chickens in a built-up neighbourhood

[IOnceAdoredARodent]

Do chickens (not roosters) make a lot of noise? Obviously I'd be blandishing the neighbours with an egg or two.

I wouldn’t be without my girls, the cluck a bit when they lay but it’s not loud at all, certainly quieter than a dog barking. The get cleaned out daily so no smell and food is stored properly so no vermin.

No danger from local cats, my top hen runs at them flapping her wings and scares the crap out of them.

I’ve never needed to clip their wings. I’d check there is a vet that can treat them locally. It’s expensive as they are classed as exotic animals. Having a flock of hens is not much different from having 6 rabbits or cats, if you keep them as pets you need to be able to pay for any treatment they need.

I bring their feeder in at night and to be honest their run is cleaner than the neighbours kennels are. I think they do have a bad reputation for rats but we back onto fields, the neighbours have have kennels and my compost bin is probably more attractive to them!

I would be more worried about the smell tbh and the rats that they attrack if the chickenkeeper is not on top of feeding and cleaning.

I'm in a city and keep hens but will not keep a cockerel, I've been keeping hens for years and they're much quieter than dogs.

I'm petrified of vermin but have never experienced rats or mice since I got hens. My neighbours haven't a problem with me keeping hens, occasionally a neighbour has commented that if they've been sitting out relaxing in their garden during the summer they find the cooing noises from the hens soothing.

As regards hen shit hens do over 50% of their shitting at night. I put it in the brown bin for composting.