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Original poster

Buying a house with a cockerel next door

61 replies

Sippingtea · 09/06/2018 22:04

We’re in the process of buying a house and visited today to find that next door appear to have a cockerel. It crowed a few tones while we were there. I’m now feeling nervous as we love the house but I have a real issue with any kind of noise. Would I be being optimistic to convince myself it won’t be a problem? Has anyone had neighbours who keep cockerels? I know they tend to crow early in the morning but how often can we expect it during the day?

OP posts:
Spillette · 10/06/2018 07:07

Is there any chance you'd just stop noticing it?

We used to live in a second floor flat next door to a church - the bells could not have been any closer to our window! I was amazed how quickly we just became oblivious to them.

Could cockerels be the same? Or would your misphonia not allow it?

Also... what if you pull out now, with everything that entails, find somewhere else, then in a years time a new neighbour moves in there and buys a cockerel? I guess what I mean is that cockerels are not fixed and predictable, so it would be better to try and find a way to live with this one and have the otherwise perfect house and neighbours, if possible??

Good luck, whatever you decide :) x

MaverickSnoopy · 10/06/2018 07:09

Light sleeper here. Grew up living next to an avery and was just used to the noise and it didn't disturb my sleep at all. Didn't notice it in the day at all. Used to stay with a family member who had a cockeral next door, sometimes it woke me up, sometimes it didn't.

How much do you love the house? Earplugs the if bad? I imagine it's something you'd get used to (I would).

Shutupsidney · 10/06/2018 07:17

You're not allowed cockerels round here. I'd check local laws, but only insist they were adhered to once the existing one went.

lapenguin · 10/06/2018 07:18

I think the only way for you to know if the noise is too much for you is to drive by early in the morning and see if you can hear it and how much it bothers you. Personally it wouldn't be a problem for me and I can imagine the sound being drowned out after a while, I used to spend a month by farms every summer, even camping on a farm one year, and the noise didn't bother me at all. But if you have a problem with noises you may be more sensitive to it. People who have lived there a while may not notice it much anymore or consider it a big problem.

wowfudge · 10/06/2018 07:18

I wouldn't knowingly buy a house with a cockerel for a neighbour. You would hear it - if you are sensitive to the noise - even with earplugs in as the nature of it is intermittent and loud.

BettyPitts · 10/06/2018 07:32

The cockerel won't have made a difference to the house price.

I'd find it a total pain but yes would prefer it to loud music.

NotARegularPenguin · 10/06/2018 07:42

I used to have a cockerel. I never heard it, my neighbours one side didn’t hear it. My other neighbours who were slightly further away did hear it and it bothered them. I don’t know whether if you’re the sort of person who gets a bit wound up by noise if it makes it more likely you’d hear it? Apparantly my cockerel would start crowing at 3am.

DaysLikeThese123 · 10/06/2018 09:07

We used to have chickens when I was a kid, and a few cockerels. Tbh they are all different. They are perceived as crowing in the morning but some do it all day, early morning, at night or not at all. So you don't really know what you will get! If it dies I'm sure the owner will get another.

The noise didn't bother me as a kid as I was used to it, but if I moved back it would take a bit of getting used too! I understand your concern, i hate living next to noisy pets. We have a neighbour with a dog that barks all day. I think it's worse than any cockerel though as its a loud booming dog. You'll almost find an issue with any neighbour you are near though

HumptyNumptyNooNoo · 10/06/2018 09:24

If every other box is ticked by this house - buy it ! If the cockerel becomes a PITA - ask to buy it from the owner and re home it perhaps ? Or just Kidnap it and set it free to roam a new farmyard somewhere ??

CookPassBabtridge · 10/06/2018 10:24

I've lived next to a cockerel and it got very annoying, and I don't have your condition. Could you stick it out in the 1 bed longer? We had a toddler and baby in a one bed which was hard, but it was fine with only one child. Plus it'll be temporary.

Though on the other hand seems such a shame to not take a house you love because of a little creature but they are so loud.

Roomba · 10/06/2018 10:30

I don't live in a rural area, but a house at the end of my long road has a cockerel (house is about 300m away?). There is also a house a few streets away that has one.

I know this as the one on my road starts crowing by 4am at the latest every morning in summer, about 7am in deepest winter. Once awake for the day, this cockerel crows every few minutes all day long some days - and the one a few streets over crows back to it! It is constant, but I'm used to it and mostly block it out. It's when I have visitors and they comment on it that I start noticing it and it drives me nuts again!

Clairetree1 · 10/06/2018 10:34

cockerels crow, that is all bottom line

Icklepickle101 · 10/06/2018 10:41

We accidentally ended up with a cockerel for a few months and it drive me insane. Every bloody morning, and lunchtime and evening the sodding thing would squawk and that was my own animal! I think I would have lost my shit had it been someone else’s Blush

Original poster
Sippingtea · 10/06/2018 11:09

I contacted the owner this morning and she tells me he’s a very old cockerel who rarely crows - and never in the very early mornings. She says some days they don’t hear him at all. I’ve been clear about my concerns about noise and she seems very genuine so I’m cautiously optimistic (or maybe just massively naive??!) It really would be a shame to give up the only house we’ve found in 9 months of searching that we love and that is in our price range...

