Keeping chickens in gardens - is this unreasonable?

orangeflowers

diystarter7 said:

Hi

When viewed were the owners there and if so did you have a chat re next door as people often do and hat did they say?

Sadly, its their garden and I dont believe it will go down well  (and you have proved that in your post)  if you asked as surely they are aware of their massive garden.

One of our kids onn our road has a big detached house and a pretty big garden as does one of the houses the has a garden backing on our kids side fence. Yes, the massive trampoline is placed  200 foot down the garden about 6 foor away from our kids fence, Thnakfully the neighbours garden is about 4  feet lower  so their 6 foor fence covers it,

Then a friend of ours, they too have a neighbours garden backing on their small garden and the neighbour's garden is a good 150 feet, guess what, a 6 foor hight about about 8 foot is palce a few feet from friends fence with chikcens in it. Not sure if those that own chickens do that kind of thing and feel its like a farm where they wlak through the grss on a cold day to get eggs, not sure

However, only you can decide the way forward
Sorry not sure what else you could do.

Thanks for your reply.  It was the Estate Agents that showed us around, so we didn't have an opportunity to ask. I really appreciate your comments. 

orangeflowers

comeandgo said:

Do their deeds allow chickens to be kept?  Ours dont, not that I’d want to .  Where’s there chickens there’s rats.  The rats eat the chicken food.

I don't know about their deeds unfortunately. But thank you for your reply  We did find a dead rat in our garden when we moved in, so your properly right. Not seen any since though, but we've only been here a few weeks. 

orangeflowers

summer_daze009 said:

Taken from my local council website about keeping chickens but obviously applies nationwide:

What do I need to be aware of under UK nuisance law?

Local councils are legally obliged to investigate any complaints made under the Environmental Protection Act 1990 relating to public health and nuisance issues. With regard to keeping poultry this normally involves noise, odour and the attraction of insects and vermin. In cases where our evidence shows that any of these issues is causing a significant interference with another person’s use and enjoyment of their property we can serve a legal notice on the person(s) responsible for the nuisance requiring action to be taken to stop the problem or face prosecution for non-compliance. With this in mind it is important to ensure that you practice good hygiene and house-keeping not only for the welfare of your hens but also to avoid causing problems for your neighbours.

Thank you! I couldn't find anything on my local council website, but this is really helpful. 

orangeflowers

sheramber said:

You can contact Environmental Health regarding the smell.

Thank you for your reply. I was thinking that too, but I just wanted other people opinions to make sure I wasn't being unreasonable first.

orangeflowers

JReacher1 said:

If they’ve got a garden that is 50m long it does seem slightly rude to put the chickens right by your house. Would imagine the smell will be unbearable as well when it gets really hot in the summer. 

Thank you for your reply. I'm worried about the summer sun too! 

marycanary

As has been mentioned, it is not possible to do or keep anything on your land which is a Statutory Nuisance. See Environmental Protection Act 1990.

79Statutory nuisances and inspections therefor.E+W

(1)[F2Subject to subsections (1A) to (6A) below], the following matters constitute “statutory nuisances” for the purposes of this Part, that is to say—

(a)any premises in such a state as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

(b)smoke emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

(c)fumes or gases emitted from premises so as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

(d)any dust, steam, smell or other effluvia arising on industrial, trade or business premises and being prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

(e)any accumulation or deposit which is prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

(f)any animal kept in such a place or manner as to be prejudicial to health or a nuisance;

comeandgo said:

Do their deeds allow chickens to be kept?  Ours dont, not that I’d want to .  Where’s there chickens there’s rats.  The rats eat the chicken food.

There are rats everywhere not just near chickens, even if the chickens move the rats wont just disappear for a long time

The Prevention of Damage by Pests Act 1949, gives powers to local councils to require the destruction of vermin

4. Power of local authority to require action.

(1)If in the case of any land, it appears to the local authority, whether in consequence of a notice given in respect of the land under the last foregoing section or otherwise, that steps should be taken for the destruction of rats or mice on the land or otherwise for keeping the land free from rats and mice, they may serve on the owner or occupier of the land a notice requiring him to take, within such reasonable period as may be specified in the notice, such reasonable steps for the purpose aforesaid as may be so specified; and where the owner of any land is not also the occupier thereof separate notices may be served under this section on the owner and on the occupier.

Whether you want to complain to the council about your new neighbours is a matter for you.

