Cockerels - not horsey but a country matter ;)

Just because the OP doesn't like birds doesn't mean she's a townie!

I live in the CS but the recent craze for keeping chickens in your back garden does drive me insane. Its being done by 2 out of 3 of my neighbours, who aren't home in the day when they're laying and squawking their heads off - I am and am often trying to sleep between split shifts. In this context its also being done by clueless people who have no idea how to keep them properly, or to control the rodent infestation since they got them - something they were oblivious to til I took a shovel full of dead mice and 3 rats, thanks to my terrier, and explained the importance of keeping feeding in proper metal containers!
 
You really should count your blessings OP. I would do anything to move back to the village I grew up in and where my field/horses are but house prices are ridiculously high.
So I live on the outskirts of town leading to the village. The countryside on the edge of town is being eaten up by toy town housing estates, the traffic has quadrupled and I'm often woken up by drunks, fights and sirens!
The back garden is peaceful and quiet although I have chickens ( not a cockerel though ) and my neighbours love hearing them and save all their veg for them.
 
I have seven cockerels and have to shut my bedroom window when they start, at about 3am ususally.
I do sympathise but your neighbour has every right to have a cockerel and possibly it was there before you were. Could you ask him nicely to make the hen house darker so it crows later? Failing that I'm sure you will get used to it. My whole family sleep through mine, only I can't!
 
Sitting here in the kitchen I can hear my two accidental boys calling. Accidental as in bought in a new lot of chicks was told had been sexed (very difficult) and that I had 6 girls oops no 4 girls and 2 boys! Both are very handsome and yes they can be very noisy but are housed at dusk and let out when we get up about 6.30/7am We are the last house in the village and the hens are all on the far side to others. Did ask the folks over the way if they were to much for them as they are an older couple but they said they liked them.
 
If you live in the country you have to expect country things. End of. Count your blessings and be grateful you don't have to live in a deprived inner city place. There are worse ways to be woken up.
 
I can't believe you have even posted this! Where do you expect all the cockerals to live then? All alone in the middle of nowhere. Traffic noise is far more disturbing - I think I would have reacted in the same way as the owner - frankly outraged at your suggestion. There is an answer 'close your window' or move to the town.
 
OP you are getting a bit of a hard time but imagine if someone came over and demanded you sorted out your dog say, or get it rehomed?
If someone came to me and demanded I sorted or rehomed Gollum (my Scots Grey cock bird) you would get short shrift, he's a good example of his (endangered) breed and the basis of my breeding program-not easy to replace. (Although I have no neighbours anymore and the nearest one is a cattle farmer, so generates far more noise than us lol).
 
There used to be a peacock near us - now that was a flipping noisy beast! The shriek used to send the dogs for cover.

It must have desensitised me though as I hardly ever notice the neighbour's cockerels.

They are certainly less intrusive than the endless sirens when I lived on the edge of a town.
 
Poor OP, getting a lot of flack! I'm a countrygirl, but hate noise too, and am a nightmare if I've had a disturbed sleep, so can see your side of things.

I think you will have to do some humble pie eating, you weren't remotely tactful in your request and got the full brunt of his anger as a result. I would go back to him, apologise for how you were last time, say you'd not got any sleep and were over tired, then ask if there is any way of reaching a compromise, say covering the coop or checking the cockerel is shut in etc.

ps, rather than just earplugs, perhaps play some gentle music on your ipod - something else to concentrate on as you drift off to sleep..
 
Oh dear - poor OP - but then we all know what it's like to feel sleep deprived don't we? We lived on the edge of a town and our pratt of a neighbour decided to keep chickens - that flippin cockerel was the bane of my life and I used to lie in bed dreaming up glorious ways of killing it (CLEARLY I never did!) I can be quite a light sleeper so it doesn't take much to wake me, I hated that cockerel with a passion!!! We have now moved somewhere else, some of the neighbours here also keep chickens (WHY?!) but thankfully they don't have a cockerel. I know that living in the countryside brings animal noises with it but i still sympathise with the OP i'm afraid!
 
