Keeping a crowing rooster 7 metres from a neighbor's dwelling or bedroom is a bit rough. I have a large house block and I keep my poultry at the back of the block as far as you can get from neighbors' houses - this is probably 30 metres away from any dwelling. Then I pen up the roosters mostly in a shed that cuts their crowing volume by about half. The ambient decibel levels from the crowing is less than common sounds I hear at my house, such as wild birds chirping and chattering, a car going past, the noise inside my house from the refrigerator etc.
Yet, I have a neighbor that STILL complains, not just to me but to council. I have come to the conclusion that she just simply does not like the sound of a rooster.
I am in South Australia, and they have recently passed a new local government act: Local Nuisance and Litter Control Act 2016. This act appears to give council officers total and unhindered powers to enter a property and act against any issue raised by any person about anything that bothers them: a bad smell, a noise, uncut lawn - you name it. It is an absolute infringement of the civil liberties of law abiding citizens and seem to me to be unlawful and immoral in any common sense of an individual's legal rights. AND YET it is enshrined by law. It gives council officers immense powers - that are only typically reserved for law enforcement agents such as police or federal officers. In my view it is an absolute joke and a travesty.
However, to this day, despite numerous complaints, and having kept roosters on site for 17 years, council have as yet not acted on any complaint by any physical intervention or action on my property, or by way of any fine or court action. This leads me to believe that under common law they can't or won't actually act without extreme legal burden of proof of an extreme problem or issue. This is probably because people can easily make a complaint, but there is a requirement for the factual establishment of something actually illegal having occurred. In most cases it is not illegal to keep roosters, and the noise they make doesn't normally constitute an actual noise hazard or nuisance (by any industrial definition of decibel levels and frequency).
This has not stopped the council and the neighbors from bullying and harassing me at every turn. BUT I have a very good knowledge of the legislation and I know where the loopholes are and how to stand up for myself. For example, they would need a warrant issued by a court in order to enter my property to inspect, and that warrant will only be issued on very substantial grounds involving strong burden of proof that any actual contravention of legislation has occurred. As far as I know, I am within legal boundaries and have not broken any rules or laws as such. It is not sufficient that someone simply does not like the sound of a rooster crowing! Full stop!
Now I don't want war with my neighbors, so I try to go to fairly great lengths to mediate any nuisance factor. But STILL they complain.
The other thing is that most people that keep poultry don't know where they stand with all of this and so they allow themselves to be intimidated by neighbors and council. Most people, at the first sign of complaint, get rid of their roosters quick smart. They get scared, give in to the intimidation, and don't even check to see if there is any legal basis to the complaint. This, my friends, is an infringement of our civil liberties. Don't fall for it.
Now if this makes me sound like the neighbor from hell, I think "not true". The neighbor who complains the most has a noisy pool filter that runs day and night and absolutely drives me crazy. They also have an outdoor wood-fired pizza oven that they happily light up in summer, belching out thick smelly smoke into my yard. They also have several cars that cannot all be garaged on their property, so they leave several vehicles parked constantly on the road. Another neighbor is into dirt motorbike racing and they often ride noisy motorbikes around their yard. Another neighbor has a kid that plays drums and can be heard practicing all hours. Some neighbors have wild parties. A main freight train line runs through our town and freight trains come through at 3 am, with diesel hum and wheels screeching for 20 mins or so. I could go on...
The point is, we can all find something to be annoyed at, but a rooster crowing is singled out as an absolute non-negotiable in the world of neighborhood noise and nuisance issues. This, I argue, is simply biased and unjust. (But I wouldn't keep a crowing rooster 7 metres from someone's bedroom!)
