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/

OP, you know there is a specific board for chicken keepers?

I'd love chickens too. But

where there's chickens there's rats

everyone I know who has had chickens has had chickens killed by foxes. Even in towns and even in the most secure runs

*if you let them roam the garden they will poop everywhere and dig it all up looking for worms.

Our Neighbour had chickens , and we saw several rats in our Garden.
Our dog killed a rat and brought it into the house and left in on the sofa
I thought it was a dog toy and sat beside it , I had a major panic attack when I noticed its tail and it dawned on me what it was
She moved house , and we have never seen rats since

Neighbours have chickens. Noisy little bastards every time they lay an egg, but our garden is big enough that it doesn't bother me. In a small garden, with houses crammed in, it would get irritating quite quickly. FIL had a noise complaint about chickens except they weren't his chickens. So, some people obviously don't appreciate them.

And rats. Didn't see them before the chickens, even though we have a stream through our garden. Luckily, I have a cat who happily catches and kills rats.

But if you do decide to get chooks, it's really worth considering giving some ex-battery Farm hens a lovely last few years of life.

My next door neighbour has chickens, and a couple of ducks. Largish garden but not massive, we are on the edge of the suburbs. Never had rats as far as I know.
They have put chicken wire around their boundary to keep them in but they occasionally get into my garden. I don't mind and they haven't caused any damage.

I was worried my cat would get them but they see him off no problem, he likes to stalk them but keeps his distance.
They are quite quiet, they make a weird crooning noise that I quite like. Hens do crow, not like a cockerel, but they do "call" to the cockerel on the farm down the road at times.
I don't find them any trouble.

We have 3 sets of friends that keep chickens. All in towns. 2 in detached houses and one in a terraced house. They have good relationships with their neighbours so they don’t seem to mind.

Mice and rats can be managed by only feeding what the chickens need, cleaning out any left overs, and being careful what scraps you feed them.

Just so you know, it's illegal to feed kitchen scraps to chickens (or any other animal which could later be eaten). That wouldn't matter to most people, until their pissed-off neighbour reported them. I'm not saying it's a sensible law, but I thought it was a good idea to mention it because not everyone would know. It was brought in after the last foot and mouth outbreak, if memory serves.

Do it! I nearly did this year but chickened out (sorry!) I was too worried about foxes. The eglus look great though.

We had chooks for five years, in an Eglu with an extension section in their run, which was on some slabs and some woodchip.

Our garden is not huge, but we sectioned them off an area to run around in. They do dig, make dust baths and poop liberally.

We never, ever had: rats, mites, scaly legs, fox attacks or excess noise. We did have great fun with them and delicious fresh eggs.

If I could have seasonal hens, in the spring and summer, I'd have them again in a heartbeat, the winters of muddy poop, damp miserable hens and going out in all weathers to see to them put an end to our hen-keeping, but we might have them again one day.

Re scraps, you can feed your poultry veg scraps if these have never been in your kitchen. So if you process your allotment veg in your utility room, the scraps can go to the chooks. It's to stop cross contamination with pathogens in other foodstuffs.

Foxes are bloody cunning and determined, but sometimes you can keep chickens for years and never be bothered: it depends where you are and how bold or hungry the local foxes are.

Be prepared, as others have said, for cleaning out, mites and bare soil. I have never found chickens particularly noisy, but to be fair I've never had to sleep right next to them.

Also remember that they are basically small dinosaurs with feathers who can be bloody savage to each other.

We had four hens, bought a hen house on legs with a ramp and did a lot of research. DS was a young farmer at the time and had a lot of prior knowledge. The hens were so gorgeous and were wonderful layers. Feed was kept in bins and we were fastidious in their maintenance. Alas, they were quite vocal in the mornings which was ok in the summer months but in the winter months it was disturbing to our neighbours. We placated them with free eggs . Although the hens had a huge coup/ run they would make an enormous noise if they weren’t let out to free roam.
It was so lovely to have a weed free garden but the lawn did suffer. As to rats... never saw them till we had the hens ; I think they’re attracted to the eggs as well as the feed in their run. We loved them dearly but we could see the disadvantages of keeping them in a suburban garden very quickly. We didn’t have holidays and only spent a few nights away as we were reliant on DS’s friend from farm to look after them. Many of our friends were a tad fearful of them.
We always had to keep our back door closed as the hens would wander into the house ( we usually always keep our back door open.) One afternoon I’d stupidly decided to pop to the corner shop and thought they’d be ok as foxes never appeared in full daylight... you can guess what greeted me on my return , but a few minutes later.
Sad to say, we did mourn the loss of our beloved chooks but somehow we didn’t feel the desire to replace them as the disadvantages outweighed the advantages. ( And the neighbours were rather relieved!)