Nelliegrace

We discussed keeping the hens and then the ducks with our neighbours, and they were enthusiastic. We keep them in their hen house until daylight in Winter and about 7.30 a.m. in Summer to reduce the early morning chatter. The dawn chorus is a lot noisier and a lot earlier and we learn to live with it. The hens do have a short celebration when they lay an egg, but most of the time they just cluck a bit. We dispatched and ate the cockerels we hatched at the first, “!!!!!! a doodle do,” and we didn’t keep any drakes or call ducks which can be very noisy. The council might ban keeping cockerels in urban gardens, but not hens. The ducks alerted us to anything in the garden. 

Our hens are much, much quieter that the neighbours’ children were for many years, and the parents when tempers were short. They don’t kick or throw things over the fence, and they didn’t smash our double glazed back door, by accident, with a pellet gun, or have smelly barbecues, noisy parties, and fireworks. These are all part of learning to live together amicably. 

We wash the Eglu daily, but there is a definite mild poultry smell, even though the compost bins are the covered dalek type. It is not as bad as the cigarette smoker or the vapers, again you have to be tolerant. 

We put the poultry feeder away every evening, and the hens clear any spilt feed. We have rat bait stations, regularly refilled. The neighbours on both sides have overflowing bird feeders, and food scraps in the lawn, so they cannot blame us for any rats. 

We give our neighbours fresh eggs fairly regularly for tolerating our pets. 

orangeflowers

Nelliegrace said:

We discussed keeping the hens and then the ducks with our neighbours, and they were enthusiastic. We keep them in their hen house until daylight in Winter and about 7.30 a.m. in Summer to reduce the early morning chatter. The dawn chorus is a lot noisier and a lot earlier and we learn to live with it. The hens do have a short celebration when they lay an egg, but most of the time they just cluck a bit. We dispatched and ate the cockerels we hatched at the first, “!!!!!! a doodle do,” and we didn’t keep any drakes or call ducks which can be very noisy. The ducks alerted us to anything in the garden. 

Our hens are much, much quieter that the neighbours’ children were for many years, and the parents when tempers were short. They don’t kick or throw things over the fence, and they didn’t smash our double glazed back door, by accident, with a pellet gun, or have smelly barbecues, noisy parties, and fireworks. These are all part of learning to live together amicably. 

We wash the Eglu daily, but there is a definite mild poultry smell, even though the compost bins are the covered dalek type. It is not as bad as the cigarette smoker or the vapers, again you have to be tolerant. 

We put the poultry feeder away every evening, and the hens clear any spilt feed. We have rat bait stations, regularly refilled. The neighbours on both sides have overflowing bird feeders, and food scraps in the lawn, so they cannot blame us for any rats. 

We give our neighbours fresh eggs fairly regularly for tolerating our pets. 

You sound like a lovely neighbour! Wish we had moved next door to you! Since being here, we have not once, seen anyone attend to the chickens. I'm not saying they don't, as I work all day during the week .

sevenhills

We live in a free country, surely people can keep hens. There maybe issues recently around bird flu, but so long as they are well looked after and there is no cockerel, they will be perfectly legal.

MikeJXE

orangeflowers said:

Hi.  I'm just looking for other peoples opinions.

We've just moved into our new house and discovered our neighbours keep chickens, (about 4 or 5 hens we think) next to our house. They have a really big garden, on a corner plot, so only have us as neighbours. There own house must be approx 50m away from these chickens. 

The brick wall at the top of the photo is the corner of my house. My upstairs bedroom window is just out of shot, but inline with the dining room window you can see to the right. The fence is our boundary and then the hut is the chicken coop!  You can just make out one of the neighbours hens in bottom left of the picture. 

There is a distinct odour from here! I can smell them when I walk past and when I open my bedroom window and they are rather loud when laying eggs, which is annoying when it wakes us up! It's not everyday, but it's often enough! 

I have tried politely speaking with them, but they were very abrupt with me, telling me that the chickens were there first! (Not off to a great start!)

Does anyone else think that putting chickens this close to another person's house is weird? I would appreciate some advice. Or is it me just being unreasonable.

I have no issues with the actual chickens. My issue is how close they are to our house.

I will appreciate any replies. 

If I had neighbours like you have I would be inclined to put some nice smelling food at the bottom of my garden, strong smelling cat food or dog food

Perfect for attracting badgers and foxes