dearest lovely chicken ladies, can you help me with my neighbours cockerals have had no sleep for 3wks

[JamInMyWellies]

We have just moved to our dream house and we knew that our neighbours had chickens. We have found since lots of sleepless nights they also have 2 cockerels. They do not put them in a coop overnight and they appear to favour our back fence as their place to begin cockadoodledoing from 2 in the morning.

Would there be a reason for them doing this? How can I tactfully ask for something to be done would you as chicken keepers be really peeved if someone complained about the noise. We obviously dont want to rock the boat but need to do something.

would not dream of keeping cockerels for this very reason. On the other hand, i don't live in the country, maybe its more to be expected there. I have read that if they are put in a coop with a low roof, they don't crow because they need to stretch their necks up to do it, but I've no idea if that's true. Seems odd that they don't shut them up, they are very vulnerable to foxes if left out.

I know we just assumed the would coop them at night but they roam free at all times.

We had this problem, 2 neighbours have cockerals, tbh we just got used to it, I don't hear them anymore. When my parents come to stay they complain bitterly about the noise but we're blissfully unaware.

maybe it's like living next to a railway...

In the town I think cockerels are unreasonable, in the country it's probably something you would expect.

I think they would crow in a coop (though don't know about a low roof one) - have you talked to your neighbours? Could they be cooped further away from your house?

Are the neighbours farmers? If so, then you'll have to put up with it!

If not, ask them if the cockerels could go in a coop and not on your fence. We have a cockerel (but no neighbours) who goes in the main henhouse with his girls at night and he sometimes crows during the night and certainly from dawn onwards - the henhouse does insulate the noise though and we can't hear him from the bedrooms.

There are often local bye-laws about keeping chickens and certainly complaints can be made against cockerels being noisy and trespassing. If the neighbours won't compromise, contact the council.

Alternatively, claim they were trespassing on your fence and shoot them. And have coq au vin at the weekend.

at shooting!

I would be worried about cockerels if they came into the garden, as they can be quite territorial and vicious, which could be dodgy with children?

Perhaps they don't shut them up because they have 2 cockerels and in close proximity they'll probably start fighting.

Cockerels can certainly try to intimidate and a small child is not going to appreciate a vicious peck. Most will keep their distance. Our cock ignores the children but occasionally makes growly noises at me.

Duchess loving the coa au vin idea, yum.

Thanks for your thoughts, I wouldnt mind if it was a farm you could understand but its a fairly residential part of the village and several of our neighbours have already asked us how we are getting on with the noise.

Hey ho guess we invest in earplugs and hope that foxy loxy sniffs them out.

oops coq obviously

We have cockerels next door and have got used to them. We also have very loud guinea fowl and they make a terrible screeching.

'Tis country life, ooh-ahh.

"its a fairly residential part of the village"

....yes but it is still a village in the countryside isn't it? Where did you live before, city, rural or suburban?

I think if I was going to approach the neighbours about it, my opening gambit would be to say "Of course I recognise that it is entirely your right to have a cockerel and I am not complaining in any way (that bit is to disarm them), but....(insert the point you want to make)

Oh Jam, just get some of yer own and they can crow together

Does it wake A up?

The noise is probably the reason the house was up for sale in the first place
I secon the cock au vin idea

good lord LG&T I really dont think I need to add to the madness of my household with chickens.

Wuss

Honestly, you will start to block them out within a few weeks. Even if they were cooped you would be able to hear them I'm afraid. Cockerels will crow- the only alternative is for your neighbour to wring their necks.

And ime, there are few things more guaranteed to irritate everyday country folk than townie newbies moving in and telling them to dispose of their livestock. Sorry...

(I was thinking along the same lines duchesse)

lordy there was no way I was going to tell them to get rid just thought you might have some magic cure. Can just imagine the comments in the village, ooh you know them that just moved in he goes on the train everyday blah blah blah you will never guess what she has said.

I spent alot of my teen yrs in a v similar village am well aware of the townie comments.

Well, Jammie, you could try knitting them some little hoods like the ones falcons wear- to induce deep darkness and restful sleep. (Chickens are flooded with melanin in the dark and are extremely docile and laid-back in pitch black.) Seriously though I doubt there's much of a solution. Sorry. Short of befriending the fox as suggested below...

am going to start knitting cockeral hats immedietly!

Horlicks! A warm milky drink at roosting time should have them sleeping like babies.

with maybe a snifter of brandy to lull them