Got a suggestion for super-quiet hens in a small-lot suburb?

[that neighbor lady]

Hello! I am that one neighbor lady who works nights and really just can't have a lot of noise next door. I've been in my house for 20 years and had lots of neighbors, including neighbors with dogs and young children, but never had a chronic noise problem before the current neighbors, who also want chickens.

The current neighbors have a sweet but extremely loud child -- think "sleep wearing noise-cancelling headphones with white noise playing and earplugs and they can still wake you up when backyard-shrieking next door." They're also not people who respond well to requests for...just...some stable quiet times. We have 1/8 acre lots -- my house is literally feet from theirs. If the guy is outside on his phone he's basically in my house, I can hear every word with the double-glazed windows closed.

We have a backyard chicken ordinance that currently requires all neighbors to give consent, and I think roosters are not allowed, hens only. I've no idea what the others have said, but given how the chicken-wanting neighbors respond to "please, please can I have some quiet sometimes," I'm not keen on making next door even noisier, so I've said no.

If there's a breed that's actually quiet -- remember, we're not out in the country, we're in a small metro city with small lots and thin walls -- think a 40' x 60' backyard, so basically a practically silent bird, actually silent would be ideal -- I'd say right on, do it, eggs and fertilizer are great. But they're not great enough to substitute for enough sleep and the ability to work.

There's some possibility the neighbor-consent rule will be brought up again soon here and I want to be prepared.

TIA for your suggestions --

 

[saysfaa]

Unfortunately, no. I looked into this extensively. Individuals may be quieter than normal but there would be no way to pick them as chicks or, probably, as adults. Even getting them from someone who knows their flock well enough to know who is the quietest wouldn't do it unless, maybe, you took the entire flock. This is because sometimes how quiet an individual is depends on where she ranks in the pecking order.

I'm still not sure if some breeds are quieter than others. I see some recommendations sometimes but they are usually anecdotal based on very small numbers of individuals and not consistent (as in a given breed will be on the quieter list at one source and the louder list at another source).

Quiet was one of the two most important criteria for me when I chose my chicks and they make noise about 100% of daylight hours. Most of the time it is murmuring and I can't hear it more than a few feet away. But if anything unusual happens, they will tell me (or each other) all about it - that is about the volume level of people talking (average volume of people talking to someone next to them; not whose voice just booms or shrieking children). Their version of exclamations are about twice that loud; they do that much of the time my husband spends with them, rarely in the time I spend with them, and rarely to often in the time they are alone with each other. I'm deliberately slow and calming when I am with them; he is not; when neither of us is there, it is usually about pecking order so if often when that is being established or changed and not much when it is established. Or when they are chasing a bug. When they laid an egg for the first month or so, they yelled/shouted and I can hear them up to about 50 feet away but not from inside the house (about 60 feet away) even with the windows open. That seems to have toned WAY down; now I can hear the egg song up to about 20 feet away, and it lasts a few minutes instead of ten or fifteen... they have been laying for about a month after the stopped for a month for winter.

My nearest neighbor spends a lot of time on her deck (150 feet from my coop) and did not know I had chickens until I showed them to her over six months after I got them... no shrubbery between us but there is a ten foot elevation change (both buffer noise).

Humidity will change how far sound carries, I live in a climate on the damp side of average but closer to average than really humid.

Hope this helps... sorry it is so long but it is the kind of description I wanted when I was trying to figure out if my chickens would be noticed by my neighbors.

 

[littledog]

A small flock of 3 or 4 hens who all get along will definitely make minimal noise, compared to playing children, people on their phones near your window, or even cars on a nearby street.

 

[McChooky]

"I've been in my house for 20 years and had lots of neighbors, including neighbors with dogs and young children, but never had a chronic noise problem before the current neighbors" .

Just say no(as kindly as possibly!)

 

[HiEverybirdy]

I would a million times over prefer the chattering of chickens to a barking dog or outside-voiced child. Chickens do talk all day. Maybe 85% of the time it's so low you won't hear it from 15' away. However, sometimes a hen wants to announce when eggs are laid or about to be laid, and those noises carry.

