Solitary chicken - need advice

[troyca]

I am virtuallly at the point of no return;registered with ex bat trust,chosen the house,sourced the food and holiday cover.My cold feet are all about WHAT WILL THE NEIGHBORS THINK!! It isn't like they are my best buddies but bad feeling might erupt if noise was an issue. Part of my plans is to erect a new 6 foot fence so prying eyes won't see much-a useful tool as I have discovered through my bee keeping. Bees are happy to keep the secret I am not so sure about Chooks. Does keeping them in their house in darkness keep then quiet then?

[Lavenders_Blue]

I have (still do!) worry about exactly the same thing. The hens are coming in a couple of weeks, the house and run has been delivered, food bought, heart set on it now.... so definitely the point of no return!

 

But if it's any help, one of our neighbours spotted me and OH putting the run together in the garden at the weekend and asked what we were doing (we have a low fence topped with trellis so easy for him to see through). I said we were getting some hens.

 

'Some what?' he said.

 

(He's old and a bit deaf)

 

'Some hens'

 

'Eh?'

 

'SOME HENS..... CHICKENS'

 

His face lit up - 'Oohh, some chickens. We'll, you'll likely be having some fresh eggs for sale then??! I love a good fry up with a couple of fried eggs'.

 

Result! One happy neighbour. And at the volume we were talking, no doubt the whole village knows now and no-one else has said anything, so I am not losing too much sleep over it.

 

Hope you enjoy your girls when you get them.

[troyca]

I suppose bad tempered folk will always find something to complain about-and I am trying to be really nice to him.I just would rather do without the stress .He is however one of those people who find a sudden need to go to the boundary of our properties every time I go down there-creepy. I think he hopes the local foxes[which are fed by another neighbor -they are so cute you know-specialy when waking you up in the middle of the night screaming- not!] will deal with the girls. We used to have another neighbor who had ducks and geese and he was always moaning about them!!

[Ain't Nobody Here]

Bribing him with fresh eggs may take the wind out of his sails . In any case, you may find you don't have a problem with noise at all. My girls occasionally squark if they've laid an egg but it only lasts a couple of minutes. My neighbours on one side (she's frightened of her own shadow and is scared of chickens!) didn't even notice for the first 6 months until I mentioned it.

 

I know there are some forum members who have noisy chickens but the chances are you won't, so don't worry and enjoy the anticipation .

[coco]

I worried about my neighbours specially the man across the road but he's been great, he brings the girls corn and dandelions which is nice.

Having said that one of my neighbours told me about 2 smartly dressed people who spent about 10 mins looking into my garden [the girls are on astrip of land at the side of my house but can be seen from the road, although we are near the bottom of a cul de sac]. I immediately presumed someon had complained to the council but they didn't knock at the front door or put a note through so hopefully it wasn't. I think we are all a bit paranoid about our chooks but apart from the odd squaklng session from Coco the girls are fairly quiet. I do shut them in at night and let them out later on a weekend.

[Olly]

They might just have been admiring your set-up, and wondering if they too could have chickens in their garden!

 

One of my neighbours didn't know I had got the first two hens until a friend told him. The neighbours on the other side like to see them in the garden, their little boy looks out of the bedroom window and loves to watch them. I haven't mentioned my bees, though ...

[troyca]

How encouraging!! Seems like we all are very aware of not rocking the boat-shame we aren't all neighbors- just folk trying to get the best out of simple things... let's hope my girls are the strong silent types!!

[greenfreek]

I'm getting my Chickens the same day as Lavendar

 

What I did was put a little note thru the door of my neighbours just to explain that we are getting them and just to say we werent getting any cockerals so not to expect loud crowin first thing in the morning, they wont make too much noise, no more than a barking dog etc and if they ever run out of eggs just to knock and we'll very likely have a spare one.

 

we also said the chickens would love treats such as slugs and snails so if they're doin the gardeing and find such pests then to just chuck them over the fence into the run.

 

We got a not back the following day saying they had no probs and spare eggs would be appreciated

[troyca]

Wot a cunning plan-cunning like the fox...Who doesn't want to see the useful end of slugs/snails-a reason at last for their existance. Thanks !Have you considered a career in diplomacy? I hear there are some openings at the G 20!

