FRESNO COUNTY – With a cluck-cluck here and a cluck-cluck there, residents in rural Fresno County are losing sleep over the clamor of noise coming from their neighbors — not other people, but rather hundreds and hundreds of roosters.
After years of exploration on how to address the issue, the Fresno County Board of Supervisors unanimously approved the first reading of an ordinance that aims to limit how many roosters residents can keep on their property. During the introduction of the ordinance at the board meeting on Sept. 23, county staff, supervisors and members of the public discussed the problem and how the ordinance intends to remedy it.
“I just want to say, being a rural person, two or three roosters are annoying,” Board Chair Buddy Mendes said. “A lot of roosters are unbearable.”
One resident who spoke in favor of the ordinance, who did not provide his name, described the issue during public comment. He said that on Dec. 25, 2019, the peaceful quiet of his rural home was “shattered” by the crowing of roosters being moved in across the street. What started out as 65 roosters has since increased to nearly 1,000.
“The constant noise, which continues from well before dawn to well after sunset and then sporadically throughout the night, is simply unbearable,” the resident said. “The neighborhood has been ruined, and my home’s value has gone to zero.”
Another resident, who said he lives near approximately 300 roosters, played an audio recording from his phone for the board to demonstrate what it’s like to be at his home. He and his daughter both spoke in favor of the ordinance as well.
“This has been going on for over five years, and there has to be some kind of ruling that these roosters got to go,” he said.
Supervisor Nathan Magsig, whose district covers extensive unincorporated areas in the western part of the county, said his office was first contacted about the issue of too many roosters in 2019. It took years of communicating with the Agricultural Commissioner’s Office, Fresno County Sheriff’s Office, the public health department and the county administrative office to figure out the best way to address the issue and to reach the point of introducing the ordinance.
Although there are situations in which hundreds of roosters kept on a property are clearly not there for agricultural purposes, and are instead being bred and raised for cockfighting, Magsig said it’s difficult for law enforcement to take any action unless cockfighting is happening in front of them. Without a rooster keeping ordinance, some properties in the county can have as many as 500 rosters, he said.
Rooster restrictions
Though the proposed ordinance initially suggested limiting the number of roosters on a property to 10, Magsig, based on a suggestion from a public commenter, motioned to approve the ordinance with a limit of five roosters per property.
With this change, anyone in unincorporated areas of Fresno County may only have up to five roosters without a rooster keeping permit. Anyone wishing to keep more than five roosters must obtain a permit from the Fresno County Department of Public Health.
A rooster keeping permit will allow residents to keep up to 24 roosters on their property, subject to an on-site inspection. According to the ordinance, those who wish to keep more than five roosters on their property will need to pay a non-refundable administrative application fee of $440 and an annual rooster keeping permit fee of $240.
The permitting process will allow groups like 4-H and the Future Farmers of America to continue their agricultural education.
Additionally, the ordinance will not apply to commercial poultry ranches that are regulated by the United States Department of Agriculture Food Safety Inspection Service and primarily produce eggs or meat for sale. Government-operated animal shelters and other animal welfare organizations that employ humane officers are also exempt.
The second hearing of the ordinance is scheduled for the Board of Supervisors next meeting at 9:30 a.m. Oct. 7. Once approved, the ordinance will go into effect 30 days after the second reading.
