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Original poster

Do I need neighbours permission before I rescue some hens

101 replies

ImprobablePuffin · 28/07/2021 16:41

Hiya, so I am planning to rescue 4-6 ex battery hens and have a lovely large garden for them to roam in. I have a coop and everything sorted out but I've been told by a friend I should get neighbours permission first?

I don't see why their preference trumps mine and I'm not sure the etiquette here but I'm not getting a cockerel so there'll be no cockadoodledooing going on.

Would you get permission first or not?

OP posts:
PattyPan · 28/07/2021 19:08

Of course you don’t need to even tell your neighbour - you don’t need their permission to get any type of pet. Enjoy your chickies 🐓

Original poster
ImprobablePuffin · 28/07/2021 19:15

@WouldBeGood

Sounds like you’ve decided anyway *@ImprobablePuffin* 🤷🏻‍♀️
I had already decided but then my friend said I should get permission from neighbours. That's why I'm asking opinions.
OP posts:
Original poster
ImprobablePuffin · 28/07/2021 19:17

"I would not object to chickens being kept next door but I would keep an extra eye on the killer dog as I would be very upset if he was able to murder any of them."

I mean it sounds like your dog needs to be controlled and if it is temperamental then you should always be keeping an extra eye anyway.

OP posts:
Original poster
ImprobablePuffin · 28/07/2021 19:18

I'm not worried about the poo - I can use it to fertilise the allotment so the more the better tbh

OP posts:
StrongTea · 28/07/2021 19:23

We have 13, not noisy, still have grass. A litter picker is ideal poo picking.

Suzi888 · 28/07/2021 19:26

I wouldn’t get ‘permission’ but I’d certainly let them know. Smile I’d love it if my neighbour did this!

SantiagoSky · 28/07/2021 20:38

Go for it! They are great. We have chickens in the city and have never seen a rat. We did inform the neighbors the day before they arrived but didn’t ask their permission.

Somanysocks · 28/07/2021 22:04

Noise? Smell? From chickens? I give you cannabis smokers, fag smokers, dogs barking, kids squealing, loud music, building work, barbeques, bonfires, fireworks....I could go on.

The gentle crooning of chickens is lovely, and clean out the coop and they don't smell.

SweetPetrichor · 28/07/2021 22:32

I wouldn’t bother asking neighbours…it just means that if they are against it, you end up having to say ‘well, tough, I’m getting them’, I had hens growing up and they were great. The noise of hens clucking and scratching around is very calming. They’re only really loud if they’re alarmed by something or if you have a cockerel.
I was mildly traumatised when I was ‘hen sitting’ for a lady when I was a teen, and I went to feed them one morning and a fox or a stoat had got in at them. All but one hen had been killed, the bodies were strewn across the run…it was like something out of a horror film. That poor single hen had to come home to our garden until her owner came home from her holiday and secured the run again.

Powertothepetal · 28/07/2021 22:44

They’re only really loud if they’re alarmed by something
This wasn’t my experience I’m afraid.

PerciphonePuma · 28/07/2021 23:01

Hen sounds - for those who say they're not noisy

PerciphonePuma · 28/07/2021 23:02

A better example

madroid · 28/07/2021 23:10

What you need is a large walk in fox proof run. They can come out of their coop as soon as they wake up which is as soon as it's light. If they have to wait to be let out, that's when they'll get noisy calling you to open their coop door Grin

You don't need your neighbour's permission at all. Other pets are far more noisy and potentially smelly. But hens aren't smelly if you remove their normally very neat poos from the coop daily. And it makes excellent compost. Then a proper coop clean every week or two is sufficient.

Bring in/remove all food at night and you won't get rats or mice.

There's some ridiculous comments on this thread from people who've clearly no experience of hen-keeping!

madroid · 28/07/2021 23:14

[quote PerciphonePuma]A better example [/quote]
That there is an alarm call. The raised leg is an impression of being a cockerel designed to frighten off a threat.

Hens are noisy when they lay an egg. They are signalling to the rest of the flock where the clutch of eggs is so that the others can lay in the same place. Naturally one of the hens would then sit on the eggs to incubate them and hatch the next generation. I think it's a lovely sound and reminds us that all our food (and existence) comes from nature.