[Jennifer Jane]

I agree it's a good idea to forewarn the neighbours. We had our ex-batts at the end of August and well beforehand we asked the neighbours either side if they had any problems. Luckily we get on well with them and have since taken round eggs as a thank you. We'ere not so lucky with the neighbour whose house is adjacent to the bottom of the garden so we didn't bother asking him. He's always complaining about our trees - apparently they drop leaves on his side of the fence and the squirrels leap from the trees onto his guttering! We caught him peering over the fence the other day, though the hens aren't visible, so we're expecting a telephone call sometime soon.

 

I don't know what there might be to complain about. There's no noise - our girls are very softly spoken - and no smell, apart from the odd waft of garlic powder, apple cider vinegar and red mite powder - hardly unpleasant.

 

Enjoy your hens and I hope all goes well with the neighbours. In a short time, our girls have stolen our hearts. My OH is besotted and I can't imagine being without them.

 

JJ

 

Matilda Mabel Maud ex-batts adopted 30/08/09

 

Max & Mia Black oriental cross cats born 18/7/05

[xScrunchee]

I didn't ask my neighbours.

I get on with them but didn't consider asking for their 'permission'. Just like they didn't ask me if I minded them getting a new dog.

I believe that we should all be considerate to our neighbours but I won't allow people whom I happen to live near, having a say in anything I choose to do.

 

Providing that you keep your hens clean so that they don't stink and be responsible by not letting them out too early if they do become a little noisey-it isn't really anyone's business.

 

Maybe I'm just selfish??

 

Guinea pigs squeak-I wonder if people consult with neighbours before getting guineas?

(I have 2 and didn't tell the neighbours about them neither)

[Clur]

I'm with you xScrunchee. I didn't ask because I would have still got chooks even if the neighbours had said no

 

The ones that objected were moving anyway (!) and I moved the eglu and run to the side of the house so it wouldn't spoil their view when they had people to look at the house, (so the chap just moaned that we hadn't mown our grass). The joys of people overlooking your garden. He complained to the parish councillor and she told him to get a life

 

Our other neighbours really like the chooks, so no problem there and we are considerate about noise and keeping them clean etc.

 

I did feel a bit of an eeeek moment when we got three new girls last weekend and the Miss Pepperpot did her best cockeral impression, but she's settled down and they're all fairly quiet luckily.

 

You'll love your hens, hope it all goes well for you

[Chucky Mama]

I asked my neighbours but we get on very well with them. I do have to admit to telling a little bit of a lie though in the weeks building up to getting them. I said that I had seen a rat a few times in their garden eating from their bird feeders We have had rats in the garden in the past and didn't want our new chickens to be blamed if we got them again.

[cluckingmad]

Must admit, when we first planned on getting our girls it was my MOTHER who fussed most about what the neighbours would think (and she lives 70 miles away from us ).. we'd only just moved house too, so didn't have any idea of what the neighbours would be like, just asked if they'd mind one day when we were chatting in the garden over the fence - unanimously said they thought it was a great idea Now we swap our eggs/chicken poo for their veggies as both sides of neighbours are keen gardeners, and the Girls are local celebrities, everyone in the street asks how they're getting on

 

(and interestingly enough, when we got the ex-batt girls so many people saw them and were horrified at how sad they looked that they vowed to only ever buy free-range eggs/foods containing free range eggs)

[jimnpaula]

I checked with the council first (well, as the collection & delivery dates got closer I had a wobbly moment and decided to make sure!) and the council man actually looked up the Omlet site while we were talking on the phone He said the housing looked 'very suitable' and the main complaints from neighbours are about noise and attracting vermin.

 

The 'nice' neighbours on one side have dogs and were fine with the chooks, the other side had already been brought to the attention of the council by making noise at unsocial hours (and working in law enforcement they should know better...) so I don't care what they think

 

P

[CluckyBucks]

My neighbors havent said anything yet, and iv ehad my girls since March. They make the occasional bok bok when ann egg is being layed, but so what?? you cant ask a dog to stop barking right??

