We are in an urban area and we free-range our 10 chickens (no cockerel) in our back garden, about 20m x 20m with 6ft fences.
Next door neighbour's house is adjacent to our back garden.
We have had chickens for about six years now, and our neighbour, let's call him Victor Meldrew, has made complaints all that time about the noise, even though we told him originally that we were going to get chickens and having periodically given them fresh eggs. At each complaint, I listened to him and either agreed to his suggestions or made suggestions myself as to how to reduce the noise.
I have done the following.
* Boarded up one end of the enclosed run which faces his home to try to reduce the noise.
* Added blackout board over the coop window to keep chickens in the dark at night/dusk.
* Curfew for chickens between 10:00pm and 10:00am especially during the summer.
* Have not replaced chickens where breed seems to be especially noisy.
The latest run-in with Victor was when he came around to the house when only my daughter (20) was in and wanting to talk to me. When he found out I was not in he was quite verbally aggressive to my daughter. When I found out I went around to his house, I was not aggressive/angry with him but explained that his behaviour was not acceptable and he should not talk to anyone in my household again except for me. He seemed to be apologetic.
He has previously stated he will make a formal complaint to the environmental department of Bracknell Forest Council. He started to do so last year (I spoke to the department myself) but did not follow through with the required log-book of the noise. He seems to have done so this time.
My question is, has anyone else had to go through a formal investigation by the local authority for noise complaints, and if so what was the outcome.
I am fairly positive that his complaint will not be upheld. The noise he is complaining about is not just the occasional 'I just laid an egg' noise that a few of them make once a day but the general clucking and other noises they make (I would estimate that this is quieter than a normal speaking voice).
As further background, Victor has complained about noise from at least three of his four neighbours. He yelled over the fence at a mutual neighbour during the day in summer because the young kids were having fun in their back yard and making noise, as kids do. He also went round in an apoplectic rage to another neighbour warning them that he would have their dogs taken away and destroyed if they did not stop them from (occasional) barking.
Any comments welcomed.
Kind Regards
Iain