PieceOfString · 28/07/2021 23:18

You're responsible for stopping them from roaming but that's it. It's not as if you're getting a cockerel who will wake them at 5am. Just go ahead

TheMadGardener · 28/07/2021 23:21

We had chickens when I was a child. I'd love to have some but don't have room in my current garden. A neighbour down the road has them and I quite like the occasional chicken noise in the distance.
My house deeds don't forbid poultry keeping but - bizarrely - forbid me to graze cattle or mine for minerals in my back garden without first asking the permission of the Duke of Bedford...

Blinky21 · 28/07/2021 23:30

I think it's a really nice thing to do but not in the city, I really don't get it, if you want farm animals, live in the country. I'd hate my neighbours to get them, messy and bring rats

milkyaqua · 29/07/2021 01:59

@PattyPan

Of course you don’t need to even tell your neighbour - you don’t need their permission to get any type of pet. Enjoy your chickies 🐓
I agree.

If you were planning on getting a dog, a cat, a hamster, a rabbit, would you ask their permission or they yours if the roles were reversed? No!

Chooks are marvellous creatures.

RainingZen · 29/07/2021 03:05

You don't need permission. I personally wouldn't ask, as it suggests they have a right of veto and they don't.

For myself I would love a neighbour to have chickens! If they were well kept. (And even more so if I got an egg now and then, although I wouldn't expect any.) But I am a very early riser and I love the sound of chickens and even the cockerel as it reminds me of a fantastic neighbour who had them when I was a child (urban setting in semi detached houses, but big 120 foot gardens and theirs was also the corner plot).

My MIL on the other hand went slightly potty when someone in her street got chickens, as she is OBSESSED with the idea of rats and when in her garden complained VERY loudly about the chickens being noisy and encouraging vermin. ( She is also someone who can't stand the noise of children, genuinely believes "children are a lot noisier than they were when I was a young mum", and always shushes my children when in her garden.)

Anyway, good luck with your lovely chickens.

Gothichouse40 · 29/07/2021 03:42

If you live in a terraced house, please do not get chickens.

FictionalCharacter · 29/07/2021 05:06

You absolutely don’t need your neighbours permission.

They do not smell. Any smell in gardens where there are chickens would be from dirty coops and runs - you just need to keep their housing clean.

They do not attract rats - it’s spilled food that attracts rats, and if you bring their food in every night you’ll never have a problem.

Make sure you have a nice big run for them for when they are not free ranging. Best not to let them free range all the time because they will trash your garden, unless it’s huge. It’s also best to have somewhere secure for them when you’re not around. They need something to do in the run, ideally some wood chip to dig and some perches.

Enjoy your hens, they are sweet, characterful, entertaining creatures and it’s wonderful to see ex-batts blossom into happy garden hens. The British Hen Welfare Trust has lots of advice on keeping them.

Funny how people don’t usually claim you need neighbours’ permission to get dogs (like my NDN’s that barks all the time it’s outdoors) or cats (like the ones that shit in my raised beds every night).

FictionalCharacter · 29/07/2021 05:12

PS not all hens make that shouty noise when they lay an egg. Only one or two out of all the ones I’ve had have done that, and it’s only for maybe a minute. They do shout if they think they can see or hear a predator, just as wild birds do.

Original poster
ImprobablePuffin · 29/07/2021 10:19

@TheMadGardener

We had chickens when I was a child. I'd love to have some but don't have room in my current garden. A neighbour down the road has them and I quite like the occasional chicken noise in the distance. My house deeds don't forbid poultry keeping but - bizarrely - forbid me to graze cattle or mine for minerals in my back garden without first asking the permission of the Duke of Bedford...
That really tickled me. I'm sure you're just desperate to mine for minerals. Damn that Duke of Bedford!
OP posts:
Original poster
ImprobablePuffin · 29/07/2021 10:20

@Blinky21

I think it's a really nice thing to do but not in the city, I really don't get it, if you want farm animals, live in the country. I'd hate my neighbours to get them, messy and bring rats
Why do you think I'm in a city? I said I'm semi rural
OP posts:
theleafandnotthetree · 29/07/2021 10:31

OP you sound lovely and so conscientious in how you have prepared for their arrival, I really wouldn't worry about telling the neighbours

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