Neighbors want ‘nightmare’ rooster that crows every day at 4 am to cluck off

By Adam Dutton via SWNS

Exhausted city residents say their lives have been made "a nightmare" by a noisy cockerel crowing at 4 a.m. every day.

Council officials have launched a probe into the gobby bird which was taken in by a family as a pet for their young children.

Disgruntled locals are demanding it is removed from the property in Arboretum, Worcester, claiming it is disturbing their sleep.

Teacher Sonya Vickers, 48, lives several doors away from the family who own the cockerel and says it wakes the street up every morning at 4 a.m.

She said: “We went away when we came back at Easter we realized the neighbors had the cockerel.

“It’s now been eight weeks of broken sleep.

“The cockerel starts crowing at 4 a.m., sometimes it is 5 a.m., but it’s every day.

“My 25-year-old daughter hears it more as her bedroom is that side of the house.

“She has had to move into her sibling’s bedroom to get some sleep.

“She had to be off work last week just to catch up on her rest.

“Some of us have gone round and politely asked to at least keep it in the dark coop until 8 am, before letting it out.

“But nothing has happened. We have asked nicely several times.

“It is antisocial. It is making life a bit of a nightmare for some down here.

“We heard it might be breaking a bylaw to keep the cockerel and the hens they have.”

Another resident, who works from home, said the cockerel had been disturbing his zoom calls to his boss.

He said: “It’s very hard to concentrate and sound professional when it sounds like your office is in farm.

“My colleagues have started calling me Old MacDonald because our morning meetings are constantly being interrupted by cockadoodle-dos.

"The family bought the chicken as a pet for their kids. I'm not sure they had any idea just how noisy they can be but it's driving everyone bonkers."

It is not illegal to keep hens or cockerels but anything which creates a loud noise could constitute a nuisance under the 1991 Environmental Protection Act.

Worcestershire Regulatory Services has launched an investigation into the cockerel.

A spokesperson said: “We have received complaints about a noisy cockerel at a property in the Arboretum area.

“We are actively investigating these complaints.”

The owners of the cockerel refused to comment.

A man who answered the door to the property said: “We cannot say anything about it, the matter is going through the proper channels.

“We are very upset about the situation. The children love the cockerel. It's their pet."