Ain't Nobody Here Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 I met my fairly new neighbour over the garden fence this evening and said, as you do, hope the chickens aren't annoying you. "Well, they are quite loud", he said. They have a fairly new baby and he made a comment about if his wife had had a bad night ... . Feel even more anxious than normal about their squawking now . I've put them to bed in the eglu (they normally sleep al fresco) and hope that might make a difference. Luckily, I saw him again and told him I'd done that so hopefully he'll appreciate that I'm doing my best. I held back from saying "well, at least I don't have screeching small children like you and all the new neighbours" . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mollyripkim Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Oh dear, hope you are worrying unnecessarily. I worry about my girls noise too but then remind myself that the pair of terriers next door bark far more and louder than my girls cluck. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cat tails Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Oh that sounds frustrating! Don't let it get you down. Crying babies are WAY more annoying then chickens! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
coco Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Oh dear. I know how you feel, we have new neighbours snd when I told them we were the house with the chickens he jokingly said you haven't got a cockerel have you. His face fell when I said yes. So far so good ad luckily the cockerel is quiet till I let him out and not too noisy during the day. It is a bit of a worry though Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patricia W Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Offer him some eggs and invite the children round to collect them. Other than that - ignore him........ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gavclojak Posted June 22, 2014 Share Posted June 22, 2014 Offer him some eggs and invite the children round to collect them. Other than that - ignore him........ Good call! That's what I did and a year On all seems good, I am sure if he was that bothered he would have approached you, so don't worry too much, it's probably the stress of a new baby, give them a month or so and they will be so knackered they will sleep through a stream train coming through the house let alone a few clucks from your girls!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted June 23, 2014 Author Share Posted June 23, 2014 I hope so . I let the girls out at 7am and they all looked rather bemused . Bit of a pain though, I'm going to have to clean the eglu out regularly now . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pottage Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 We didnt tell anyone we were getting chooks for that very reason. We only have close neighbours on one side anyway, and the coop/run is on the complete opposite side of the house. The noise that comes from the dogs and children in the rest of the houses around us is by far more than anything my chooksters could come up with, even Lola when she's just laid! I wouldn't worry overly. In actual fact, I think your neighbour is pretty rude in even saying that. At least your girls sleep and are quiet over night when everyone is sleeping, I imagine unlike their new baby :-/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 I wouldn't worry overly. In actual fact, I think your neighbour is pretty rude in even saying that. At least your girls sleep and are quiet over night when everyone is sleeping, I imagine unlike their new baby :-/ I couldn't agree more with this. Don't lose any sleep over it (pardon the pun). You don't have a cockerel, and hens really DON'T make that much noise. If they have a baby then surely they are going to be awake umpteen times during the night anyway? I expect they are just being tired and tetchy from their little one keeping them awake Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted June 23, 2014 Author Share Posted June 23, 2014 Well, a day on, I'm starting to regret saying I'd put the girls away in the eglu every night. It's going to be such a pain and will also mean a lot more cleaning for me . I'll maybe rethink it when school breaks up on Wed and I'll be around for 6 weeks for most of the day to monitor how noisy they actually are. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sparkysmum Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 oh nooooooo I am sorry to read this. I am sure your ladies aren't at all noisy and as others have said a few eggs should soon put things right. Hope all ends well. Ax Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Luvachicken Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 Oh dear, I do feel for you. Mine have woken us up early twice now, mind you that is since March so pretty good I think, at 5.30am, but no-one has said anything yet. And sadly, I think if the ones next door do say anything, I have a whole list of annoying things they do that I don't complain about. I guess you can only apologise any time they do it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
hammy72 Posted June 23, 2014 Share Posted June 23, 2014 My 2 have always been quiet, so neighbours on one side got 3 hens who are noisy and my Snowflake now "talks" to them. Neighbours joined to us now think it is mine who are noisy but they have a visiting grandchild so I guess we are quits! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs Webmuppet Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 We too have new neighbours, I work on the principle that they would have heard the chickens and seen the Cube and Eglu from their upstairs when they looked round the house. After they moved in I did tell them we had chickens and they said oh yes we saw them when we looked round. Then they promptly volunteered to chicken mind. They were fine about the bees in our garden too! Phew. Don't stress about it, they will have seen or heard the chooks when they looked round. They are probably stressed out by the new baby (I remember being paranoid about noise when LMW was a baby and she slept through a bomb blowing up- we lived on a WW2 airfield and the bomb squad blew a WW2 bomb up in the wee small hours and she slept through it). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
