Could anyone please give me advice?
We live in a small cul-de-sac right on the edge of town. About 4 years ago, our neighbours bought some chickens for their back garden. Over this period, their collection has increased to 35 chickens and seven cockerels which are kept in an enclosure. As you can imagine, the seven cockerels make a lot of noise.
Over the summer months, the cockerels start to wake me anytime from 3am onwards, then the noise continues throughout the day and evening. At this time of year, the noise starts around 6am. Obviously, I've discussed the noise with my neighbours, several times. Eventually they introduced "black-out" boxes, which worked very well. The problem is though, they work away from home for several days at a time, and they have a "classic car" which they show or hire out at a variety of events, meaning that they are either up and away very early or they are away for the night. This means that the boxes are used rarely.
We are lucky in out cul-de-sac that we do have large gardens. However the neighbours have placed their enclosure approximately 15m from our bedroom window. And as the gardens have trees around the outside boundary, there is nowhere for the sound to go!
I could complain about the noise disturbance to our local council, but I don't want the birds to be killed. My relationship with these neighbours has deteriorated to a level where there is now no communication.
Can anyone, please, offer any advice? Apart from buying ear plugs (which I've tried, but come out during the night!).