A Plucky Group Takes On the County

Plans to banish roosters and coop up chickens in some sections of Los Angeles County is provoking squawks of protest from poultry lovers.

The county is reviewing a proposed ordinance that would banish roosters from most back yards in unincorporated areas of the county. Hens would be spared. But no more than six hens would be allowed in most household coops.

But one group has cried foul.

ROOSTER--Rural Outcry Over Sexist Tactics to Exterminate Roosters--is circulating petitions denouncing the county’s proposal as outrageous and possibly even unconstitutional.

“We feel we should have an inalienable right to have chickens in our yards,” contended Walter N. Prince, a janitorial service owner who started the group.

Prince also assailed the county’s plan to keep hens confined to back-yard pens. “It’s not right to lock the girls up in a back yard. It’s a chicken-hearted thing to do,” he said.

The county decided to crack down on barnyard noise after receiving a steady stream of complaints, said John Orr, a county planning assistant, who wrote the proposed regulation. Getting rid of roosters was the obvious solution since they are the noisemakers.

Lawbreakers could face six months in jail or a $1,000 fine, although there are some exemptions. The county’s Regional Planning Commission has conditionally approved the proposed rules and will hold a public hearing on Aug. 9.

While the ordinance would affect only the million or so people who live in unincorporated areas of the county, it could prompt other cities and counties to get tough on chickens, the bird backers said. Many of them grumbled about the proposed changes on Friday at the San Fernando Valley Fair’s “Poultry Palace” as hundreds of chickens, ducks and geese nervously paced in their wire cages.

Bureaucrats said they are surprised that anybody’s feathers would be ruffled over the proposed ordinance.

“There shouldn’t be any reason for people being upset,” said Orr. “Think of all the people who will be relieved when they aren’t bothered by a rooster crowing next door.”