What you can do to reduce crowing
If you do keep a cockerel, think carefully about whether the cockerel is likely to cause a nuisance to your neighbours.
Below we have listed some simple but effective things you can do to reduce the nuisance caused by your cockerel crowing.
- Location of the cockerel – make sure the cockerel is as far away as possible from your neighbours’ homes.
- Competition – other cockerels in the area will try to compete with each other and this can increase crowing. So only have one cockerel yourself.
- The coop – cockerels crow when light enters their coop, so keep the coop as dark as possible to keep crowing to a minimum early in the morning. You could also lower the ceiling of the coop to prevent the cockerel from throwing back its head and crowing.
Other information
You don’t need a cockerel for your chickens to produce eggs. It is also a mistaken belief that chickens lay better when there’s a cockerel around.
By law, cockerel crowing is a recognised noise nuisance. If we accept a person’s complaint about your cockerel crowing, we will try to sort the problem out informally with you. If the problem is not solved, we may issue an ‘abatement notice’. This is a legal document that will order you to stop the nuisance.
There is more advice on the following websites.
search for ‘chickens’