Chickens in council house?

[FeralUnicorn]

We’ve been in our house now for 7 years, there is nowhere in the tenancy agreement saying that we cannot keep chickens.
I have been in touch with the council for advice as didn’t want to go ahead, for them to then say we weren’t allowed to keep them. They have emailed back saying that they won’t allow for chickens to be kept because of noise, now there is a clause under pets, stating that you cannot keep a pet that may make noise because off neighbours, now surely that could apply to pretty much any animal? My kids make more noise than most animals

Does anyone have any experience or advice? I have read conflicting statement re section 12 allotment rules so not sure if this would be in our favour?! I want to get back to them but also want to be ready to argue my side!
TIA

Of and we have a medium size garden and was planing on an omlet, 4 chickens and free ranging whilst I’m at home.

They make a hell of a lot of noise outside and will really upset your neighbours. The rules are there to protect others from selfish neighbours.

They are super noisy, unless you have a detached house with a large garden I wouldn’t

We are on a new estate and i'm pretty sure we're not allowed to keep chickens. It's ridiculous as they only make a noise after laying. Cockerels like crowing but you don't have to have one. Dogs are much more annoying with barking and cats with their crapping in gardens. So it's all wrong. I wish we could afford a cottage with a garden away from anyone who would complain. I can dream.

What!? Hens aren't noisy apart from when they lay an egg and then they kick up a row for about 3 mins. Apart from that they are silent until they see you coming out with potentially some food and then they run at you flapping and clucking with happiness.

Thanks for the replies :)
I have done a bit of research but am absolutely open to others opinions. From what I’ve read hens aren’t actually particularly noisy but cockerels are! We aren’t planning on having a cockerel, but like I said I’m open to others opinions and experiences as I’ve never kept chickens before.

Tbh I can’t see my neighbours being a problem, one side has 2 dogs that I’m pretty sure make more noise than 4 chickens, plus we get on pretty well so I’m sure they’d be ok, the other side haven’t a leg to stand on with the amount of noise they make 24/7. The ones at the end though I would be concerned with? In no way am I selfish person let alone neighbour hence my asking ;)

Can’t imagine the council will be in with that if you’re renting from them.

You aren’t allowed to have them in many private estates where the council can’t put you out of your own mortgage house.

I wouldn’t risk it

ok with that

Were in HA so not quite the same, we emailed our housing officer who came out and said we've plenty of room for chickens and had no problem writing us a letter of permission. He was really good and just said to make sure feed was protected from vermin and to keep them clean and rat free :)

Im not council but in a built up area with a small garden and my silkies dont make a peep. Only 2 lay atm and theyre even quiet doing that. I let them out different times in the morning so they dont get used to one time a squawk to come out

I know plenty of councils that do allow chickens, even our neighbouring council do.
If it said no chickens in our tenancy agreement then tbh I wouldn’t even try and argue it but it doesn’t! Obviously though if the end answer was that we couldn’t than I wouldn’t, hence why I am asking and asked the council in the first place before going ahead.

Again though, a lot have argued that section 12 allotment law also overides mortgaged houses too when there is a stipulation regarding chickens, hence me asking for experiences

I live in a council house and I have 3 rescue hens. I also have an omlet and they free range in the day. I didn't even think to check if I was allowed to be honest as I didn't know that was a thing..I just got them. Mine aren't noisy at all. They cluck if they see me approaching with treats but that's about it, I doubt you could even hear that from inside a house!

Thanks hobbitsmum and gin4forwin :)

It was actually silkies I was hoping to get.
I am going to push it with them as every neighbour bar one and is has dogs and from research they are no more noisy than this.

To an earlier reply, sorry I forgot to add, no we don’t have to have written approval for pets unless in a flat with no garden, we arent, we are house with garden :)

My neighbours chickens make a load of noise when they are let out in the morning. They get all excited and cluck about for ages.

I don't mind tbh it's quite funny. But some people might.

Thanks lavenderlove :)
Pretty much everything I’ve read has said the same. As long as you keep the food out of the way and don’t keep cockerels then everything should be nice and quiet.
Am just hoping others have had the same regarding council :)

Please don't allow chickens in your house - they will make a terrible mess. (I know, because our tenants did this, left, and I had to clean the sh#t off the floor, windows, walls.)

Don't for one second think they are quiet. I had 2 sets of chickens and both were noisy in the morning. The neighbour 2 doors down use to comment how she loved hearing them. I often wondered if she was being sarcastic but I actually don't think she was.

Be careful letting them free range too. They will destroy the garden. Plants will be ruined, grass turned to mush. And you have to be careful of foxes. That's how one of our second lot went- fox right in the middle of the day. We saw it happen and chased it off. It dropped the chicken but it died 30 seconds later of fright.

That said, they are super fun pets and they do have little personalities.

I wouldn’t allow them in the house :) I was going to allow free range within the garden when we are at home and a omlet coop and run when we’re not.

If all else fails with the council then I will wait till we are offered an allotment which should be in the next 1-2 years. Doesn’t really make sense though as it backs on to a HA estate lol

Chickens may be classed as livestock rather than pets, many properties arent supposed to keep livestock according to the deeds, so that would be worth checking. They can be incredibly noisy, particularly first thing on a morning, although I havent kept silkies so they may be quieter. Rats can be an issue, chickens nearly always attract them, so plenty of things to upset neighbours!

Ok thank you neilthebaby :)
I do live on the coast so did wonder if they made a little noise then would they blend in with the seagulls lol seriously am woken at 3 every morning by them

We do have foxes which is why I would only let them free range whilst we are at home.
I do have small veg patches too but would net them :)

I cannot comment on the liklihood of you being granted permission by your landlords to keep them - not an area in which I have any expertise or knowledge. But I have to take issue with the idea that chickens are noisy - yes, mine make happy clucking and crooning sounds sometimes, but it is certainly not an obtrusive or annoying noise, hardly noticeable, especially in comparison to traffic, sirens, human noise, trampolines, aircraft, trains etc. In any event, I am sure that your neighbours would soon become 'noise blind', especially if you were to give them half a dozen eggs every now and again.

It is only a generation or so ago that a huge number of people kept chickens in urban as well as rural settings. Many people kept a pig too, shared the meat with their neighbours when it was killed, and, in return, received produce from the neighbours when they, in turn, had theirs killed. And the kids would stand around waiting for the bladder to have as a football. All considered normal in a more natural, less sanitised and hermetically sealed age - what on earth has happened to disconnect people from their sources of food to such an extent that the idea of chicken keeping induces such horror and extreme reactions?

We have chickens at work and also rats now.

I wouldn't ever want them at hole, the rat man said they are a magnet for rats and it's virtually impossible to prevent it.

Thank you hedges, we do live in a small town so don’t have the traffic etc but we do have the usual sounds of kids, trampolines, dogs etc. I do find it hard to believe that chickens are much louder than this, especially like I said in a previous post, we are coastal and seagull noise is VERY loud.

Daisy, I have read that they can attract rats, as far as I’m aware though this is more to do with food. I wouldn’t leave any leftovers out and would keep all other food in metal bins.

Cockerels are noisy , hens arent, just fairly low level on / off clucking, my dogs are noisier than my hens. So in a town/with close neighbours I'd avoid a cockerel but think hens are ok, ultimately its down to your tenancy agreement whether or not you can have them.