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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

A cockerel? In a council estate? Enlighten me.

52 replies

spybear · 24/05/2010 21:07

There are a few gardens in the row that backs onto my garden. A month ago a famil moved into one of the houses.

And they have a Cockerel, no chickens, just a cockerel.

And what do cockerels do? Yep thats right...
Cock-a-doodle-do

5am

DD3(2yr) said to me this morning, "cock-a-doodle-do wake me up"

I think i will have to go to the council to complain.

Why would they keep a single cockerel? Why?

OP posts:
Willabywallaby · 24/05/2010 21:29

I lived in Elephant and Castle as a student and got woken at 5 am by a cockerel, I feel your pain. 5am was the middle of the night for me then, not a normal waking time as it now.

stripeyknickersspottysocks · 24/05/2010 21:33

UglyMugly, its very hard to stop a cockeral from crowing. Having them in pitch black (if achievable) wouldn't really help, mine would start crowing at 3:00am in November. It was still very dark then. I've heard of people trying to put them in shallow boxes overnight as apparantly if they can't stretch their neck then they can't crow but that seems cruel to me.

stripeyknickersspottysocks · 24/05/2010 21:36

Looks like a differing of opinion with court cases

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/scotland/north_east/8370329.stm

news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/wales/3175872.stm

8Ace · 24/05/2010 21:37

Where we live its in the council rules that you cannot keep livestock in the shared gardens so it might be worth checking although it does also say that kids can't play there .

Surprisingly enough I also know someone who kept a shetland pony in the front garden of their council flat.

I get woke up by my next door neighbours shouting most mornings. Not a cockrel but definately a cock!!

Original poster
spybear · 24/05/2010 21:39

Why would you keep a single cockerel?

Am much too scared to go and ask them to chop off its head...or lock it in a shed.

OP posts:
ChickensNeedOpposableThumb · 24/05/2010 22:15

No idea. Cockerels can be very aggressive as well as noisy. Plus no eggs.

101damnations · 24/05/2010 22:28

My friend had a cockerel and lived on a council estate.Someone complained and he had to get rid of it.He is hoping to move to where I live-I'm hoping he doesn't if he gets another cockerel,my neighbour had 3 at one point and they'd compete with each other from 3am onwards.

Kerrtmumbles,your neighbours with the indoor horse weren't travellers,where they? I've heard of them doing that before.

Shallishanti · 24/05/2010 22:35

we aren't allowed to keep cockerels and someone I know had the environmental health people round following a complaint. They were told (by the env.health bods) to put a sock over it's head at night and that would stop it. Apparently that worked!!!
we have had to get rid of cockerels as I wouldn't want to be faffing around with socks every night, and besides it does seem anti social. Maybe they had hens too but they died or something?

ChickensNeedOpposableThumb · 24/05/2010 22:51

A sock?! That seems a tad...cruel.

BigFatSepticToe · 24/05/2010 22:59

come on, a sock on its head is a better option than decapitation, surely!

darkandstormy · 24/05/2010 23:31

or earplugs?

darkandstormy · 24/05/2010 23:33

still better than the f.....g jet bird ryanair who wakes me up every morning at 6.20

Vallhala · 24/05/2010 23:46

Stripey, you can rehome cockerals. I've known a few to be rehomed via my rescue contacts. Admittedly it's harder than rehoming hens but it can be done. Depends on your contacts.

I take it that this isn't in the countryside (as if so, my own view is that such creatures are part of the deal ifyswim). I can only suggest that you have a word on the chicken owners bit of the forum here and see what they suggest, providing your neighbours are amenable to ideas.

As for the tale of the cockeral in the Elephant, when I used to drink in that area in my late teens, cockerals were the least of your worries but, bloody hell what a surprise nonetheless!

We have peacocks at the bottom of my garden. They make a hell of a racket at times but although they're not exactly normal neighbours I rather like them and besides I live in the country so it is just another animal noise and makes a pleasant change from the foxes screeching outside my bedroom window at 3am!

Vallhala · 24/05/2010 23:48

PS people a few minutes walk from my previous house owned a lynx, so I guess I'm immune to odd creatures and weird noises!

MiladyDeWinterOfDiscontent · 24/05/2010 23:54

spybear that it the funniest thread title I have read in ages. It sounds like something Chas and Dave would sing about thank you

stripeyknickersspottysocks · 25/05/2010 18:48

Valhalla - I put "free to good home" on all the poultry forums in the UK. Was a nice pedigree cockeral as well.

Sometimes you may be lucky and rehome them but I see lots of unanswered ads such as mine on the forums. I also see all the cockerals dumped on the roadside after poultry sales where people have had to buy a pair but obviously only wanted the hen.

ChickensNeedOpposableThumb · 25/05/2010 18:54

Yes, stripey, it always makes me . Unfortunately, sometimes the kindest and most responsible thing to do with a cockerel is to cull it. Not pleasant, but neither are any of the alternatives.

123andaway · 25/05/2010 19:53

The guy two doors down to us had one last summer - we live in a victorian terrace. It got to the point where it was waking me up at 3am every morning. Fortunately (well not fortunately for him, as he's a nice guy - even if he does have a interesting taste in pets) he became unwell and had to get rid of it.

Moominfamily · 25/05/2010 20:03

I looked through the deeds of our ex-council house and it is illegal to keep livestock animals unless your lots extends to an acre (my BIL checked his as he wanted a goat and found the same thing) so complaining to the council should hopefully get results if your neighbour has a similar clause in theirs.
However my neighbours have just stolen my wheelie bin so tell your neighbour if he is looking to have it fostered I'd be only too glad to take it until they make me get rid of it, that'll teach them .

clam · 25/05/2010 20:16

We've just had Eric the cockerel come to spend a day in our school nursery. He's been a few times, actually. He likes visiting (and the kids love him) but he spends a significant amount of time crowing. Loudly.
PITA when you're in a KS2 classroom nearby trying to get your class to concentrate!
May try the heheading approach.

anniebear · 25/05/2010 21:14

that was such a funny read!!

Vallhala · 25/05/2010 21:20

"I also see all the cockerals dumped on the roadside after poultry sales where people have had to buy a pair but obviously only wanted the hen."

How awful, Stripey. Should you ever need to in the future, give me a yell and I'll gladly try to find a home for an unwanted cockeral.

5Foot5 · 25/05/2010 21:21

Valhalla A lady in pur village used to keep peacocks and they are noisy buggers aren't they?

Maybe the OPs neighbours are planning to fatten it up for a special occasion. can't think why else you would keep a cockerel on its own.

As to whether you are allowed them on council property I guess that really depends on the area. I was brought up in a council house but it was in a village and we kept hens and cockerels as did several of our neighbours.

We also had a lamb once - it wasn't particularly noisy but it could cause havoc in the neighbours gardens when it escaped.

MiladyDeWinterOfDiscontent · 25/05/2010 21:51

Ah, I have finally realised what it is about this thread title which keeps making me giggle.

It's Lady Bracknell innit?

A handbag cockeral?

Ripeberry · 25/05/2010 21:56

Whoever manages to breed a cockerell who does not crow will make a fortune!