Fort Worth is poking its beak in places it shouldn’t by considering a ban on roosters.
The city ought to appreciate residents that own hens and a rooster or two.
Chickens lay protein-rich eggs for families to eat and to become more green and self-sufficient. Roosters are gorgeous animals that protect those hens, fertilize eggs, and make cool crowing sounds.
Yet Fort Worth is considering banning roosters because a few people breed them for cockfighting.
Huh?
Cockfighting is already illegal. An across-the-board ban on roosters is unnecessary.
People raise dogs for fighting but that doesn’t mean the city should ban all dogs.
If I had to choose, I’d ban dogs first. They’re much more dangerous and lethal in attacks, they’re noisier, more destructive to property, and cause accidents by running loose in the streets.
Roosters are cocksure and aggressive when their territory is invaded, but they’re not going to kill anybody in an attack.And I’d rather listen to a rooster crow than to hear a dog bark any day of the week. (I’ve lived next door to roosters and dogs and I know from what I speak).
A few cockfighters in town shouldn’t prompt the city to crack down on honest, hard working families who like to keep roosters and hens around for fresh eggs, aesthetic pleasures, rural sensibilities, and for teaching children to be responsible pet owners.
You try living next door to some crowing roosters and see if you have the same attitude. This isn’t just about cockfighting. It’s also about noise, and the decline in property values that happens in a neighborhood overrun with roosters.
Well, once roosters are banned, you will definitely get what is coming to you by a rabid trained fighting male dog
The neighbor next door has 1 rooster, the neighbor two doors down has 1, and the neighbor right behind us has TWO roosters. Roosters do not just crow in the morning… they crow whenever they feel like it. And if there are competing roosters within in earshot, they crow ALL THE TIME. We have to use white noise machines to drown out the rooster crowing so we can sleep. I used to keep chickens for home egg production myself. Roosters are not necessary for that process. Yes, some restrictions need to be put into place.
I lived for 15 years in an East Side neighborhood. One neighbor raised pit bulls, and the other neighbor had a couple roosters and some hens. The dogs and roosters were both noisy at night and at light of day, but the roosters weren’t as bad in comparison. I agree there’s a myth about roosters crowing at sunup and sundown — they crow at 3, 4, 5, 6 am, whenever they feel like it. But, for me, the sound of barking dogs is 10 times worse. At sunup, they sounded like somebody was standing beside my bed with a megaphone to my ear, yelling, “HEY! HEY! HEY-HEY-HEY! HEY! HEY! HEY-HEY-HEY-HEY!!!!” The roosters sounded more like nature and were more easily drowned out with white noises, such as a box fan or the TV.
But anyway, y’all are confirming what I was saying all along — there is already a law for cockfighting and there is already a law for noise violations. If the roosters in your neighborhoods are loud, make a noise complaint. But passing a blanket rule to ban roosters in Fort Worth is overkill.
To take another person’s rights and freedom to own a rooster means that a police officer may be called to enforce that law against anyone that feels it is their right and freedom and will not comply.
Every act of enforcing a law creates a situation where familes can be ripped apart, costly fines that take food off of childrens plates and a human being could be hurt, crippled or even killed.
This is not something that should be supported by Ft Worth residents over a chicken. A fan provides enough white noise to drown out a rooster crowing and allow your neighbor to enjoy the freedom we are all guaranteed in America.
The question that must be answered is this.
Remember the 7 year old little girl set on fire and then shot in the throat in Detroit that was killed in a police raid. She was an innocent victim of a police raid and everyone should learn something from this little girls death.
To take another person’s freedom and rights away from them and to force your opinion onto another US Citizen are you willing to see them hurt, crippled or even possibly killed over a chicken? Law Enforcement Officers have a very hard job don’t put them in a position where they may have to deprive a US Citizen of their freedom, rights, culture, heritage, property and possibly their life over a chicken.
Jesus Christ! This thread got melodramatic really fast! Yeah, roosters are irritating, and so are dogs. But man, learn to live with your neighbors. Stop wasting FWPD’s time.
Of all of the irritating creatures that God made, flies, mosquitoes and ugly little Smart cars nothing is more irritating than a Chihuahua. Too little to be really effective as a watch or guard dog and too wildly neurotic to be a companion for anyone other than the criminally psychotic, these animals serve no purpose other than to annoy.
They are constantly barking, nipping and stretching to appear larger than their true pissant size. Kind of reminds you of your four foot, eleven Uncle Pee Wee.
