Dear neighbor, I am sorry.

When I first moved into this house last year, in one of the more populous areas around, I was surprised, amused, and, oddly enough, proud, to discover that you had a small group of chickens.

Having moved to the city from a farmhouse, I found it reminiscent of my old home and smiled when I saw you walk out to care for them over the winter.

I looked up the city regulations when I moved in, of course, in part out of curiosity, and in part because I had noticed you had a rooster.

I saw nothing explicitly forbidding roosters, and chickens were fine, provided they were a certain distance from residences, and like the good neighbors you are, you had followed the rules. Your coop was as far from every house as possible, and unless the rooster made noise, or I saw you walking out to them, I would not have known they were there at all.

I am sorry, dear neighbor, because yesterday morning, I decided it was too much. Your rooster crowed and called for what seemed like forever, and it stirred me from a sleep that I very desperately needed.

I called the city, and within the day, the city contacted you. And now you have a week to remove your rooster because it violates whatever noise clause I managed to find at 4:47am on a Tuesday.

I fought for you, for what it is worth. I assured the officer that your coop was well within regulation and that your hens did not bother me at all, and that I would be more upset by you losing the lot of them than the peace I would gain from the absence of your goddamned rooster.

But the rooster had to go.

To the people of this sub, please pay attention. There are rules, and you have to follow them. You might truly love your flock, your feathered friends, but if they are not allowed, then they can be taken away, in short order, by anyone who is remotely cranky.

But that rooster had to go.