recording the sounds of a normal day from that point would be helpful.

I've been researching this issue myself in moving to a new property where roosters are permitted, BUT ONLY IF no one complains, because it is a residential area (in a country town). Even though I have cleared keeping a rooster with my nearest neighbors, it's one thing in principle and another in practice.

Therefore, my strategy is to have a "rooster room" inside the chicken shed where the straw is stored - straw is a beaut insulation and will absorb (ie muffle) a large percentage of the crow, and keep the lad indoors until about 9am. Thanks be to God I do not have a "crankypants" but I don't want to try anyone's patience either - AND I keep Large Fowl English Orpingtons: they don't crow, they BELLOW.

Stand your ground firmly, but peaceably and let us know how things develop!

PS: Don't tell her you enjoy having her as a neighbor, it might be fibbing

 

[tgtn7723]

I'm so sorry you're having to deal with this. I remember when our little guy Herbert - https://www.backyardchickens.com/a/herbert started crowing, I was really concerned that he was bothering the neighbors. We're not quite as spread out as the situation you describe. I went and asked the closest ones. Turned out every one of them enjoyed it.

We lost Herbert a couple of weeks ago. The silence is deafening.

I'm with everyone else here. Let him crow. If she's so wealthy, she needs to buy a larger piece of land or invest in some good noise-proofing for her home

 

[Alspal]

Your rooster has as much right on this earth as your neighbor. Let the rooster crow all he likes but place along her fence not your elderly other homeowners.

 

[Williamrocket]

I had a similar situation with my rooster, well, except my neighbours are humans, unlike yours.
My rescue rooster is an really early crower, so I kept him in my bathroom overnight for the first few weeks, he still crowed, but as he was inside it only was heard by me. I approached my neighbours and they said as long as he didn't wake them at 5 am it would be ok. Legally, like you, I am allowed to have roosters, I am on 2 acres in a rural classified area, and so after a few ekes I just let the rooster have free range with the hens. So far no one has complained.
With the chicken house / garage issue, to gain six feet the easiest way to do that would be to build (or have built) a wall 7 feet inside your garage. As far as I am aware the rules are there for sanitary reasons (don't tell anyone, but my chickens come in through my cat door most mornings, eat the cats food, and hang out in the kitchen until I wake up and feed them proper) here in New Zealand its 10 metres (we are like most of the modern world in that we use the metric system !!! ) thats about 33 feet in the archaic medieval measurements, and as long as the extra wall is basically sealed you should be ok, and hence able to tell your idiotic neighbour where she can go (perhaps she could become one of those morons that buys a house next to an airport and then complains about the noise). Don't be shy about approaching your local authority (whatever its called where you are), most people are happy to help, and they are all human, unlike your neighbour.
You know, I would happily come and give you some help, its just that I am a fair way away.
Good luck anyway. William.

 

[Williamrocket]

Weeks, not ekes.