Pro - Does anyone else's nest boxes get soaked in rain?

[AndyRoo]

Hello all,

 

I'm new here, so I just thought I would say hello... largely coz the other half is watching Drag Race and now I'm not sure what to do with myself.

 

So, "Hello!" *waves*

 

Andy

[Cat tails]

*waves*

 

Hi Andy and welcome to the wonderful world of chicken keeping!

[Lewis]

Hey Andy, welcome to the forums

 

Do you already keep chickens or are you just starting out?

[AndyRoo]

Thanks both!

 

@Lewis it's kind of a half and half question: when I was a kid we had a couple of bantams (so about 25+ years ago!), and my mother-in-law has some chickens which I *occasionally* help out with.

 

The girls will be our first solo mission, as it were.

 

We're going to be urban chicken keepers, in a city, so we're a little concerned about noise - not so much about smell etc. (we've always had a healthy number of pets, so we're very used to keeping them clean and tidy!). We do have a 100ft garden on our side - so the plan is to keep them at the back and do everything we can to 'soundproof'.

 

Any advice on that would be great!

 

Andy.

[kopperdrake]

Hi from another relative newcomer

 

Noise? I don't really think chickens are any noisier than most pets, except rabbits of course! Dogs are louder - I wouldn't worry about the noise, but I suppose you could always plant some waist high bushes in their area, which will help break up any sound. It'll also give them somewhere nice to shelter from the sun and rain - something like lavendar will also help with the odours too.

 

Another thought would be to plant some fruit trees on dwarfing rootstocks (M26 is a good one for apple trees, or MM106 for something slightly larger). That way your chickens will help fertilise the trees, and peck the bad bugs from the ground beneath the trees, and will also eat the dropped fruit that likely contains bugs. Plus you'll get some fruit, and they'll love the shelter.

 

Good luck!

[percy049]

Hello! I've found it quite easy to teach my chickens to be quiet, its the only thing I could train them to do

[AndyRoo]

Hi kopper,

 

I'm only really nervous because I don't want to be the neighbour that annoys everyone! We'll be doing as much as is reasonably possible to keep the noise down.

 

My main concern is the girls making a lot of noise early on and waking up the neighbours: on one side we have a retired couple, and on the other, we have another couple with youngish kids.

 

I know from some limited previous experience that the hens tend to only be noisy first thing when they want to be let out, and when they lay. I suppose if I am lucky they won't lay until after everyone is either awake or on the way to work. Not sure how to keep them quiet at the crack of dawn, though...

 

Andy

[AndyRoo]

Hello! I've found it quite easy to teach my chickens to be quiet, its the only thing I could train them to do

 

Oh hello, any tips on keeping their lips sealed (as it were)?

[Cat tails]

I've got a very small garden (seriously! Really small) neighbours on all sides and even upstairs neighbours too with balconies overlooking the gardens.

I have one gobby chickens who loves to complain about life in general and they will demand their breakfast in the morning. I close the coop at night to give me a bit more time in bed, but as soon as I hear one, I get up, let them out, feed them and if I don't have to be anywere early, I go back to bed.

In summers this is around 6:15 at the moment.

Winters it can be as late as 8:30

 

So far I haven't had any complaints from any of the neighbours or the housing company yet.

[Alis girls]

Hi Andy. Mine cluck a bit egg calls (when we have eggs) but there is traffic noise,dogs etc and so far no complaints. Bristol is a noisy city -son is at uni there. He was in Red land. I don't think you'll have any probs. I am in NW London right next to busy 6 lane road. Good luck.

[percy049]

Oh hello, any tips on keeping their lips sealed (as it were)?

 

If they start being too loud squirt them with a water pistol! They soon learn to shut up when they see it without even squirting them, and eventually them just seeing you should make them be quiet (worked for us anyway). Also, as they get older they should quieten down

[AndyRoo]

Oh hello, any tips on keeping their lips sealed (as it were)?

 

If they start being too loud squirt them with a water pistol! They soon learn to shut up when they see it without even squirting them, and eventually them just seeing you should make them be quiet (worked for us anyway). Also, as they get older they should quieten down

 

Haha, okay... I hadn't actually thought about that approach!

[AndyRoo]

I've got a very small garden (seriously! Really small) neighbours on all sides and even upstairs neighbours too with balconies overlooking the gardens.

I have one gobby chickens who loves to complain about life in general and they will demand their breakfast in the morning. I close the coop at night to give me a bit more time in bed, but as soon as I hear one, I get up, let them out, feed them and if I don't have to be anywere early, I go back to bed.

In summers this is around 6:15 at the moment.

Winters it can be as late as 8:30

 

So far I haven't had any complaints from any of the neighbours or the housing company yet.

 

If you covered the coop with a black-out blanket, do you think that would help keep them quiet for an additional hour or so?

[soapdragon]

Sadly that didn't work with our noisy three Light Sussex bantams! They tended to lay very early in the day and the egg clucking started up quite a bit before that too! In the end we did have complaints and, sadly, had to rehome our girls. I got really paranoid about the noise and very stressed out but we will be keeping chickens again as soon as we have a bigger garden.

 

We live in a village but our house backs on to a row of houses and I think one or two of our neighbours were not as understanding as they could have been. Others said they liked the noise so at least that shows some were on our side!

