[Iain22]

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!).

[harry]

You now have bad neighbour experience .You can't sleep .Your neighbour doesnt care .You worry about the fate of the birds . With all this going on there is no solution what are you hoping to hear as a solution? You have to bring in the council no ifs or but s.

[chrismahon]

This is always a difficult subject. As you live in a residential area the Council will be obliged to investigate, but every Council handles noise nuisance differently it seems. It will depend on the background noise level as to whether the crowing is deemed a nuisance. At the very least your neighbour will need to demonstrate that they have done all they can to reduce the noise- that means putting the cockerels as far away as possible from you. 15 metres may not sound far but it may be deemed sufficient, who knows? Noise during the day won't carry much weight in your favour I think? I do know of one person who had a noise abatement notice served on their cockerel just 10 metres from the neighbour- we rescued him and his girls.


The important thing is not to let the noise disturb your sleep and consequently work performance, which is what happened to me, resulting in the loss of my job. If it's a choice between your health and welfare and a few cockerels the choice is clear to me. But you may not be able to do anything apart from getting better ear plugs unfortunately.

[SallyintNorth]

Oh dear, sorry to hear of your troubles.  And that your relationshop with the neighbour has deteriorated so much, otherwise perhaps they’d have let you go and put blackouts over the cockerels overnight when they’re away.

If you are still wanting to explore options before calling the Council, then yes looking at other ear plugs - maybe post a thread here or on other forums asking for recommendations - but maybe you could consider some therapy to help you not be so disturbed by the noise?  Lots of us live with noisy poultry and don’t mind, and there are therapies that can help you change your mindset.  Hypnosis, meditation, NLP, to name a few.  Just a thought, as you seem reluctant to get the Council involved.

Best of luck 

[Zyg]

I agree with Harry. You must bring in the council no ifs or buts. And be sure they take you seriously as this is affecting your health.

I was in a noise situation about 25 years ago - Live music two nights per week played next door in terraced houses. We initially had an arrangement with them but this broke down, communication dried up and we used to get abuse from them if we met in the street!
The council's response was "only two nights a week?" It was Brixton in London. This was the catalyst for us to move.

[Glencairn]

Had the same issue a couple of months ago, a bloody large, loud cockerel moved in with next doors hens.

The local authority here are not interested in pursuing the noise pollution angle.

The way we resolved this was to ask the parish council who the bird belonged to, phoned the owner up and explained if he didn't take it back, the bird was going somewhere very far away. 

 

[Penninehillbilly]

Maybe try asking if you can let the cockerels out while they are away?

[Fleecewife]

I'm wondering why they need seven cockerels    Are they breeding for showing perhaps?  Or are they just keeping their hens for eggs and think they need cocks for that?  You don't need cocks for hens to produce eggs, so just perhaps it would be OK for him to get rid of them so he could keep the hens.  It's possible that were you to go to the council, your neighbour would be made to get rid of all the poultry, which presumably is not your aim, so he might consider the cocks as a compromise.


For the earplugs and not being able to sleep through noise.  Sounds like there's a strong psychological component here.  You have become so wound up about the situation that with the first crow you wake, then because you are angry you have no chance of sleeping again.  I love the sound of our cockerel, but if I hear him then to me it just means that I have a lovely place to live.  For you, you live somewhere with a large enough garden that people have the space to keep poultry, and the crowing is just evidence of that and given the right circumstances you could in fact enjoy it.  I suppose it's now gone too far for the problem to be resolved without professional help - sleep therapy or hypnosis perhaps.  Of course it could be worse and your neighbour could be keeping pigs - which are noisy AND smelly (but wonderful and friendly).
So I would suggest that in the first instance you get yourself some decent earplugs, which don't fall out.  When I am in hospital I have to wear earplugs at night otherwise I think I'm back in my old job and it's my duty to answer every buzzer, alarm and call all night!  The earplugs I use are soft and comfortable and they don't fall out!  So there are good ones out there.  Then if that doesn't help, move on to professional help.  Were it me, I would hate to go to the council about it.

[Penninehillbilly]

The timings on this post are strange, originally posted Dec 1st, but i didnt notice it then, all the replies have been today.
OP was about 7.35am, poster last active that day about 11pm.
Probably thought no-one interested so not been back.
I'll pm him.

[abc123]

Fully agree with everything Fleecewife said...why on earth the seven??
The more cockerels you have the louder the noise because of the competition between them. So if they are just being kept for 'the fun' as it were, I think thats a perfectly good reason to approach the neighbour and ask him to rehome at least four of them.

Personally I dont think the boxes are humane and that they should be given free range all the time. If he/she cant look after them properly, because they go away frequently, then they should whittle their numbers down to something more manageable, or at very least, find someone to look after them while they are away.

Most people who keep chickens, consider the crowing a very pleasant sound, so that could be why they are not so bothered

Best of luck

[Penninehillbilly]

Probably just kept hatching chicks and can't face dealing with the males?