chick1 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Hi I have been thinking of getting some chickens for some while now, but the one thing that is holding me back is what will my neighbours think. So what i want to ask is what do yours think? And do they make that much noise that it would disturb the neighbours? All feedback appreciated, Hev. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cinnamon Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I have only ever had positive comments, but then I live in a small rural village with an older population, many of whom kept hens themselves at one time. I think that most people like to hear the hens little clucking noises Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenanne Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 why don't you ask your neighbours what they think? Ours are noisy when they're in the run and think someone will let them out to play if they shout loudly enough, and also after laying eggs. We don't ahve neighbours but if we did, then the chickens would be loud enough to be heard by near neighbours. Not loud enough that you'd be in trouble becuase of nuisance laws or anything like that, but maybe loud enough for your neighbours to be unhappy. I guess it would depend on how noise-sensitive or anti-chicken your neighbours are as to wether it would be a problem. And plenty of people actively enjoy chickens, they are charming creatures and the noises they make are not unpleasant. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gruffalo Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Our neighbours love them, They think we are mad for having them but also love watching their antics. The neighbours on both sides have looked after them for the odd weekend for us, and have been fine about it, especially as they get paid in eggs for their troubles! Our chickens really don't make much noise and their gentle clucking wouldn't bother anyone. They have even been fine when the Chickens went walk about and escaped next door, even though it took me an hour to catch them and take them home!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chick1 Posted March 24, 2009 Author Share Posted March 24, 2009 Thanks for all the feedback. Im sat here now wondering why i feel i have to ask them.Its not like our neighbours have ever been round and asked us when they have got dogs which bark all hours or cats which come and poo all over my front lawn . But to be honest i will ask them what they think and explain that they are quietish and then if all else fails offer free eggs.I cant see there being any opposition though i just dont want to think that they would be making too much noise really,hmm mabe i care a bit too much for my own good sometimes. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
atsw Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Like Cinnamon, I live in a small rural village with an older population. Our neighbours have always been very positive about the chooks. We've clearly been quite an influence as of the eight houses in our road, three now have chickens in the back garden! The other two both have a cockerels, so any noise our girls make (which is only gentle clucking for the most part) is drowned out by the other inhabitants up the road . The old chap who lives to our right looks after our girls while we're away. He says that in the war he used to look after a similar setup for the person that used to live on his right. He has happy memories of that time and looking after our flock clearly gives him great pleasure. Better still, our neighbours to the left have given in to their little 3-year-old boy who comes round to collect eggs from our Eglu at weekends and are now getting chickens themselves! Their Arc arrived last Friday and new chooks are due this weekend . Very infectious this chicken keeping lark . Andrew Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenanne Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Hev, you're thinking about speaking to your neighbours becuase you're a nice person! It's the right thing to do really, but I agree that it is a bit of a thankless task in some respects! I guess it depends on what your neighbourhood is like as to wether is worth asking. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
C&T Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 We had never really spoken much to our neighbours. Nodded hello, but not much else. Just after we got the feathered fiends, she saw me in the local supermarket and literally ran over. I though oh no, whats wrong, help! But she had run over to say how fantastic they are, and how she can be often seen at her upstairs window trying to see the chickens! She popped in to check them while we were away a few weeks ago, to make sure their water wasn't frozen - she was great! Having said that, they were flippin noisy at the weekend (I got up at 6.15 to shut them back into the Eglu to shut them up - chooks not impressed, but Sunday mornings are Sunday mornings...) so hope they still feel the same way! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tidygirlsuk Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 My chickens don't make much noise at all, however they are still young and not laying yet. We used to have a dog that barked at everything and howled, so everyone was probably relieved that we got chickens. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
