Constant crowing impacts peaceful sleep

I have a problem: I’ve come to hate roosters. There, I’ve said it.

If I’ve been with you in person over the last few years, I’m sorry for being so embarrassing, but I’ve probably asked you if you know how to trap and re-home a rooster, and if you would do it for me. 

This started about two years ago when I was working an early morning shift, and I needed to nap in the afternoon. There was one rooster that would crow all day, and he had taken up residence outside my BEDROOM WINDOW. He’s still there.

THIS IS HE! THIS IS THAT ROOSTER!

I hear his hens and chicks in my yard, too. They move in a little radius that includes two other people’s yards. I heard someone is feeding them. Makes sense.

FYI I do not live in an ag zone. In fact, I live in a private association that bans ALL poultry as pets. These birds cannot read, or what?

They’re cute to look at but it makes me batty to hear him crowing when I’m sleeping. His pre-dawn pattern is: He crows at the top of the hour at 2 a.m., 3 a.m., 4 a.m. He makes about six calls, when then must be answered by the four other roosters in the neighborhood.  

I hear them from all points of the compass. Then, at 4:30 a.m., he starts his dayside crowing schedule that consists of longer period of calling/responding (15 minutes long, once or twice per hour). It goes all day. He’s the alpha since he starts the crowing sessions. 

I actually know “my” rooster’s sound. Irritating that I know these subtleties.

I’ve been on the phone and people have laughed when they heard the rooster in the background. My friend George and I had an extended conversation about it which, if you’re not me, is admittedly comical.

There’s “my” rooster and there’s another rooster about 100 yards away. (At the time of this phone call, there were only two roosters, but over the months, it doubled.) They have a crow-off all day. I taught him to identify which was which, via a phone call! It took a few minutes but he got it. The conversation was like this:

{crowing}

George: That’s your rooster. (George’s hysterical laugher)

Me: Right. The other guy is going to go off within a minute.

{crowing}

George: That’s the other rooster.

Me: Yes.

{crowing}

George: That’s your rooster.

Me: Yep. They go on all day like that. Someone has to have the last word. They probably only stop because something distracts them like a female or food. Just like drunk men in a bar.

Well, at least we can laugh about it.

I mimiced the sound of my guy’s crowing and George said I did a good impression. He’s a good judge. He lives in Kalihi Valley. 

So on and so forth. Ridiculous.

There are people who say they got used to the noise. Good for them. I wish I could.

I lived right behind Caltrain tracks in college and I got used to that. I grew up on 1735 Pali Highway as a child and lived there for many years, and got used to the constant drone of freeway noise. I’m not that sensitive, but I can’t tolerate roosters.

Roosters are a big part of a bunch of religions and cultures. This is even the Year of the Rooster in the Chinese calendar.

Great. So they’re special. Go be special 100 yards from my house.

Author(s) on this Post

Diane Ako

Peace of mind By Diane Ako I like to reflect on life. Sometimes it’s philosophically. Sometimes it’s humorously. For all its beauty, life is far too difficult a journey to take alone. You need the support and connection with others to help carry you along the way. Writing brings me that connection– within and without. It clarifies my thoughts and feelings. It helps me reach out to others for advice, wisdom, or feedback. Your thoughts become your actions. Your actions become you. A wise yogi- Patanjali- said, “Speak what is true. Speak what is pleasant.” Let’s speak of things pleasant to one another and seek some peace of mind along the way. ABOUT Diane Ako joined Hawaii: In Real Life in October 2016. She likes being part of a community of local bloggers – people who like writing and sharing, like she does. Ako is an anchor/ reporter at Island News (KITV4 – ABC) in Honolulu. She previously anchored and reported at KHON2 (FOX) and KHNL (NBC), and at stations in California, New Mexico, and Pennsylvania. She freelance writes for NMG Network's magazines. In between news jobs, in 2017, she launched and ran her own p.r. company, Diane Ako PR. From 2010-2014, she headed the public relations department at Halekulani Corporation, which oversees luxury resort Halekulani and boutique hotel Waikiki Parc. She’s been blogging since 2009 – before Hawaii: IRL, she wrote for The Honolulu Star-Advertiser, the state’s largest daily newspaper, where her stories garnered a dozen journalism awards and an Emmy nomination. Ako has a BA in Communications from Menlo College and an MA in Political Science from University of Hawaii at Manoa. She volunteers as a board member of the Honolulu Gay & Lesbian Cultural Foundation, a Shinto shrine maiden at Daijingyu Temple, a citizen-scientist studying shrimp, and a yoga teacher at a senior center.

Diane Ako has 274 posts and counting. See all posts by Diane Ako

2 thoughts on “Constant crowing impacts peaceful sleep

  • June 8, 2017 at 7:42 am
    Permalink

    Hello Diane,
    I know how you feel, our next door neighbor use to feed the chickens and the crowing was drive us nuts too. Our whole neighborhood ask her to stop feeding them but she just ignore everyone’s complaints. Someone started feeding the chickens raw rice and the chickens slowly disappeared. Not sure if the raw rice had anything to do with it but there hasn’t been chickens or crowing for a long time now.

    Reply
    • June 8, 2017 at 2:33 pm
      Permalink

      M – interesting!! Raw rice? I’ll have to try that.

      Reply

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