Keeping cockerels in the urban environment is highly likely to disturb those residents living close by.
If you are disturbed by a cockerel
- first, try to discuss your concerns the owner, they may not realise the cockerel is disturbing you
- if you feel unable to approach them directly try writing a polite letter, remember to keep a copy
Making a complaint to Environmental Health
When completing the online form you will need to provide the following
- details of where the noise is coming from, the house number and street address
- what time is the noise happening, e.g. early in the morning
- your name, address and contact telephone number
We will write to the address where the noise is happening and let them know we have had a complaint. We will also ask you to fill in log sheets with the dates and the times of when the noise is occurring. This helps us decide if it is a statutory nuisance.
Environmental Health only take action where they are satisfied a statutory nuisance exists. 'Statutory nuisance' is defined by case law and not easy to describe.
Action we can take
If from your logs sheets it shows there may be a Statutory Nuisance then we will look at taking further action. This could be putting noise recording equipment in or an officer making a visiting to witness the noise and assess if the noise constitutes a nuisance.
If a nuisance is confirmed, we will serve a Noise Abatement Notice preventing further noise nuisance. Failure to comply with a Noise Abatement Notice is a criminal offence.
Keeping cockerels
- as far as practicable from neighbouring residential property
- keep cockerels in a dark coop at night and don't let cockerels out of the darkened coop until a reasonable hour
- you don't need cockerels for your chickens to produce eggs, it is also a mistaken belief that chickens lay better when there is a cockerel around
If, after trying all the above suggestions, your neighbours are still being disturbed, consider re-homing the cockerel. There are a number of animal sanctuaries that are willing to accept cockerels.