Henry The Rooster Exiled To Suburbs

A household of West Hills fowl was evicted after complaints from the neighbors.

A Livable City Initiative (LCI) inspector from city government delivered the order this past Friday to a woman who lives on Rock Creek Road: her five chickens and roosters had to go.

The woman, who’s named Michelle (she declined to give her last name), enlisted a friend to bring his truck. They tied up the birds and put them in the truck so they could be hauled to a home in North Haven.

“We got them at the beginning of the pandemic,” Michelle said. She was holding the chickens for a friend while he built a coop, she said. ​“We thought there was gonna be a food shortage, so we decided to get some chickens for eggs.”

In late March, Michelle and her friend got the chickens through an online order from Virginia. Beyond a source of food, the chickens turned out to be fun for her children, who are 5 and 15 years old. ​“They loved taking care of the chickens,” she said with a laugh. ​“It’s pretty easy — you just have to feed, water, and clean.” Michelle’s family loves animals: in addition to the chickens, they have three cats.

Over the last five months, the chickens grew from babies to full-sized adults. In August, they slowly began laying eggs, a few each week.

“It was so exciting to see!” she said. The chickens had not lived up to their potential, however, before she had to give them away.

Was That A Rooster Impersonator?

On Aug. 6, neighbors began to complain about hearing chickens in Westville. According to a running SeeClickFix complaint, one 83-year-old neighbor was unable to open her windows or use air conditioning due to the chickens nearby, which compromised her health. (Click above to hear what the neighbors heard.)

LCI officials initially responded to the claims by requesting Michelle to get rid of her rooster. While owning chickens in residential neighborhoods is legal in New Haven, owning roosters is not.

Michelle said she complied by sending Henry the rooster away. But the problem was far from over.

Later in the month, a loud cock-a-doodle-do started up again.

“We were so shocked,” said Michelle. ​“We thought it might be a chicken impersonating a rooster. Apparently the most dominant female starts adopting male traits.”

But when she saw fewer eggs laid than expected, she realized that she did mistakenly have at least two more roosters. She’d thought they were hens.

The complaint was brought up again mid-August and September, as SeeClickFix user ​“Safety2020” claimed that the animals had not left the property yet, and reported seeing as many as ​“ten chickens scuffling and shuffling.”

Beyond the roosters, there was another issue: Michelle’s family used their back porch to house the chickens. The porch was separated from their house, but it is less than ten feet away from the property line, the minimum distance for housing hens.

Glancing around, Michelle pointed out the size of her small yard.

“It would’ve been impossible to put the coop anywhere else,” she said. ​“I guess some people might think it’s not sanitary or gross to have chickens so close.” 

Neighbor’s Reactions

This week, not everyone on Rock Creek Road was glad to see the fowl flown.

“I used to hear the chickens when I did my yard work everyday,” said neighbor Patrick Kearney. ​“Sometimes, I heard the rooster crowing before sunrise when I went to work.”

He didn’t mind the noise. ​“Maybe it’s because my stepson has chickens,” he said, ​“but I actually like the noise. It feels like a bit of the countryside’s come to New Haven.” The only concern he would have, he added, was if the roosters were used for cockfighting.

Another neighbor, Chante Franklin, wasn’t even aware that chickens were right next door. ​“Sometimes I’d hear the rooster at 11 a.m.,” she said. ​“But it seemed like the noise was coming from a distance.” She was usually at work during the day, and wasn’t too bothered as a result.

Although the neighbor who complained could not be reached for comment, Michelle wanted to give an apology: ​“I just want to say that I’m sorry for any inconvenience I caused,” she said. ​“I wasn’t aware that people were upset, and I hope nobody was too bothered.”