Chickens OK, roosters not so much. Bill 52 tests how far Hawaiʻi County will go to balance peace, food and freedom.

At 4 in the morning, the street stirs — unwillingly.

A single crow cracks the dark, answered by a dozen more echoing off the lava walls. By sunrise, the scratching begins: banana trees uprooted, lawns torn bare, shrubs reduced to sticks.

In a Kona subdivision, Danny Jesser hasn’t slept past dawn in years. “I can’t even use my yard anymore,” he said. “If a neighbor smashed my windows, police would come. But chickens? Nothing.”

He’s called everyone — the homeowners association, animal control, even the attorney general — and gotten the same answer: there’s no law for that. Through October, animal control logged more than 300 rooster complaints — already surpassing barking-d

See Full Page