Gwinnett Co. to remove wild chickens from Norcross neighborhood

NORCROSS, Ga. — Dozens of wild chickens have claimed a Norcross neighborhood as their home.

Some residents tell Channel 2's Kerry Kavanaugh the problem has been multiplying for years.

"Not anything you expect to see in the city of Norcross," concerned resident Le'Pret Williams told Kavanaugh.

Williams said she's been asking Gwinnett County to do something about the wild chickens for years.

Williams said a former resident moved out and left a couple chickens behind. Now, she said, the problem continues to multiply.

"It's just exploded," Williams said.

She said they may start out cute and fuzzy, but when they grow, "you hear them crowing at all hours of the day and night. They even jump up on the roof and they walk up on the roof. And it sounds like somebody is actually up there," Williams said.

Monday, Kavanaugh found the chickens sharing the back yards of several homes along Castor Drive. The neighborhood is situated off Old Norcross-Tucker Road.

They don't bother everyone though. Salamon Valdez told Kavanaugh as a native of El Salvador, he's accustomed to chickens. He said for his family, a rooster crowing is nature's alarm clock.

He said the chickens don't even wake his baby.

Other neighbors told Kavanaugh they want the chickens to stay because they keep out insects and snakes.

Nonetheless, Kavanaugh has learned the county has a plan in the works to remove them.

The chickens have fouled up efforts by Gwinnett County Animal Control, so the county is working to contract with a specially qualified rescue group.

Kavanaugh said she could not nail down when the county might get a rescue group to the neighborhood, but they told her the discussion has been ongoing for weeks.

WSBTV