two questions foxes how to keep them away and council (same question)

[narkymum]

I have been told council will take chickens away if there are complaints from neighbours

Not sure about the council and chickens to be honest. I've heard about them telling people to get rid of cockerals but chickens aren't that loud so don't think they would be a problem. Unless you're prohibited from keeping chickens in your area (like on your house deeds or something).

Ehem. Chicken noise. Right. As long as you have made a reasonable attempt at shutting them up, legally this is fine. It comes under best practicable means (of preventing annoyance to your neighbours). The council can only take them away if you have not done all that you can to prevent them annoying your neighbours. The end of the garden is always a good place. Have your chickens been there before the neighbours? This works in your favour aswell as they would have been aware of the noise before they moved in.

Foxes: You can't do anything about these except for a company that will st in your window and shoot them I'm afraid.

Foxes - human hair (pulled from hairbrush) and hung in old stocking or regularly weeing round your chicken coop is supposed to keep them away. But if they're persistent then they won't care a jot. Just protect the henhouse as much as you can and if you have free-range birds then expect to lose them now and again.

Council - I'd say check your house Deeds but avenanaps advice is probably more up-to-date than my knowledge.

its not the noise i have been told they are classed as vermin and attract rats

I don't think they do. Anyway, local council's only emptying bins every two weeks attracts rats so who are they to talk. They are fowl (the chickens, not the council), not vermin. There shouldn't be any rats, might be some if you don't clean them out though.

Chickens attracting rats is a common myth - it's their feed that attracts them if you leave excess grain lying around or let them help themselves from one of those big dispensers.

My friend uses one of these and her garden is crawling with rats. We've had ours about 3 years now, feed them twice a day and although the cats have occasionally brought in a dead rat I've never seen a live one or any evidence of them living nearby.

chickens do make noise and so neighbours may compalin. we preempted by telling veryone and promising them eggs. also pjoned the Env Health people at the council and telling them so they could make a note, the chap was charming and evry excited for us, said he wished more people would have hens...
to keep rats away, put food in tight lidded containers and have hens on concrete. also your compost bin on concrete (we just used slabs) this cleared up our rat problem which we had after we'd first started.
foxes - no idea, as in previous posts we are the vitim of many fox attacks. get a gun maybe? seriously, blokes peeing round teh house, digging huge holes to concrete fencing in under, tiger poo