Neighbor complaining about noisy hens; what can I do?

[frogeyed]

I'm curious, since the white chicken was the one making the noise, why didn't you give her away and keep the smaller, quieter chickens? Also, is she all alone now? Chickens are social animals, she may not do well if she's completely alone. May start making noise to complain...

I would have kept the smaller chickens, but my mom was the one who took the smaller ones. I didn't have any say in it. :l

I do have some younger chickens, but they live in a separate coop with their own fenced off space for wandering / scratching / etc. I don't want to put them with my white chicken yet because I'm afraid she (white hen) will start to boss them around. When the chicks are a little older, I'll try to introduce them to my hen (unless you might know of something I can do to get them to be nice to each other).

There's an english spot rabbit that lives in my backyard who loves to be around the white chicken. She's kind of lonely, since she would try to sit around any bird that comes in my yard.
My chicken doesn't mind the rabbit, and the rabbit doesn't mind her. They occasionally go around with each other, and the rabbit tries to "groom" the chicken (she stops and tries to lick at the chicken's feathers or face) or sleep next to her.

 

[SurferchickinSB]

Talk to your town's animal control. In our town, that's who oversees animal ownership and all animal matters, whether wild or domestic. They are the bridge between animal owners and the police. Before you do anything with the police, go through animal control first. They are more sympathetic and will understand your particular situation better. So contact them and ask them specifically what your town's regulations are, and if your neighbor even has grounds to complain. Often, noise ordinances have specific guidelines, like times of day or decibel levels. There are so many worse noises in a city/town to complain about that I highly doubt the police will waste their time with a couple of chickens. In my town, whenever there's an animal-related noise complaint, the animal control officer goes to the property to assess the situation firsthand, and see if it's really enough to justify the complaint. Oftentimes she will talk to the neighbors and explain that the noise isn't loud enough or persistent enough or whatever to merit a fine or getting the police involved, and will suggest remedies like to keep their windows closed certain times of day when the noise happens (like if the hens lay mostly in the morning). Just because the neighbor threatened with a fine, doesn't mean you'll get fined. They're not the ones who decide you deserve a fine, after all. And definitely do mention any barking dogs, revving engines or other neighborhood noises, especially if said neighbors are also guilty of noise (loud music, anything you can think of).

Unless it's a rooster crowing, I really don't think neighbors complaining of hen noises have any grounds for serious action, they're just trying to scare you with empty threats.

Totally agree!

 

[pennyJo1960]

A rabbit is not the same to her chickens are social creatures it is not fair to keep her alone without other birds I am sorry to say that

 

[K0k0shka]

@frogeyed aww, that sounds adorable! I hope the chicken and the rabbit remain good friends and keep each other company. And I hope your complainy neighbor chills out Good luck!

 

[frogeyed]

Yet another "update"; my mom had me and my dad take my last (adult) chicken over to my friend's house. The place they're keeping the chickens is terrible; it's just a shabby chicken wire fence pinned up against a stone wall, but there's no "roof" / cover, and no coop / roost for them. And there's no bedding or straw or anything, just dirt. They don't even have a proper thing to keep their food in. I said some wild animal could crawl in there and kill the chickens overnight, but of course nobody really cared or said it mattered.
I wouldn't even be surprised if the chickens do get killed. It's out of my control. I'm not an adult, so I can't really do much else at this point. If I were old enough to live on my own, I would have done something, but I can't. I only have two younger chickens now, and one's clearly a rooster, so he's going to be "rehomed" once he starts crowing.

Apparently my mom wanted me to give ALL my chickens to my friend (by that I mean my friend's parents). She always hated how the chickens pooped a lot, and she'd complain about flies and everything the chickens would do (despite having a farm with a ton of "smelly" farm animals in the Philippines). I'm starting to believe it was my mom who wanted the chickens gone, in the end, despite her always agreeing with getting chickens a long time ago. Maybe it's because it costed to have to go out and buy food and medicine and all that other stuff for the chickens.

I'm so used to losing chickens at this point that I'm technically numb to it. That doesn't mean I'm not going to be really bitter about it (though I'm not going to bother anyone about it now).

 

[ShannonR]

I'm so sorry, friend. Chickens are amazing creatures. It hurts me that you don't feel like your mom was on your side in this episode. All I can offer for comfort is to say that I hope your chickens do okay in their new home. Also, I hope this teaches a lesson for your own future about standing up for yourself in these bad neighbor situations. Sorry again.

If it were my son in this situation I would have reacted far differently. My boy loves chickens and I hope he continues to do so for the rest of his life.

 

[frogeyed]

I'm so sorry, friend. Chickens are amazing creatures. It hurts me that you don't feel like your mom was on your side in this episode. All I can offer for comfort is to say that I hope your chickens do okay in their new home. Also, I hope this teaches a lesson for your own future about standing up for yourself in these bad neighbor situations. Sorry again.

I'm hoping in the future I'll be able to live in the country, so I have no neighbors to deal with. I've always had to deal with my mom being stubborn when it comes to things like this. I'm not trying to be disrespectful or "rebellious" to her, it's just that she hates when anyone disagrees with what she wants or insists on.

I still have two chickens (which will end up being one soon), and I guess I'll have to just take care of those instead, though none of them were really like my white hen, who seemed to be the one who was "closest" to me.

 

[ShannonR]

Oh, one more thing. Possible to move your coop to the chickens' new home, or no? You could at least maybe improve their lives a little bit with some shelter and comfort.

 

[ShannonR]

I'm hoping in the future I'll be able to live in the country, so I have no neighbors to deal with. I've always had to deal with my mom being stubborn when it comes to things like this. I'm not trying to be disrespectful or "rebellious" to her, it's just that she hates when anyone disagrees with what she wants or insists on.

I still have two chickens (which will end up being one soon), and I guess I'll have to just take care of those instead, though none of them were really like my white hen, who seemed to be the one who was "closest" to me.

I guess the remaining chickens are something to be grateful for! I can't speak to the mom issue, only offer a deep apology from a fellow Mama.

 

[frogeyed]

Oh, one more thing. Possible to move your coop to the chickens' new home, or no? You could at least maybe improve their lives a little bit with some shelter and comfort.

I don't think I could. I can try to ask my mom to have her dad build another one over at my friend's house (he's the one who built the one I have now), but I don't know if anyone has the time for that...
I'm really upset that they didn't have anything proper for the chickens. I had asked my mom several times if they (my friend's parents) had a place for the chickens to stay, and she just kept saying "yes", probably just to get me to shut up about it...

By the way things look, they're probably going to eat the chickens, due to how shabby a place they're being kept in, which is something I've been dreading.

Anyway, I don't want to bring up any of my family issues here, since it may come off as annoying and irrelevant, but it's because of my mom's decisions that I had come here for help in the first place. It was my reason to be concerned for my chickens.