[AndyRoo]

I guess we will just have to try it and see what works. I was even looking in to noise cancelling technology at one point!

 

The current plan is basically to out them down the very end of the garden: it's 100ft - so they'll be some distance from the houses, and the rear of our house backs on to an old warehouse, so there's no one there to disturb.

 

Then I was going to put up fences (designed to reduce noise) and around those, put up some screening plants to further reduce the noise.

 

As I mentioned earlier we are also on a main road, so that should help a little. The houses all have really good double glazing too: inside our house you can barely hear road noise at all.

 

When we were out in the garden with the neighbour's children playing, the only noise you could hear was them.

 

If the hens are quiet until after everyone is awake anyway, I don't think we'll have any problems - unless of course one of the neighbours turns out to be one of 'those' people who are just never happy about anything.

[Cat tails]

I've got a very small garden (seriously! Really small) neighbours on all sides and even upstairs neighbours too with balconies overlooking the gardens.

I have one gobby chickens who loves to complain about life in general and they will demand their breakfast in the morning. I close the coop at night to give me a bit more time in bed, but as soon as I hear one, I get up, let them out, feed them and if I don't have to be anywere early, I go back to bed.

In summers this is around 6:15 at the moment.

Winters it can be as late as 8:30

 

So far I haven't had any complaints from any of the neighbours or the housing company yet.

 

If you covered the coop with a black-out blanket, do you think that would help keep them quiet for an additional hour or so?

 

It only buys me another 15 to 20 minutes, so not really worth it.

I sleep on the gardenside, groundfloor, window open. I wake up at the first sqwuawk, shuffle out and shuffle back in. I find it no problem.

[AndyRoo]

Ah, ok... well, that might be a bit different than ours: we're street side, and top floor, so I am guessing we wouldn't naturally hear anything...

 

Maybe I could just offer to pay for the neighbours to get new windows installed!

[Luvachicken]

Hello from me too

 

Mine have mostly made noises early in the morning because they have been frightened by something.

They have been awake twice this Summer, making a racket, around 4.15am but have never laid eggs at this time - each time I check the garden but never find anything scary.

 

I would think with a 100ft garden you will be fine

 

BTW you will love having them especially when you talk to them and they mutter back. I love that

[AndyRoo]

Hello from me too

 

Mine have mostly made noises early in the morning because they have been frightened by something.

They have been awake twice this Summer, making a racket, around 4.15am but have never laid eggs at this time - each time I check the garden but never find anything scary.

 

I would think with a 100ft garden you will be fine

 

BTW you will love having them especially when you talk to them and they mutter back. I love that

 

Hello - 4:15, eh? That troubles me! Especially as I am not a morning person myself.

 

I think we're just going to have to bite the bullet and go for it... I just really don't want to be the new neighbour who causes all kinds of trouble. We're already planning to build an extension, a loft conversion, and have the garden re-landscaped. I think I am going to have to start pulling together apology baskets the morning we finally move in! lol

 

I know from visiting the house a few times that the neighbour's kids were the noisiest sound I could hear - even louder than the main road!

 

I can't decide if I am trying to talk myself into it, or out of it.... but mostly in to it!

[Lewis]

I honestly wouldn't worry about the noise. We have a long garden the same as you and the chickens are at the top, we've had them over 10 years and never had problems with noise. We're on a main road into town so traffic is louder than the chickens.

We've had lots of cockerels over the years which have had to go because of crowing but the latest two aren't too loud and the neighbours say they like the noise

 

Look forward to hearing how you get on!

[patsylabrador]

Hello. We use blackouts. I don't hear anything until around 8am even in the height of summer. We're urban too and quite honestly think the wild birds, dogs, traffic and trains make more noise.

[AndyRoo]

Hello. We use blackouts. I don't hear anything until around 8am even in the height of summer. We're urban too and quite honestly think the wild birds, dogs, traffic and trains make more noise.

 

Hi

 

May I ask what you're using as blackouts? Just a 'blanket'? Do you know where you got it from?

 

I'd like to be prepared with one just in case!

 

Thanks,

Andy

[patsylabrador]

I bought a strip of blackout liner from Amazon. I can't remember how much it cost. It's not a perfect fit and wafts around a bit but it does the trick. Also their run is against the east side of the garden so it stays darker a bit longer.

[Luvachicken]

I am not an early morning person either but getting up at 4.15 am is beautiful on a nice day.

No one else is up, no dogs barking, no planes, no nothing, just birds. I give the girls a good stare, check the garden and tell them to be quiet. Doesn't always work as when you turn your back they start clucking again so I just sit in the run for a bit and that usually sorts it.

 

Don't talk yourself out of getting chickens. They only make a noise for a little bit and do get quieter as they get older and you can always hand out a few eggs. I bet like you say the neighbourhood children will be far noisier.

[mullethunter]

Like Luvachicken, I have been woken up before 5 by my girls this summer, but only 3 times. I have a decent sized garden but neighbours all around. Twice when one of them was doing an odd 'trying to crow' thing (it's definitely a she - she's laid eggs) and once last week when something spooked them (again like Luvachicken when I stumbled out bleary eyed I couldn't see anything either). Each time this happens I tell the me big Le Creuset dish could easily fit them all in - I'm not a morning person either!