Cock-a-doodle-hoo-ha! City neighbours turn on family whose pet cockerel wakes them up by crowing at 4am every day
- A cockerel is waking city workers with a piercing crow at 4am each morning
- The cock-a-doodle alarm is exasperating residents of Arboretum, Worcestor
- The bird was taken in by a local family and now the council is investigating it
- It disturbs Zoom calls, with one worker dubbed ‘Old MacDonald’ by colleagues
Exhausted neighbours say their lives have been made ‘a nightmare’ by a noisy cockerel awakens them with a piercing crow at 4am every day.
Council officials are now investigating the bird, which was taken in by a family as a pet for their young children.
Disgruntled locals are demanding it is removed from the house 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 4am.
She said: ‘We went away when we came back at Easter we realised the neighbours had the cockerel.
Exhausted residents say their lives have been made ‘a nightmare’ by a noisy cockerel crowing at 4am every day
‘It’s now been eight weeks of broken sleep. The cockerel starts crowing at 4am, sometimes it is 5am, 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 8am, 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.’
Council officials have launched a probe into the noisy bird (pictured centre) which was taken in as a pet over Easter
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.’
Disgruntled locals are demanding the cockerel is removed from the property in Arboretum, Worcester after it gives unwanted wake-up calls at 4am
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 have 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.’
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