They won't outdo a dog or screechy human, but if you're trying to sleep, you could be put out for a bit. Some type of basic sound barrier or hedge between your house and the flock could probably fix it.

All of that said, I adore their sounds and am one of those, "we should all have the right to raise our own food" people. Plus, keeping chickens can better connect us to the true costs of our food, the complexity of other animals, and where we fit in the world, things I think humans desperately need. But we all don't have to die on the same hill, and it does sound like your neighborhood is a little tight.

 

[NatJ]

If there's a breed that's actually quiet -- remember, we're not out in the country, we're in a small metro city with small lots and thin walls -- think a 40' x 60' backyard, so basically a practically silent bird, actually silent would be ideal -- I'd say right on, do it, eggs and fertilizer are great. But they're not great enough to substitute for enough sleep and the ability to work.

There is no breed that can be counted on to be quiet, especially not at the level you are talking about.

Some breeds in general seem to make more noise than others, but I think even the "quiet" ones would probably be too much for what you've described.

I think you should continue to say "no," especially given the small lot sizes and the fact that you can hear a spoken conversation even with your windows closed. Some houses block sound more effectively than others, and apparently your house is not one of the "good" ones in that respect.

 

[Flockincrazy]

Hello! I am that one neighbor lady who works nights and really just can't have a lot of noise next door. I've been in my house for 20 years and had lots of neighbors, including neighbors with dogs and young children, but never had a chronic noise problem before the current neighbors, who also want chickens.

The current neighbors have a sweet but extremely loud child -- think "sleep wearing noise-cancelling headphones with white noise playing and earplugs and they can still wake you up when backyard-shrieking next door." They're also not people who respond well to requests for...just...some stable quiet times. We have 1/8 acre lots -- my house is literally feet from theirs. If the guy is outside on his phone he's basically in my house, I can hear every word with the double-glazed windows closed.

We have a backyard chicken ordinance that currently requires all neighbors to give consent, and I think roosters are not allowed, hens only. I've no idea what the others have said, but given how the chicken-wanting neighbors respond to "please, please can I have some quiet sometimes," I'm not keen on making next door even noisier, so I've said no.

If there's a breed that's actually quiet -- remember, we're not out in the country, we're in a small metro city with small lots and thin walls -- think a 40' x 60' backyard, so basically a practically silent bird, actually silent would be ideal -- I'd say right on, do it, eggs and fertilizer are great. But they're not great enough to substitute for enough sleep and the ability to work.

There's some possibility the neighbor-consent rule will be brought up again soon here and I want to be prepared.

TIA for your suggestions --

Silkies are quiet even there roosters are quiet crowers I have 8roo's and 48hens and my 3rd shift neighbor doesn't complain

 

[Battlepants]

I'm assuming that this is one of those "once you say yes, you can never go back and say no" situations. I've seen decent array of chicken noises from hens. They are generally much quieter than the roosters, but they are by no means silent. They may luck out and get an all quiet crew, but this is a gamble that you will be stuck dealing with if it goes sideways. From this, I would offer a firm (but as nice as possible) no.

Also, they have a kid on a 1/8th acre lot. They need to get the kid a playset or a bike or something, not burn the small lot on chickens. Tiring the kid out might do wonders for the noise level.

 

[Acre4Me]

Salmon Faverolles are the MOST CHILL chickens. Very quiet, are not opinionated or bossy. Of course, could get the exception, but we have had SF from 3 sources… all chill and very laid back and quiet. We love their look, and we’ve tried 3x to keep them, but they are TOO chill for our flock. If picked on, they would sit and take it -always. Not even move away. Our flock is mixed and we dont keep really opinionated/aggressive girls, but still, the SF were not a good fit bc they were so laid back.