quickcluck Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I did speak to my neighbour as they are situated under their bedroom window However there have not been any noise problems and they are now our official chook sitters Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bessandra Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I didnt ask my neighbours in my last house (moved out in Nov'08) and they went off on one when the girls came into lay last spring, complained to the council, stared at me without speaking (silently threatening I guess), loud comments about the garden turning into something from the film 'Chicken Run', moaned to the other neighbours about 'living next to a farm' (interesting that 5 chooks constitutes as a farm)...not a nice story but perhaps if I'd mentioned it, it would not have got so bad and maybe I'd stil be there now. BTW, the house was a terrace, ex-miners cottage with large, long front and back gardens. Where we live now, the neighbours are lovely - I buy them off with eggs (someone advised I do that), and I just pray the girls dont make too much noise - so there you go, I have experience of them both. But secretly, or not so secretly, I wished I lived in a place without neighbours me and my girls and my dogs, oh and the OH would be so happy Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Willow Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 One side doesn't like any animals and he'd prefer them to go but he won't make an official complaint. He tends to complain about all sorts of things like us pruning bushes on our side of the boundary. I must admit I didn't ask the neighbours becuase I thought they would be nervous of the unknown and they might have said no The neighbour the other side has been very supportive, love getting the free eggs and look after them if we are away. The rest of the road who know are very happy because they get free very nice eggs and they like the idea Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BarbaraJ Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I am similar and worried about any noise they made when i first got them, hubby said unnecessarily but on the left side hes never in and the other side and next ones down have their own now only had mine a yr!!! when i asked at first if they noticed the noise they said not really they liked the noise. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Yolky Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I didn't consult my neighbours before I got the chooks. I was only getting three and I felt that if I was going to have another baby or a dog I wouldn't ask the neighbours if it was ok so why ask for chooks. No one has ever made any remarks about them really, good or bad, and my close neighbour does get spare eggs from us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Larkspurs Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 When the Omlet van with the huge pictures of hens pulled up we thought it wouldn't be long before everyone knew we had some. One neighbour from across the street literally ran over as soon as she got home as her OH obviously mentioned it - she was delighted! Next door to the left, they didn't know we had chickens until I told them a couple of weeks ago, they wouldn't believe me until I showed them to her, so much for any noise issue. They were really happy that they were there and have even commented on how quiet they are. The other neighbour to the right has seen them but hasn't mentioned anything. I don't think she's bothered one way or the other. What we will do as soon as Posh starts laying and egg production ramps up is reward them with some eggs, just as a gift really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BeckyBoo Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 I live in an end terrace on a suburban housing estate in not at all rural North Surrey. My next door but one neighbours didn't notice until way past 6 months had gone. They just said they thought someone nearby must have hens as they could swear they had heard clucking! The other neighbours are fine, their children all LOVE the hens so my garden is constantly full of other peoples kids asking if they can go in the hen house and play with the chooks. "Ooops, word censored!"ody is that keen on the cockerels but they've been a sort of experiment and I only have one left now and he's going soon. The thing to ask yourself is, if you ask your neighbours what they think BEFORE you get them and they say no, what will you do? If you just get them, then ask them after a week or so what they think, you know, over the garden fence as you hand over a box of the best eggs they've ever tasted, you may get a better answer. Or don't ask them, just "let them know". Or failing that, closed leading question - "We're getting chickens in a couple of weeks time, you don't mind do you?" Works almost every time BeckyBoo Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Janepie33 Posted March 24, 2009 Share Posted March 24, 2009 Our neighbours say that they like the chickens clucking, it reminds them of the countryside. The girls don't make much noise, unless they are responding to the alarm calls of the wild birds or occasionally shouting to tell us an egg has arrived. They certainly make less noise than a barking dog down the road and a neighbours child yelling "Look at me. Look at me . Look at me............." ALL summer! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Our neighbours say that they like the chickens clucking, it reminds them of the countryside.The girls don't make much noise, unless they are responding to the alarm calls of the wild birds or occasionally shouting to tell us an egg has arrived. They certainly make less noise than a barking dog down the road and a neighbours child yelling "Look at me. Look at me . Look at me............." ALL summer! That is almost exactly what I would have said . My (nicer) neighbours actually asked if the girls were OK recently as they hadn't heard them for ages . