Chickens and roosters

Chickens and roosters can be fantastic additions to your garden and are great pets; with the added benefit of fresh eggs.

However, when keeping poultry on your property it is important to consider a few simple things to ensure the safety of your animals and that they do not cause a nuisance to your neighbours.

Whilst there are no set limits for keeping chickens as pets in The Barossa Council region, the number must be reasonable for the size of your property, the size of their enclosure and your ability to feed and maintain them, including cleaning out their yard.

Larger numbers of birds will require more frequent maintenance and cleaning, and will often result in a higher chance of causing a nuisance to neighbours.

Nuisances like excessive odour, noise, rodents or insects, as well as wandering are commonly received concerns when it comes to chickens and roosters; with the most commonly reported nuisance being noise from roosters.

Yes. However, this is providing it does not cause a nuisance to your neighbours. By their very nature, roosters regularly cause significant noise nuisances to neighbours, particularly very early in the morning.

It is difficult to adequately prevent a rooster from creating a noise nuisance, which is why keeping a rooster in a township or in a residential area is not recommended.

To minimise the chance of nuisance to neighbours you can follow these recommendations:

• Keeping a small number of chickens in a good-sized and well-positioned enclosure, which is regularly cleaned and maintained is less likely to create problems for neighbours.
• Bedding or nesting material should be replaced regularly.
• If you allow your poultry to free range on your property, you must ensure they cannot wander from your property.

If Council receives concerns about your poultry, we will be in contact with you to work through the concerns and you may be asked to address the nuisances.

If the nuisance relates to a rooster, you may be asked to consider relocating it to a more appropriate property.

If you feel comfortable doing so, discuss the matter with your neighbours or leave a friendly note in their letterbox. They may be unaware of the nuisance.

If the problem persists or you are unable to speak to the neighbours, please contact us on 8563 8444 or at barossa@barossa.sa.gov.au for assistance.

If the nuisance relates to noise, we may ask you to keep a record of the nuisance over a few days to help us determine the extent of the nuisance.