Why keep chickens? They're charming, amusing and provide us with fantastic eggs........

BTW I often wonder how people cope sometimes trying to sleep in built up areas......CAR ALARMS! Aaarrgghh!
 
I'm reading this to the (un)musical accompaniment of one of my girls who has laid an egg plus her cockerel who is telling the world who clever she's been plus three other cockerels announcing that their own women will do better. And giggling :)
 
I too live in the country and we used to have cockerels at our old house and they are very noisy and tbh had I know how noisy I wouldnt have got them. We got an automatic pop door opener to keep them in until a reasonable time. I was pretty glad when he went to chicken heaven (naturally i hasten to add although hubbie would have quite happily helped him on his way.) I did often check with the neighbours (3 of them) whether they were bothered by him - all 3 said they quite liked hearing him which surprised me but they were a short distance away. I couldnt sleep with the window open because his crowing even shut in would wake me up so I can sympathise with OP. Unfortunately not a jot you can do about it as he is quite within his rights (unless there is some sort of bylaw about it realting to your village? I know it is frowned up in built up areas. I guess to a certain extent is the same with a dog barking or someone leaving to go to work on their motorbike at 5am - not much you can do about if you live near other folk and regardless the sounds of the countryside can often be just as noisy as the city... I hate other people's noises so we moved to the middle of nowhere and love it!!
 
Oh FGS - flippin' farm animals, ruining the countryside, they should go back to where they came from...

FWIW, my OH's parents' had environmental health called on them last year, by some new neighbours who hadn't lived in a rural English village before - you guessed it - for noisy ASBO cockerels.

Unfortunately there was nothing that EH could do, given that the farmyard is the oldest building in the village, and actually the rest of the village was built around it.

I am so glad I have no neighbours - they would hate us, not only do we have cockerels and phessies, we also have...Guineafowl and Peacocks - and they make a LOT of noise!!
 
The small village that I used to live in had some new people move in. They promptly complained about the noise from geese on the farm pond (the farm was at the edge of the village). Then to top if off, they complained that the sheep and lambs were too noisy. If you buy a property next to a farm, what do you expect?
 
Faracat said:
The small village that I used to live in had some new people move in. They promptly complained about the noise from geese on the farm pond (the farm was at the edge of the village). Then to top if off, they complained that the sheep and lambs were too noisy. If you buy a property next to a farm, what do you expect?
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You would surprised to actually know the answer to that question - we have regularly been posted window cleaning bills from the couple who bought a cottage next to one of our arable fields - we don't pay them, but we have a good giggle.
 
I do miss cockerels calling first thing in the mornings. We always had them when we lived in England and the sound is lovely to wake up to. I'm country born and bred though so it's something I've heard all of my life. Unfortunately here it is difficult keeping small feathery creatures so I don't have chickens anymore (which I do miss, they are such characters) but a farm across the fields does have a cockerel and I find myself straining to hear him every morning and if the wind is in the wrong direction I don't hear him, which is a shame.

OP I'm sorry you don't like the sound of cockerels but I'm afraid I'm with the cockerel owner too.
 
Faracat said:
The small village that I used to live in had some new people move in. They promptly complained about the noise from geese on the farm pond (the farm was at the edge of the village). Then to top if off, they complained that the sheep and lambs were too noisy. If you buy a property next to a farm, what do you expect?
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Chocolate box views and total quiet!

Our most recent neighbours complain at the sheep if they get out, don't like cows as they lean on the fence, have a phobia about chickens, although like the free range eggs we sell. The only thing they haven't complained about are the horses, who are pretty leaning over their fence! Oh and they had to leave all their outside lights on 24/7 initially as they were scared of the dark. They really were made for the town, or even a village situation.
 
Honey08 said:
Chocolate box views and total quiet!

Our most recent neighbours complain at the sheep if they get out, don't like cows as they lean on the fence, have a phobia about chickens, although like the free range eggs we sell. The only thing they haven't complained about are the horses, who are pretty leaning over their fence! Oh and they had to leave all their outside lights on 24/7 initially as they were scared of the dark. They really were made for the town, or even a village situation.
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Gawd, not sure how I'd cope if we had neighbours like that, probably die laughing...
 