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mostin Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Don't ask permission from your neighbours. I am one of those people who thinks about everybody else too, but think of it it this way. If you were getting a cat or a dog you wouldn't ask, and we here in omletville (on the forum) believe our chooks are just the same. I live in a normal cul-de-sac, but we do have very large gardens. Luckily for me the one we are attached to (who we don't like ) is deaf . When we got our first three chooks they never made a sound but then we got four more and we got an egg anouncer, and she's soooo noisey . I was worried about next door the other side so I took some eggs round and asked if it was bothering them. They said it wasn't, they said they could hardly hear them, but that it was a lovely noise. I mentioned that I was going to move them further up the garden anyway into a walk in run and the lady looked as if she was going to cry . It turns out she sits and watches them from her upstairs window and she was worried she wouldn't be able to see them anymore . She asks loads of questions and I think some chooks may be appearing in her garden soon . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wiblick Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I haven't got mine yet. But I've told the neighbours either side of me. The older couple who unfortuantely are 'furthest' away (being a semi-d next to our end of terrace) tell me they look forward to seeing them in the garden, so I had better let them out more often than I had intended because their run is the other side of the garden nearest the neighbour who is most likely to be disturbed. She has 3 kids in their early 20s and they all sleep until noon with bedroom windows open, a bit of a worry. But I plan not to let the girls out until 7:30 every morning, no matter what. (I'm often up at 6 myself). Two doors up is also thrilled and tells me he'll be in to steal eggs... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dancing cloud Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I am lucky enough to be surrounded by people who love the ex-batts and have even very carefully popped them back over the fence when they went networking the neighbourhood (holes in fence now located and blocked off ). They also bring round occasional treats - for the chooks, not for me - and admire how well they have progressed and how many feathers they now have The only time the chooks are really noisy is when they hear my car at night, as that means I'm home and it's corn time! Bit like a dog barking when its human comes home really. Other than that, there's sometimes a whinge if they want the nestbox and someone else is in it and not much else, unless they are alarmed by something. I did speak to my neighbours on either side to tell them what I was doing and warn them that the ex-batts might look terrible, so they wouldn't think it was me that had been ill-treating them. Since the escape attempts, I've met a few more-distant neighbours and they have all been really lovely Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Saronne Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 My neighbours on either side have no problems with the hens, and as I always offer them eggs they are happy. They also wondered at one point whether we still had the hens as they were so quiet?! (They're not that quiet!) Saronne Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annettec Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Our chickens are quiet at the moment but not laying yet ! I guess it depends what you would do if the neighbours weren't happy ? Would that stop you from having them and would they consult you if they were to get a dog or children both of which can be much noisier than chickens !!! Our chickens arrived 5 days ago without consultation with the neighbours, although I did call the council to make sure we could keep them and no comments from the neighbours so far ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 I agree with Becky, don't ask first! I didn't ask, but the neighbours closest to me are fine about it. They say it reminds them of visiting grandparents in India, and their little boy likes to watch them from his bedroom window. The neighbour the other side didn't even know they were there until my lodger spilled the beans about six weeks after the Eglu was delivered! He's fine about it too, and last time I saw him he said he's thinking of getting rid of his koi carp and having chickens instead. I hand over the occasional box of eggs/bag of chicken manure. One of mine does tend to announce eggs rather loudly, but it's not annoying as the dog down the road that barks non-stop. If you have good neighbours, they will probably be delighted to hear about them. If you are already on bad terms with them, then it will just be something else for them to gripe about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chickenanne Posted March 25, 2009 Share Posted March 25, 2009 Am not sure I would actually "ask permission" as such. I would say something more along the lines of "we are going to get 3 chickens, and were intending to put the run , but wanted to let you know beforehand becuase we would be prepared to move the run to if it would be better for you". If they ask about noise, smell, flies, bird flu, rats, etc etc then you can wexplain hjow you're going to make sure these won't be issues. if they have a go about it, you can walk away and ignore their views. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