 

Enjoy them

 

xx xx

[Tulip]

I went round to the back neighbours a couple of weeks ago (we have short gardens that back onto each other) and apologised with eggs for Cinnamon's recent whinging. Said she hadn't heard a thing and instead apologised to me about the crying of her newborn baby!

 

We didn't ask the neighbours before getting the girls - it's a new estate so half of them hadn't moved in - and most of them still have no idea, despite the occasional egg announcement from Cinn and Chilli.

 

I'm still unsure as to how loud Keema's crowing will be, mind

[smanners]

Most of our neighbours are in their late 60's/70's and it's amazing how many of them are very comfortable with the idea of hens. A lot of them remember having them as children and they love their bok boking and mutterings as they scratch about. They seem unphased by the egg announcements and even more they love the eggs

They often ask to bring their grandchildren round to visit and they in turn love to collect eggs

I tell them about the rescued battery hens and show them what they looked like when we got them

Luckily its been a postive experience all round for me

[annieblue]

I've lived in this house for 27 years and have seen all my neighbours come and go. I'm fortunate that I have a large garden but the chooks will be closer to my house than any of the neighbours.

I still went to my two closest neighbours for a chat and there was no problem, though I'm anticipating a comment about rats at some point.

 

I also mentioned the slugs and snails bit but my neighbour's gardens are so environmentally sensitive (overgrown ) that they wouldnt spot a slug if it was a foot tall!

[sjp]

I used the if they don't ask don't tell aproach I'd had the younsters about 2 months before the one set of neighbours even found out I'd got chickens I'd had the big girls 3 months then and they'd seen me build the coops and runs I have to do all my wood work on the front drive

[Woodcat]

I used the if they don't ask don't tell aproach

 

 

Same here i still don't know if all my neighbours know i've got chickens. I'm not a particually chatty person with my neighbours and work on the basis if i don't ask permission then they can't say no

[jackieb]

We told both our neighbours before getting the chooks and they both thought it was a lovely idea.

 

I take them eggs once or twice a month and they buy the odd bag of mash or corn or give me cabbage leaves for them, I find little parcels of food in the porch.

 

One of the neighbours didn't even realise the girls had arrived until I took the eggs round 3 weeks later.

 

Edited to say, the dog belonging to one of the neighbours makes far more noise and for much longer than our chickens would ever make.

[kitchens]

As far as the rat thing is concerned ..... I must admit I am a bit paronoid about them .... I bring their feeder into the conservatory at night and keep their sack of food and corn in a galvanised dustbin in my shed. Job done!!

[kevtheplumber]

None of my neighbors knew for 3 weeks until I told them, new neighbours moved in next door 2 weeks back and commented they could see the chickens through the bedroom window, asked if we had a cockerel and said no to which they replied oh thats such a shame so just the other side to check it out on now

[Valkyrie]

I checked with the Council, and as long as we didn't have a rooster, that was fine. Like xScrunchee I didn't notify my neighbours because

a) one side didn't notify me of their cats who mess in my garden (and now out the front in our new gravel drive - hence me tossing poo back in their garden and a liberal dousing of Domestos in said area) and I know which one does it too.

b) the other side didn't notify us that they were getting a vicious dog that attacks people and even now snarls at us when we are in the garden and we put up extra fencing to keep it out long before the girls came here (and even this weekend it tried to jump over the wire fence their side, through the hedge and comes up short at our fencing).

 

The noise from the dog barking exceeds any noise from the hens and the cats fight with other cats in the middle of the night.

 

My retort to any complaint would be that if I was not allowed to keep my chickens I would have an aviary with budgies and other noisey little birds instead.

 

Another neighbour is desperate for us to go on holiday so she can look after them, and another two said they have only ever heard them once (we live in a cul-de-sac). That is when they bok loudly when they are scared - like when a cat attacked Squirt a couple of weeks ago, or the hedgehog appeared or a squirrel was running around. Or a sparrowhawk - and then all the wild birds chip in then too.

 

Neither neighbour has said anything, but the cat side added more wood to the bottom of our fence - the girls were never bothered and were far too huge to get under - although it has served a purpose and now his cats can't squeeze under any more.

The other side didn't know until they cut their hedge (we had the girls over a year then) - then her daughter wanted us to get chicks.

So all fine here.