UKMARCH Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 Oh no I bet its hard remembering to let them out and shut them in when not used to having to do it I bet they're wondering what's going on especially with these hot nights. In the grand scheme of things I agree with everyone chickens are much quieter in the garden than babies and young children and even older children. Hopefully he was just passing comment as they had a bad night it could easily work the other way round when their children disturb an afternoon nap or relaxing time in the garden and I'm sure you wouldn't pass comment to them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Olly Posted June 24, 2014 Share Posted June 24, 2014 I know my girls squawk a bit when they hear me in the kitchen in the mornings, or if I go out in the garden. During the last half-term break my neighbour had his grandson to stay, and they camped in a tent in the garden (practising for the summer holiday). He commented to me that he was amazed at how quiet the hens were first thing in the morning, he wouldn't have known they were there! I think we all worry more than we need to about noise. I do find that the occasional box of eggs helps to smooth things. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daxigirl Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Don't worry yourself, it's not the chickens keeping them awake at night and making them tired during the day. (If they comment on the girls you can say "yes your baby kept me awake too with it's wailing" .) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Alis girls Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Personally I think chicken owners are too nice. No one asks " are my kids/dogs/husbands/ mowers/ DIY " etc too noisey. Well yes they are actually - dog over the way barks all day long if I could fit a muzzle on dog and owner I would. Sorry but its constant. Mowers - I grumbled at OH the other day - he mowed our lawn and then all you could hear was mowers going. Someone is DIYing near by so again strumming wrrrring all day long. And my girls not a peek. I am not going to ask anyone about my chooks and if they say anything i will deny all knowledge. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lavenders_Blue Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Personally I think chicken owners are too nice. I agree, Alis girls. I think we worry because the noise is unusual, but as you say, dogs, lawn mowers, strimmers, children and radios in the garden all make far more noise and we rarely pass comment on that. What about cats s"Ooops, word censored!"ping in the street in the middle of the night? That's far worse! My elderly neighbour set up a record player in his shed last summer so he could sit outside and listen to music. The only problem is he's somewhat deaf and therefore broadcasts his music to the entire neighbourhood Last week we had a very unseasonal broadcasting of Boney M's 'Mary's Boy Child' drifting across the airwaves It gets a bit wearing when you've been listening to someone else's music for 5 hours. Now that's antisocial - a few chickens going about their business is not. Honestly, I wouldn't give it another thought. (Just to add, right now my hens are making precisely zero noise. Good girls!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LizzieLloyd Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Personally I think chicken owners are too nice. I think you're right too Alis girls. Our little doodle lets rip every morning at sunrise so we've had to keep her in the coop and do some soundproofing as we're so worried about upsetting the neighbours. Screeching children, barking dogs etc are far more annoying but no one would dream of complaining about those things. I think we worry ourselves unnecessary about the noise of little birds. To be fair the local blackbirds in our neighbourhood are far more intrusive than cockadoodling and egg announcements. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wez Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 I know what you mean and so far we've been lucky. We got our girls in November and January 2013 and 2014 so 5 Pekins in total. They are generally peaceful until it's egg song time and one of them, Tilly is not quite right in the head I'm sure! Out of them all, she stands at the top of the ladder yodelling like a mad thing and it's very loud! However it is also fairly short lived and was usually about 10 in the morning until ... 2 weeks ago, at 4am on a Saturday, she started! Rest of the week, nothing. Again, this Saturday we heard her so I rushed down (4am again!) and let them out of the run and all was peaceful. Rest of the week, not a peep so I really wouldn't worry too much as I think we become more sensitive to it when we worry about it. If they're not keeping everyone awake past 11pm at night like parties and boy racers do or waking everyone up at the crack of dawn which I doubt, and at it all day long like kids, dogs and all manner of other domestic and rural racket then I don't see the harm. We've sent a few eggs the neighbours way and they've commented on how interesting to watch and interactive they are (!) when they can hear the neighbours over the fence when we're out but apart from that I think I stressed far more. Let's hope Tilly doesn't make me eat those words soon! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mrs_B Posted June 25, 2014 Share Posted June 25, 2014 Oh no, ANH - some people can be abrupt about pets and noise, the thing is - why can't neighbours who have a problem just 'talk' about it instead of coming across as rude? I really hope it gets easier for you. I also hope giving eggs to your neighbours will work Is it me though, or do wild birds make much more noise for a long while, starting before sunrise? I don't go outside until 8am in the morning because as soon as my chickens see me they make the most hysterical noise...and at the moment I have a chicken in a dog crate (in the shed) that I pop out into a run on the lawn everyday but she has to wait until 8am or the others would see me! I went out at 4.30am last week and they ALL started singing a very loud egg song type chorus and I could see a neighbour looking out their window as I was trying to hush the chooks (I had some meal worms...thankfully) But I do feel lucky and am very grateful as a few neighbours around us have chickens and my next door neighbour loves the sound they make, every squawk and cluck. x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pottage Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 I sheepishly went round to my neighbours last night with their first box of eggs, worrying the whole time that they would say they hated the chooks or something. I must be so lucky because she was thrilled, I even got a hug! She said she loved watching them out of her windows when they are free ranging. What I wasn’t expecting was for her to then ask me what we were doing with their poop, and could she please have some for her allotment. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
daxigirl Posted June 27, 2014 Share Posted June 27, 2014 Just shows you can never tell. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
