AIBU to think I could keep chickens in a normal house in an suburban area?

[KitKat1985]

I've always wanted to have some pet chickens. I've been looking today at these 'Eglu' houses (link below) and it's making me think maybe I could just do it and keep 2-3 chickens in our garden. I've had friends that have had them and found them lovely pets, and our DDs would love them. But is it a completely nuts idea? Our house is detached, but our neighbours are in reasonably close proximity. We have a small-medium sized garden. Has anyone done this? Do they cause problems (noise, smell etc) that are likely to make me a very unpopular neighbour?

www.omlet.co.uk/shop/chicken_keeping/

They aren't smelly or noisy (except cockerels obv) so as long as it's not prohibited by your deeds I say go for it. Not if you're garden proud though - they scratch up plants terribly! I like them very much though, they are sweet things to have around

Chickens are lovely! They don't make a noise in the morning before you let them out, but you will be need to be there to lock them safely away as soon as it gets dark. Just keep the run clean and rats shouldn't be a problem. Foxes are very cunning - your run needs to be very secure.

I agree that usually where there are pet chickens there are rats but a suburban area will often have a much higher rate of domestic cat that might negate that concern.

Regardless of mortgage or freehold there are often bylaws or covenants on the deeds to prevent livestock being kept.

Yup. Our house has a no livestock covenant.

Hi! I have two chickens in an eglu. No rooster. They cluck around our terraced house garden and haven’t managed to offend any one yet! We keep their food in a metal bin with metal lid to deter rats....although I think in built up areas rats are already there anyway. The eglu does seem fox proof so far- but if you are going to let them out and about then you must remember to shut them in at dusk. We lost one to a fox that way.

My neighbour has chickens. There are lots of rats. The pest control guy said they’re very common near chickens.

We have chickens (4 hens and an accidental cockerel who doesn’t crow very often as he has no one to compete with) in a suburban garden and it’s been fine, no complaints. Tbh next door’s dog makes more noise barking! No rats either, we take the feed in overnight, keep it in sealed boxes in the garage and the feeders on our eglu are raised off the ground so it seems fine. I would get three if you can as then if you lose one you still have a couple, so no tricky introductions with a lonely hen to work out. (You have to introduce new ones to the flock slowly or the pecking order can get a bit Lord of the flies 😂)

I think the best idea may be to just moot the idea in front of our neighbour and gauge her reaction. We only have a neighbour to one side of us (we're the corner plot) and she works two jobs so isn't actually home that much to be bothered by them, but would rather not do anything that's going to cause tension as we currently all get on well and I'd like to keep it that way!

Dogs make a lot more noise than chickens. Rats are only a potential proplem if you leave their food out at night.
I've been told that anyone can have chickens, regardless of what the deeds say, because of an older law.

Why would rats be common around chickens? As long as you keep the feed in a rat proof container and don't leave food on the ground when the hens are in overnight there shouldn't be a problem.

I love my chickens - even though they demand to be stroked every time I go into their run

Oh, and give some eggs to your neighbours - fresh eggs are divine.

They don't attract rats in my experience. They don't smell and the noise is less than a barking dog (or children). They do trash your lawn and produce 1 poo every hour. So if you give them free run of the garden and have children, chicken poo will get trodden everywhere

Keeping chickens always attracts rats

Our local council pest guy told me where there are chickens there’s also rats. If you have field mice they will go away once the rats come in. They destroy everything in sight.

Also the chickens will destroy your grass til it’s just a sea of mud if there isn’t enough grass per head. I think my pal had six and they destroyed the grass completely in a matter of weeks until there was none in a fenced in overnight run about 10m by 10m. They weren’t even in it during the day, when they were free range on the small holding. They were just in it from 7pm til 9am and it was horrible, slimy mud.
Defo speak to people in your local area and see how badly their chickens have wrecked their gardens. It could be they will be fine on a garden your size (we don’t know how big it is) and they will be great. Who doesn’t like fresh eggs

Chickens stink. We used to have them, but not in this country. We had a lot of land and the chickens had their own house...which was kept warm.

I'd never keep them in the house I lived in.

They'll be very cooped up in a run that size. If they are loose in your garden they'll poo all over it, so that might be something to consider if you have babies/toddlers (the poo decomposes pretty quickly though).

They'll destroy the grass in the enclosure, and the resulting mudbath/ chicken poo smell is pretty pungent- fine if your garden is big, but not great in a small garden.

You'll probably get rats, chickens are messy feeders and rats are attracted to the smell of the chickens and the ready supply of dropped food. Get a metal treadle feeder from the outset even though they are more expensive- every other feeder is useless.

Be prepared to clean out and disinfect the coop at least weekly. You'll also need to be prepared to apply scaly leg cream and anti-mite powder to the chickens on a regular basis.

You'll need to be home every morning and every night to lock them away and let them out.

I'd get 4 rather than 2 or 3, they often pair off and the odd one can be picked on.

Rats are a big problem, you will need a rat man to keep them under control.

Many houses have restrictions on keeping anything other than cats, dogs and small pets. I am sure we were told this when we bought our current house.

I'd say go for it. It's a fantastic idea, they're beautiful little things and if properly tamed can be quite cuddly!

Of course you can! No cockerel though, too noisy. We had hens in a semi for years and later in a small detached among other houses. Brilliant pets

Just a thought but in the event of some kind of bird illness outbreak they may have to be kept inside. Can’t stay shut in one of those chicken houses 24/7.
Noisy and attract rats. I wouldn’t.

We live in a freehold detached house but nonetheless there is a restrictive covenant saying no livestock allowed except dogs and cats so don't assume without checking. If your house is relatively modern and on an estate there are normally restrictive covenants that might even say the front garden must be lawn / permitted height of hedges etc.

They will wreck the garden but if you're ok with that then go for it.

Our neighbour has a cockerel. The noisy bugger is gonna end up on my plate soon. Please don’t get a cockerel. The hens are lovely just him that causes problems

They are noisy, my neighbour has them and they cluck and squawk from first light. It doesn’t particularly bother me but suspect that those saying they aren’t noisy have never lived next to them!

The thing about the Eglu’s is that they are plastic and dead easy to wash & scrub sparky clean AND reasonably easy to shift around (unlike wooden coops) so smell-wise you should be OK !