[Porffor]

I live in a village and my back garden literally backs onto a field but we are not allowed a cockerel.  :roll:

[woodburner]

The EHO has just given me a call.
Basically they can't do anything until he contacts them, which he hasn't, and they will give me a call to let me know if he does, before they post the official letter.
I am inclined to go along with henwife's advice and avoid direct dialogue.
It is very tempting to send him a cockerel's head as a Christmas prezzie though.  :shock: On a plate sprayed silver, would be even better.    :shock:

Seriously I just have to keep reminding myself that it's just like last time. He has only heard him/them the once, even though they have been crowing before it's light for a fortnight now. That means that they are still barely audible where he is, and that means they are (still) not loud enough to be an official nuisance.

Unfortunately, the place I got him from had a very similar neighbour. (Actually lucky for me as I got a gorgeous non-related pure bred cockerel for free!) On account of the persistent complaining, the EHO was asking her could she possibly keep the chooks in until 9 a.m. ?
Reading between the lines, this means that the EHO had actually determined that it didn't constitute a nuisance, but that didn't stop the neighbour complaining. Unfortunately for the EHO they have to investigate every single complaint, as circumstances may have changed since any previous complaint. So even though they know that the complaint is not justified, they still have to go through the whole palaver over and over. I really feel sorry for them, but there are limits to what I can do and limits to what I will do too. (I won't catch cockerels every night to stuff them into dark boxes, not that it would work with this one anyway!)

This guy is a long way off, I've put up with noisy parties much closer. His unpopular mate is a builder and is using the stables and yard to store his building materials and stuff, so every so often there will be a loud clatter of scafollding poles being dropped, the horrible screech of a stone cutter, but it doesn't really bother me, except that it makes him a hypocrite for complaining about his next door neighbours animals, and the reminder that he's breaking the law using domestic land for business purposes.
What is more annoying (apart from the traffic) is the bird scarers on the fields. While I was clipping Nutty's spurs, I could swear I heard four different ones go off, almost together. One sounded like an air rifle the next like a mortar, one like a shotgun and then a very distant one, but who's going to complain? This is the country after all.
(Personally, if I could do anything about any of them it'd be the traffic.)

[woodburner]

I live in a village and my back garden literally backs onto a field but we are not allowed a cockerel.  :roll:

Says who?
If it's a covenant on your deeds, it may be possible to have it lifted.

[compostqueen]

these things should be looked into properly. Don't take folks' word for it. Very often it's just a rumour that gets perpetuated so often that people believe it.

[poultrygeist]

There's a rumour going round that Santa doesn't exist but they're all mad I tell ya !!

We have zero covenants on our place. It was pre-war biult on meadow with no neighbours at the time except the graveyard. Other than the general bye-laws, we can do what we want within the rules. But I won't be getting a cockerel. I don't like waking up to let the hens out as it is.

Rob