Cockadoodle Don't: Rules for rooster-hen relations could get tougher in N.J. town

(CBS/AP) HOPEWELL TOWNSHIP, N.J. (AP) - A New Jersey town is considering an ordinance that would regulate when a rooster can doodle doodle do.

Officials in Hopewell Township say they need to do something to keep the henhouse noise down in a suburban town with agrarian roots.

The rules would apply to roosters and hens on properties of less than five acres.

Small properties would be allowed to keep up to a half-dozen hens. But roosters would be allowed only 10 days a year for their conjugal chicken visits. And they'd be barred from crowing (cock-a-doodle don't).

If a rooster is too loud, the property wouldn't be allowed to host any roosters for two years.

Beef farmer John Hart told The Times of Trenton that the chicken restrictions could make the town a laughing stock.