Cortez said:
I'm with the cockerel owner here: it's the country, get over it. Bloomin' townies!
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How would you know OP is townie..

Because only townies would dislike the birds noise, not one country person here as admitted to not liking them... This opinion is getting boring now.
 
risky business said:
How would you know OP is townie..

Because only townies would dislike the birds noise, not one country person here as admitted to not liking them... This opinion is getting boring now.
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One out of many, but many who have said 'new to the countryside' types who have complained. I've lived in 4 different rural areas - 1 in Scotland 3 in England and it does become a bit of a pain when people with no experience of country life want to change things. I think what these people actually need is a big back garden rather than living in the countryside.
 
Cherrydan said:
I was kindly (they saw me coming, lol) given two cockerels, Bob & Denis...I took them in, fed them, gave them a harem of gorgeous birds...they would pay be in cockledoodledoo ALL the time! I wanted to kick them so much. I was glad when they died, I hated them. You have my sympathies, and hopefully a sharp axe. I would stage a fox attack and have a nice sunday dinner :p
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Made me laugh
 
MiJodsR2BlinkinTite said:
If you can't stand the heat, get out of the kitchen............ if you can't stand the cockerells, the dawn chorus, the cows mooing, the horses' pooing, turds everywhere plus churchbells ringing, then FFS get back to the town where you'll be polluted to death, have motorbikes screaming past your bedroom window all the time, plus emergency sirons 24/7 and all the disruption of noisy traffic, buses, aeroplanes, you name it.

The countryside is full of countryside noises, smells, sights & personalities. Deal with it or move. What else do you expect????
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This sums it up exactly!!!!!!!
 
risky business said:
How would you know OP is townie..

Because only townies would dislike the birds noise, not one country person here as admitted to not liking them... This opinion is getting boring now.
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Umm possibly because none of us country people find cockerels crows annoying due to most of us growing up hearing that noise every day?
 
A mixed bag of replies which was what I expected...but also a lot of automatic assumptions which I kind of didn't expect ;)

Firstly: am not, and never have been a' townie'. Have lived in country villages all my life, getting my hands dirty all my life and love the lifestyle with a passion. I do, however, need my sleep!

Secondly: I'm not complaining about the bird's dawn chorus, usual animal noises, smells and so on. I have never complained before about people keeping animals/pets/etc.

Thirdly: I am, however, fed up with getting woken up by a cockerel (and let's be honest here, they don't 'sing', they crow) at anywhere between 4 and 5.30 in the morning. I get up at 6 every morning to walk my dog, do my horse etc and when I leave this early I try to do so with consideration for my neighbours.

Lastly: I would gladly reach a compromise where the cockerel was maybe in a darker area until reasonable hour of the morning...unfortunately my neighbour went straight for the defensive 'I don't give a !!!!' approach.

Oooh, (sorry, this is lastly)...I like chickens/eggs etc...but am I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying you don't need a cockerel for chickens to lay(?)
 
1life said:
Oooh, (sorry, this is lastly)...I like chickens/eggs etc...but am I'm pretty sure I'm right in saying you don't need a cockerel for chickens to lay(?)
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no you don't. I have cocks for breeding but even if you don't breed, they are useful as they keep the girls together, find them food and stop any fights. Plus, they are splendid ;)
 
1life said:
I am, however, fed up with getting woken up by a cockerel (and let's be honest here, they don't 'sing', they crow) at anywhere between 4 and 5.30 in the morning. I get up at 6 every morning to walk my dog, do my horse etc and when I leave this early I try to do so with consideration for my neighbours.
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It could be worse. You could live somewhere with bungs of horses living right outside your bedroom window banging hay feeders at all hours of the night, have coyotes barking all night long with your outside dogs barking back at them :smile3: I wake loads through the night, every night. I maybe don't need as much sleep as some people but if I did I'd be out of luck living here lol!
 
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