Boisterous urban cockerel finds rural love

Thursday, January 8th, 2009

Gotta love that title, eh? It was no surprise to read that a cockerel who turned up on a council estate and was adopted by the majority of people living there because he cheered them up and was a beautiful bird, found himself up against council officials who threatened court action and police involvement to get rid of him after they received some complaints about his noisy wake-up calls.

I have some sympathy for both the bird and for those who were being woken at the crack of dawn every day, but only because it was a town situation. When townies move to the countryside and complain about noises from the farm next door, that, however, makes my blood boil. If you don’t want the sounds of nature, go live in Brixton and get your garden astro-turfed while you’re at it (assuming it hasn’t already been concreted over).

An environmental spokesperson at our own council here in North Yorkshire told me ages ago, when I asked him, that if we got a cockerel, we would be ordered to get rid of it ‘without a doubt’. Why? He said ‘all cockerels are noisy’ and this is untrue. The overwhelming majority are thunderously loud but some, dependent upon breed and individual personality, are very sedate and only muffled in their very occasional crowing.

If the council tried to get a cockerel removed on the basis of him simply being a cockerel, that wouldn’t be enough—and a quick check with his legal department would have confirmed that to the guy I spoke to. Before action is taken, noise investigation must take place and that involves actual appearances by council officers and audio recordings, followed by the use of technological analysis to ascertain whether the levels are unacceptably high. This takes time, which is why scare tactics work better against the uninformed.

A number of people with cockerels across the country have been threatened, facing nasty neighbours and bad attitude council penpushers, only to be told they can keep their birds because the noise is legally okay after all. Councils shoot from the hip: act first, think maybe some time later. We certainly cannot assume environmental officers actually know the law or have a clue what they’re doing, any more than we can assume they care for the environment just because of their job title.

Still, nobody with a brain gets a cockerel on purpose in a town or city. They can be very, very loud. Don’t forget, either, that many tenancy agreements don’t allow livestock to be kept whether you see them as pets or not, and the same goes for clauses in freeholds on your own property as well. We checked before we bought our house, and there are no restrictions. Yes, we bought the house we liked best but we finalised the deal because we’d be able to keep chickens on our land.

Play time in the snow!

If you’ve read some of my posts over the past week you will know we’ve ended up with a cockerel by accident, not design. The one in the news arrived homeless, perhaps discarded like rubbish—ours came from a breeder who didn’t have a clue how to look after her birds, or how to sex them, yet chose to act confidently in declaring he was a she. The cockerel in the news, having seen him in action, is loud and persistent, and, I would say despite all the online signatures to save him, has no place on a council estate.

Thankfully, our own Buttercup—or as we now say, Captain Buttercup—hasn’t crowed in three whole days. So the crowing is occasional, doesn’t last very long, and is quiet, more like an owl hooting. He also isn’t the slightest bit aggressive towards the hens or people. He’s a gentle giant. We were unlucky to end up with a cockerel but immensely lucky he’s the kind of cockerel that he is, otherwise he’d have to go. I’d be very upset. I’ve grown to love the big yellow duster, who my beloved says reminds him of Sesame Street’s Big Bird.

The one in the news has had a happy ending to the story of his heartless if mercilessly practical eviction, however. He now lives on a farm and is apparently ‘in love with’ an ex-battery hen. His new owners hope for chicks from them in the spring but frankly that’s unlikely, though not impossible. Battery hens are bred to have no urge to become broody whatsoever, that is, to become mothers. If they do, they aren’t to be considered reliable sitters and could walk away from the eggs. Other breeds exist that make superb, reliable mums. Still, the point to be taken is that the cockerel is very happy and, by all accounts, the one lady out of over twenty who has really caught his eye is as much enamoured of him as he is of her. Awww. Ain’t love grand?

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categories: animals