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Chicken keepers

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Chickens in council house?

40 replies

FeralUnicorn · 18/06/2020 22:41

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 Grin

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 Smile

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

OP posts:
Aquamarine1029 · 19/06/2020 02:05

Please don't allow chickens in your house

Who on earth is daft enough to allow chickens into their house? I've had hens for over 2 decades and they barely make any noise aside from the odd clucking after they lay an egg. As for rats, I have never had this problem.

joystir59 · 19/06/2020 02:12

They are very noisy and their food attracts rats. We had to re-home ours to a farm after complaints from neighbours both sides. We lived in an ex council house with a big garden.

joystir59 · 19/06/2020 02:13

And hens are very noisy! Every time they lay an egg they celebrate with a massive squawk. Ours were much noisier than the rooster

joystir59 · 19/06/2020 02:16

It's unrealistic to say you will pick up 'left over' food. They eat from a feeder all day long. Rats can eat from it too.

joystir59 · 19/06/2020 02:17

If they are free range they will eat every blade of greenery you have.

joystir59 · 19/06/2020 02:20

They require fox proof runs unless you are going to watch over them all day.

joystir59 · 19/06/2020 02:24

If you get a cockerel you must be vigilant about collecting the eggs as otherwise your hens can go broody and sit on them, and they will be fertilised eggs which means you will get chicks. Which is lovely isn't it? Except that you can't sex chicks until they are quite a few weeks old, and what will you do with any baby cockerels? You can't keep more than one cockerel cos they fight. You could kill and cook them. Otherwise you've got a problem, because noone wants cockerels because they don't lay eggs. Just saying

Loopyloopy · 19/06/2020 02:26

A grandpa (treadle) feeder will help keep the rats at bay. Honestly, though, wherever you have human habitation, you have rats. I have trouble understanding how chooks could be a noise issue - I would much prefer my neighbours have chooks than dogs or cats.

ClosedDoors · 19/06/2020 05:52

I had chickens for years OP, hens only.

They are noisy as fuck, in the summer they wake up with daylight so start bokking and doing the egg song at 5am.

They also attract loads of flies, even if you clean up after them every day. If you have a small garden it's a bit of a nightmare. We pretty much stopped using our garden.

And they destroy everything. We had no plants or lawn by the end, the garden looked like the surface of the moon. They had dug holes everywhere and eaten all the grass. Your garden becomes a muddy Glastonbury festival.

They were sweet but tbh I regretted having them. I wouldn't recommend unless you have a huge garden.

ClosedDoors · 19/06/2020 05:56

And we ended up with rats. They burrowed into the run to eat the food.

Chickens pretty much eat, shit and dig. It's extremely hard to keep it nice and tidy.

Gin4thewin · 19/06/2020 06:43

Join a silkie page on fb and i can guarantee you, plenty of people let them in their houses!

Hedgesfullofbirds · 19/06/2020 10:38

Oh dear @FeralUnicorn - I am flabbergasted at the number of 'nay sayers' who are trying to dissuade you! Particularly in view of the hoohaa and furore of a few weeks ago when eggs were in short supply. What could be more natural than having the means and wherewithal to produce your own, rather than having to go to a shop and buy them? Go for it, say I, if you are permitted. And if your neighbours have kids, get them involved and on board - most children love collecting eggs. My lodger's little boy, when he comes to stay, derives enormous simple pleasure from helping to clean out my chickens, feed them, collect the eggs and then (whisper it!) have them for his breakfast, fresh as a daisy and straight from the hen. How natural is that? And chickens are fun, delightful to have around, have their own endearing little personalities and the noises they make are very soothing, apart from the occasional 'how clever am I, I have just laid an egg' clucking. And even that is infinately preferable to barking dogs surely?

Noisy, smelly, destructive, produce lots of waste? Bit like humans really then, only far more useful.

But I forgot - anything natural which has the capacity to impact, no matter how lightly, on humans is treated with suspicion, distrust, dislike, almost fear and lothing; be it ' weeds' in the garden (AKA wildflowers growing where they are not wanted), ants, wasps, spiders, mice, beetles, bats - you name it and people will want to destroy, kill, remove or eradicate it. Are humans, surely the most destructive, pointless and useless species on the planet, so important that everything has to make way for them - even keeping chickens is now considered anathema to many it would seem

Go for it OP - after all, you are not considering keeping guinea fowl or peafowl ( which, yes, because of the racket they make, could be considered unneighbourly), despite being beautiful birds. Are you...?

mumwon · 19/06/2020 10:42

"our" starlings make a big racket plus the "lovely" bird song at 4 in the morning Grin bribe your neighbours with eggs?

bluefoxmug · 19/06/2020 10:46

neighbours a few houses away have 4 chickens.
they make some noise and sometimes at times of they day when you would rather they keep quiet, like 4 am in summer.

tbh I like it, it's a lot less noise than the parakeets and seagulls make in our area.

WhoWouldHaveThoughtThat · 19/06/2020 11:10

If every neighbour bar one has a dog, I wonder how they got round the clause 'that you cannot keep a pet that may make noise'. Maybe they just ignored it - perhaps you could do the same?

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