Definitely going to look into double glazing, though.

OP posts:
Original poster
Sippingtea · 10/06/2018 11:11

Thanks so much for all the responses. I really do appreciate it. Been a lurker on here for ages so it’s nice to actually engage for once.

OP posts:
MrBennOfFestiveRoad · 10/06/2018 11:15

The problem is that you can have someone move in next door to you with one or in our case, two. My 6 year old now gets up at 5am every morning, when the new neighbours’ cockerels start crowing!

WowLookAtYou · 10/06/2018 11:22

This is the sort of thing that one might find 'charming' and 'quaint' for a couple of days, but after that you'll be seriously considering investing in a shotgun.
What's the local fox situation like?

GivenAndDenied · 10/06/2018 11:28

Why don't you go along and park nearby to the house in the morning, early, and see if you can hear it? Or at any other point in the day when the noise would bother you?

As others have said, each cockeral is different - I have a friend who keeps a cockeral in a terraced house garden, but his crowing is so quiet, that nobody is bothered. But then you can get some who make noise all day, very loudly. Only way to know which you have, would be to visit the area and see what's going on at times of the day that will matter. Don't people usually do this anyway? When we bought our last two houses, we went & walked the neighbourhood at varying times of the day, to check on traffic, neighbourhood noise, etc.

Please though, don't buy the house, then complain to the neighbours about their cockeral. We see this all the time in rural areas - people who move next to a church, and then complain about the bells. People who move near a farm and then complain about tractors driving early & late. People who move near a riding stables, and then complain about horses on the road, and horse poo on the road. I personally think this is unreasonable behaviour.

Happyhippy45 · 10/06/2018 11:43

We live in a semi rural location. Not a farm. There are 5 families/houses in total.
One family have chickens and ONE cockerel. They moved in after we did. He's a noisy wee bastard and at his worst I thought about reporting it as it is a bloody nuisance. I didn't report because I do actually like them and he was bothering me more because I was home all day.....and I have gotten used to it. He doesn't bother me anymore. Also the owners keep him in the dark until a reasonable hour now (they didn't for one summer) so it doesn't wake up the whole neighbourhood
probably only me at sunrise.
I'm pretty sensitive to noise but I've gotten used to his noise now.
Is the house worth tolerating a bit of noise until you get used to it?

BingTheButterflySlayer · 10/06/2018 11:57

Guy a few houses down from us has one - in the most built up type of area going which just indicates to me that they are an absolute fucking twunt.

I don't know if I hate the cockerel set to stupid o'clock in the morning or the cock of an owner more.

Naynayba · 10/06/2018 12:02

Cockerels crow all day and can start verrry early in the morning in summer. I have 9 at the moment and they dont bother me, but im not irritated by noise in general at all. If you are, DO NOT move next door to a cockerel. Its no good waiting til it dies because there'll be one to replace it.

Misericord · 10/06/2018 12:51

If the owner is genuine, then I’d go for it but it bumps double glazing up your to do list - think of the eco benefits / energy savings etc too :)

I’d much rather an old cockerel than a yapping dog. That drives me maaaaaad. A young cockerel shouting at full pelt can cut glass, but I’ve lived next to so many awful yappy terriers and schnauzers...

Full disclosure, I do have chickens (no cockerels, but two of my ladies can be loud if laying large eggs). Our neighbours concerns almost stopped us buying the house, as they were so worried about noise. However, in the event, it was a full week before my neighbours noticed the hens had even moved it! Whereas the whole street mutters darkly about the super noisy, yappy-at-all-times terrier a few doors down...

Gizlotsmum · 10/06/2018 12:56

We have a cockerel next door. Don’t hear it until we are already up in the morning and then only a few times a day. However the noise doesn’t bother me so I might not notice it much. The clucking of the chickens is more continuous but lower level

AvocadosBeforeMortgages · 10/06/2018 14:42

Cockerels will crow throughout the daylight hours - the idea that they crow once at dawn is a myth.

If you are noise sensitive, this is not the house for you. The cockerel may live for many years to come (5-8 year lifespan ++) and they are likely to replace it subsequently. Any chicks that hatch will be 50% cockerels, so the number could increase. Do not move in and then ask them to rehome it - there is zero market for cockerels and what you are actually asking them to do is kill it. A new neighbour who asked me to kill my pet for their convenience would (a) be told where to go, and (b) have most other subsequent requests refused.

Schroedingerscatagain · 10/06/2018 14:51

Hi Sipping tea

Dd is also a severe Misophonia sufferer, ds and I are mild sufferers

We live next door to neighbours with chickens and although we hear them sometimes none of us seem to react to them even dd and she reacts to everything

Hopefully with an old cockerel you’ll be ok

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