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While shopping around for properties on the Big Island I've noticed some people raising roosters on their land which is obviously for fighting. I was told that fighting them was illegal but not raising them (they raise them on the Big Island and ship them to Honolulu). How do the locals feel about this? Is this something that is just accepted even though it devalues neighboring properties? Does anybody care about this? Can something be done to stop it?
I live in a subdivision with CC&Rs that don't allow chickens/roosters. The adjoining subdivision doesn't have CC&Rs and I can hear roosters all hours of the day and night. No CC&Rs means that you probably would be stuck with roosters next to you.
I certainly wouldn't advise anyone to move to Hawaii and start complaining about their neighbor's roosters/junk cars/whatever. Especially in a rural area where they have been living like that for many, many years. They'll know who complained and they could make your life miserable.
Another reason why we tell people to look at any property and neighborhood before renting or buying!
Yup, there's rooster farms. There's also pig farms. Those aren't as noisy but they are more, well, let's be polite and call them "aromatic". But, it's ag land. If you want to not have rooster farms or pig farms nearby, then either live in town (where you're still allowed chickens but it's limited to just three, I think) or in a subdivision with CC & Rs. Although living in town isn't going to keep you out of rooster land, either. My neighbor has a pet rooster and we could complain but we're not going to. He doesn't fight it, it's his pet and he actually likes to hear it crow in the morning. It is fun to watch the rooster and his two hens in their yard so it's not all bad.
Why ship roosters to Honolulu? There's undoubtedly chicken fights around here somewhere but I don't keep track of chicken fights.
Live in an area for awhile before trying to change things. Since there's folks with big rooster farms and other folks with pet roosters, for whatever reason it is there so trying to stop it until you know why it is there is just going to cause you problems. Obviously it is at some level socially accepted and trying to change things (even if it's for the better) by newcomers is not well liked at all. So, until you are part of the community, don't try to change things. And even then, go about it in a community manner.
So since you're just shopping for land and you don't already own it, just don't buy any land near a rooster farm and save yourself a lot of grief.
The old fashioned rooster fights were cheap entertainment for poor local farmers, albeit cruel to the animals.
The current rooster fights bring trouble. High illegal betting mandates large amounts of cash floating between the participants and spectators. Which calls for safety and brings therefore illegal concealed handguns for protection. Or the ones who want to rob and bring them along. In addition illegal drugs are bartered at the sidelines to generate cash.
So if you want to buy property next door to a **** fighter breeder, be careful! The comb and waddles are cut off the birds heads and this gives it away. There's no such thing as a 'rooster farm' for any other purpose.
I don't have a problem with people raising chickens which would include roosters. The problem is fighting ***s. I find it despicable and cruel but sort of expected it to be part of the culture so I just wanted to check and see what others thought about it, especially when it affects your property values. Checking to see if there is such an operation in the area you are looking to invest in would only protect you until the next operation opens up in your neighborhood. Just something else to add to my list of things to watch out for.
It is easy to spot the people raising "show birds" on google earth. Each rooster gets a small section of triangular roofing that they are tethered to. Your first reaction is that if you look on google earth, maybe the image isn't updated recently enough to tell you if there is a rooster farm nearby. That doesn't matter. One could setup shop next door to you tomorrow. But the best way to tell if there is a rooster farm near a property you are interested in is to go to "your" property at about 4 am and stay there until daylight. You will instantly know. There is a rooster farm about 5 lots up from us and they are just far enough away to not bother our slumber, but if we are awake, we can hear them from about 4-6 am, and during expanded hours when it's clear skies and a full moon. The rest of the day they are either quiet or drowned out by the tourist helicopters. At this distance, the rooster farm makes far less noise to us than the random feral roosters that come right up to our house and aim their crow under our eves. It seems to amplify the sound. Our strategy is very effective, I shoot them with a .22 air rifle and we eat them. We haven't purchased chicken from a store in over 3 years.
Not sure what a good fighting rooster fetches these days, but in the early 2000's a friend on Maui sold his for $1,500+ each. You certainly better think twice about causing problems for the locals, rooster farmers or otherwise.
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