A ban would bring Fort Worth one step closer to the nirvana promised by our esteemed elected officials.
Fort Worth needs less cocks!!!
As Foghorn Leghorn might say, “This is just a joke, son, just a joke.”
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Foghorn_Leghorn
BTW: Foghorn was voiced by the famous, Mel Blanc, of Warner Bros. The person we need to ban is Mel Leblanc, the infamous gas drilling shill of Arlington City Council.
“I say I say, son, you got more nerve than a bum tooth.” — Foghorn Leghorn to Fort Worth City Council
I am stuck living next to neighbors with multiple chickens (no problem) and one very LOUD Rooster (huge problem) this thing crows (SCREAMS) from 4am until 8:30 pm, constantly all day. Some breeds are louder than others and unfortunately our neighbor got a very loud obnoxious screaming rooster. At first when neighbors complained they tried to keep it quiet, the fools put a dog shock collar on the Rooster until it got sick and the Animal Control Officer paid them a visit and told them it is inhumane and cruelty to animals so they stopped and the Rooster screams constantly. There is no need for a rooster in a residential neighborhood! I get the want/need for chickens, they produce eggs, fertilize gardens and keep away insects but there is NO PURPOSE for a Rooster unless you are breeding. Keep noisy farm animals out of residential neighborhoods. Screaming Roosters, barking dogs, loud music, etc., are all as annoying if it occurs on a constantly and regular basis and I do not care what the noise is it is selfish and un-neighborly and should be illegal. Everyone has the right to enjoy their property until it starts infringing on other peoples enjoyment of their property. Boils down to a very selfish attitude that is overrunning society. Selfish people with no care for other peoples peace, property values, etc., all for what exactly? Ban Roosters and allow chickens!
Several of my neighbors have roosters & every one of them eventually get out & roam their yard, then eventually the neighborhood – sometimes landing at my front door/window. One giant rooster even tried to attack me as I tried to get into my car once.
Hens are noisy but usually tolerable. The feed gets scattered all over the place by wild birds tho & creates weeds in your yard. They don’t eat as many mosquitos as one would think.
Roosters DO scream… and I mean scream bloody murder – from 3 am – 8 pm. Some of these things sound like a female screaming in a slasher movie – just blood curdling. They can easily hit 85 dB, which is like having a circular saw at your ear.
Roosters aren’t needed for egg production so, if someone tries to use that as an excuse for having one or more look further into what they’re really doing w/ those roosters. Cock fighting is a big problem in Ft Worth.
I bought a house in a residential area of America – not some slum country area of Mexico. Get the roosters out along w/ the ilegals.
Hens ARE noisy… and nasty. The 1st bunch of chickens my neighbor got roamed all in my backyard. I couldn’t get rid of them. They cr@pped everywhere – even jumped in a small tree, leaving thick, caked on mess all down the tree. Nasty ! I wouldn’t go out in my yard or mow until a long hard rain came. Then I wedged an old spade in the truck fork to keep them from getting into the tree.
Oh & these things looked like they had mange. Disgusting.
In Arlington, you can’t have a rooster if w/in 50′ of your neighbor’s house. In my near downtown FW neighborhood our lots are barely 50′ apart so there’s no way to be 50′ from either neighbor so no one should be allowed to have a rooster.
Move to the country if you want some stinky, noisy animal. That’s why people moved out of rural areas – to get away from that —-.
If enough people file noise complalnts on these rooster owners, the city will have to do something. I suggest video taping the crowing w/ time stamp & uploading to flickr, youtube, etc then call the city & tell them where to find the video.
You can also leave the recording of the bird screaming into voicemail of the city manager, etc. Why should they be free of the noise when they’re keeping you from being free from it? We’re talking 85 dB, people. That’s enough to deafen you after a while.
All roosters don’t crow super loud. I live in the city, and had two roosters. Klemmy’s crow was very loud, so I re-homed him (even though his crow was not as loud as my neighbors dogs that are barking almost constantly, with the noise coming at me from all angles, as it seems everybody around here has at least one dog, and don’t seem to mind how much they bark, as there’s never anybody telling these dogs to shut up)
I’ve still got Rudy though. He does crow, but not in the middle of the night like Klemmy did, nor is his crow so loud. I actually enjoy the sound of it…it reminds me of my young days when I would get to visit or stay at a family members farm. And, actually, he mostly only crows when my neighbors dogs are barking constantly, or my neighbors are being really noisy. So, I feel fairly justified in owning and enjoying my rooster. He’s really entertaining to watch!