Noisy ones: avoid in tight quarters, like your neighborhood. Most chickens can be noisy, any male WILL crow, but some girls just gotta talk …and talk…and talk. Oh, and they need to sing the egg song along with the one that laid the egg, then they sing it when the next one lays an egg (and so on). We’ve had some that almost seem to be in a trance…stand in same spot and cackle and talk for 10-15 min straight! Loud enough for us to investigate to see if there is something wrong (but, no, just talking their heads off loudly). But, there’s no way to know who will be talkative like that.

We’ve had many breeds…many! SF have been the quietest. Many Easter eggers are quiet, but we’ve had some noisy ones. Black Jersey Giant girls have all been quiet too.

Overall, with such small lots and needing to sleep during the day, I’d say no bc it will be hard to get them removed once there. And the chances of having talkative girls is higher than getting actually quiet chickens.

 

[that neighbor lady]

Wow! I really appreciate the array of responses here.

Yeah, if it were a "try it and see" sort of thing -- and if they hadn't already proven to be so "our kids are perfect, how dare you" about noise -- I'd be open to it. I mean I grow a good deal of my food, get my electricity from my roof, I'm all about sustainability. But given the reactions so far about noise...I've asked three times for some quiet. The first time the guy was all "oh of course, very sorry", the second time he was the pandemic housedad and pretty strung out, and he got all bristly, agreed to keep two hours a week scream-free so that I could teach my online classes (my students could hear them through zoom), and then ignored his promise, also got very touchy about the idea that yeah, he's really audible on his phone. The last time he rage-pruned my apple tree. (Boughs went over his yard, and I'd said he could prune if he didn't want the apples or ask me to get the tree pruned, but I wasn't expecting this emotional thing with broken branches...it was a mess, I had to get an arborist in.) The wife went all white-noise about it and suggested essentially that I not use my office or bedroom, which are nearest their property. Eventually they did quiet the kids down but now they're super-chilly as neighbors, no hello, nothing. I've shrugged and decided I'd rather have frostiness than that much noise.

One of our city councilors recently adopted the neighbor veto as a cause along with wanting to get rid of the single-family home clause, so I suspect we'll see it come up. In theory I'm really not wild about neighbor vetoes about property use, and a lot of councilors weren't happy about it either when the rule went in. But from what you guys are saying, it sounds like it's pretty likely that yes, the chickens would just add to the noise. (Now if I could get them to swap the chicken noise for the kid/guy noise, I'd be seriously tempted. 0% chance, but what a nice fantasy.)

Maybe, if it comes up, council will be persuadable about lot size and distance from houses. I don't think we have any rules about that right now, but as I look around, I see a lot of towns requiring at least 6000 sqft, some wanting 0.25 or 0.5 acres, a few wanting 1 acre, 5 acres for a rooster. (I get that the one councilor sees SFHs an equity issue, but it's also an equity issue for a duplex or apartment neighbor next to noisy birds.) I think we'd also need a way for neighbors to object to small-lot chickens in a way that leads to permit nonrenewal and that doesn't require a bunch of neighbors to complain -- if a neighbor's health/household/livelihood is being affected by chicken noise or smells, and efforts to work things out aren't working, then the human neighbors take priority.

Also, I hadn't thought about how much room a pen and decent room would take up back there...good point about that. They do have a big playset in the backyard, but I think the guy is thinking cramped quarters. He's also thinking about keeping the chickens in their under-a-bedroom garage during our long frigid winters (!) which just didn't sound great to me, for them or for the birds -- but they'd be living with it, not me.

--------

So I guess I have a followup: you guys know about chickens, what do you think is a decent amount of space for chickens? Like how big do you think a pen should be, per chicken, to keep them happy, and...say you had someone at home who needed quiet, how far away would you want the coop to be from your house so that you weren't hearing the birds early in the morning or through a good chunk of the day? (A lady on youtube was kind enough to record her chickens -- she's got a good big suburban lot, and from 100' away, it sounded like no problem at all. As she got closer, though, wow, those birds were loud, and they weren't even making laying noises, just nattering at each other. She probably had a dozen birds in there.)

Thanks again, and I really appreciate this.