I've kept chickens and ducks in my suburban garden for over 10 years, my neighbours love them and the free eggs, they only smell if you dont clean up after them, same as my dog and two cats, never seen a rat?

We have a very small garden with a terraced house in a fairly densely populated area and have plenty of space for two hens. We keep them in their own space though as they will dug up every plant you have and poo all over the lawn.
The lady a street over with three cockerels and a breeding programme is WAY more annoying.

Bloody foxes OP thread carefully

Also worth noting they slow down laying in the winter, eggs are few and far between. In warmer months they will lay an egg every day or two, so with three chickens you'd get likely about nine or ten eggs a week during the warmer months. Not really a big haul to share with the neighbours.

As said for me it's the sheer volume of shit, the work, and I guess cost, involved in keeping them and the cleaning up after them, the mess they will make of the ground, you will need to be scrupulous with your kids hygiene, and the land will be totally barren , and the fact you need holiday cover, someone to look after them, rather than the noise, but they are not in close enough proximity to my house for me to comment on that, I think if right next door it would be an issue.

My neighbour had to put an electric fence round hers, as the foxes will dig under given the chance and get in, and minks, which are more common than you'd think, kill them for sport. By decapitation.

Chickens will also dig under the fence to get out. I've often had chickens escape into my garden and catching them is a pita.

A friend of mine was desperate for some, had always been her dream apparently , and was moving to a rural location, so I took her to next doors, as I look after them about two months of the year, and it put her right off when she realised the mess they make.

Also to be honest, I really can't tell that much difference, if any, from a freshly laid egg and a supermarket one. I'd challenge anyone to do a blind taste test and be able to spot the difference.

My mum does and has done for years!x

Both sides to us have had chickens. One had a fox attack and she was in the coop with the fox and the chickens and couldn't stop it. We've had rats running around too. However - no smell and no noise except for 1 particular hen who would celebrate each egg with her "I have had an egg" song which was brutally loud - she'd also kick off about various other things that excited her. She was the only one that I could hear.

I think the best idea may be to just moot the idea in front of our neighbour and gauge her reaction

If your neighbour is called Margot - I don't think it will go well . . .

You can put a light inside the coop on a timer if you want more eggs in winter, it works well. Ours laid an egg daily. One laid more than once on some days, we never could figure out which one it was.

I'm not saying it's a sensible law, but I thought it was a good idea to mention it because not everyone would know.

Yes, I did mention that in my post earlier because so many "backyard" (as opposed to professional) chicken keepers don't realise this.

Re winter laying, it also depends on the breed. If you've got the common Warrens, (the ginger/brown girls, often ex-batts) they've been bred to lay year round, with just a break of a few weeks while they're going through moult in the autumn.

However, the pure breeds tend to lay less. Some of ours, only laid for a couple of weeks (Silver sebright, they're tiny, smaller than a pigeon!) others laid everyday throughout the spring and summer, but took a break during the winter.

Chicken keeper here
Chickens are fab. Hens only make noise when laying eggs and that's not noisy
Rat's are everywhere, anyway. Not just if you have chickens!
Get chickens if your deeds say its OK.
Be aware they are livestock so you need to follow the rules on the Defra website

Also it's illegal to feed chickens anything that's has been inside your house. Even if you haven't unwrapped it from the supermarket. If in doubt, keep anything you want to feed them outside at all times

Oh and bear in mind that the fox won’t always just take one chicken, it’ll usually kill the lot to save for later. That’s not a pretty sight to come home to.

I used to keep chickens in a garden, although rural rather than suburban. Once I'd fixed up the fences sufficiently to keep them out of neighbours' garden they were no trouble, but cleaning out the chicken house was vile: I'd end up covered in red mites. Remember that all animals carry parasites (lice, ticks, fleas, etc.) and they'll get on you, too.