People in rural areas usually have to accept chicken husbandry on the neighboring property. This was decided by the district court of Koblenz in a judgment of 19 November, now published. It confirmed a decision of the local court Diez.
In the case, it was about the dispute between two neighbors in a village in Rhineland-Palatinate with less than 250 inhabitants. One resident was disturbed by the approximately 25 chickens and the rooster, which keeps her neighbor.
The woman criticized that the rooster crowed every morning from about four o'clock, which leads to an unbearable noise pollution for her and her husband and a significant impairment of their sleep. Even during the day, the birds were loud, even their stench was disturbing. The plaintiff therefore wanted to enforce in court that the neighbor should not keep the animals.
Although the district court Koblenz acknowledged that the crows of the rooster should be regarded as a disturbance - the woman is obligated to tolerate the impairment. The keeping of chickens and a rooster is a "local use" of the property in question. The disturbances can not be prevented by economically reasonable measures. The cost of constructing a soundproof stable would make the attitude of a peasant as a sideline unprofitable.