Hello Everyone - Is it acceptable to leave hens and cockerels without housing, forcing them to find a roost in trees?

[CaroleW]

You could make noise complaints on the roos and the location so near your residence. I don't know if you have ordinance for that where you are.

Many urban or suburban US towns have ordinances about where you can site your coop relative to neighbors homes and that you can't keep roos. I know a friend in Prescott Arizona near me who had to get rid of roos for noise complaints (I took one).

 

[KittyO]

Am I right in guessing that you have a neighbor or neighbors who keep chickens without shelter and that you want to report them for cruelty and force them to provide shelter for their birds?

We do have individuals in the U.S. in diverse climates who keep birds outside without shelter, letting them roost in trees overnight. Most of them tend to be in the warmer, more southern areas, though. Some of them are members of BYC, but not many.

I had to look up the Pennine Range to find out more about your climate. Wikipedia says that the climate "...is generally temperate like that of the rest of England, but the hills have more precipitation, stronger winds and colder weather than the surrounding areas." It does tend to depend which side of the Pennines in terms of precipitation, since there is a rain shadow on the eastern side. However, it was clear that winters are harsher there, and it provided the following average temperatures over a 30 year span:

View attachment 3242305


There are two aspects, both the weather and the exposure to predators. I don't know what your local RSPCA would consider about it, but most folks here would think it was poor judgement, and poor care of the chickens. I am not sure that a scatter of opinions from a social network of chicken lovers will move your local authorities, but... good luck!

Welcome to Back Yard Chickens, in case you are sticking around.

Thank you, I agree with you, but add it can get very cold and snows every year closing the country lanes for a few days. We have seen the hens covered In snow in the trees frozen and their water frozen and crying> Not a lot we can do. Have spoken to his wife a primary school teacher, it beggars belief she chooses to accept the situation but looks nonplussed when you talk to her. I did think she might go away and look up the keeping of poultry but no. We are not complaining about the birds during the day, although we feel sick at how they are kept, we are complaining about the noise that has gone on for upwards of three months from the early hours of the morning. It is unrelenting. A similar case in Wales, and we feel our evidence is stronger, cost the owners of their cockerels £6000 in the end, but it took two years. I add the money would not come to us nor is about money, it is about sleep and livestock.

 

[janiedoe]

I am sticking around, I have used the site on and off for years for health issues etc. Getting through to the RSPCA was a no no, Covid back log and dog high priority.

Have you tried Peta? That may take some time too, but at least you will have some documentation.
Noise complaints, health issues due to rodents could probably be addressed via code enforcement in your area. I wish you the best...and those birds too.
You might also consider a "letter to the editor " addressing animal health and welfare. It might at least make the ball roll faster.

 

[KittyO]

You could make noise complaints on the roos and the location so near your residence. I don't know if you have ordinance for that where you are.

Many urban or suburban US towns have ordinances about where you can site your coop relative to neighbors homes and that you can't keep roos. I know a friend in Prescott Arizona near me who had to get rid of roos for noise complaints (I took one).

We are trying that route but our Council is slow to the point of dead stop and we are seriously struggling without sleep. We have both pranged our cars recently, one on a gate and the other on a bollard, and the last time we had any sort of accident was decades ago. A recent article in all major newspapers looked at research showing 50+ with too little sleep suffer more heart attacks and strokes, plus, yes, for real, have more road accidents. We will add this as evidence to the portfolio, not mentioning our cars as that would only give the neighbour a good deal of pleasure. I just wanted to know the view of others re the quality of life the birds are experiencing. If we lived in Texas someone might have been shot, the cockerels or the owner or both

 

[KittyO]

Have you tried Peta? That may take some time too, but at least you will have some documentation.
Noise complaints, health issues due to rodents could probably be addressed via code enforcement in your area. I wish you the best...and those birds too.
You might also consider a "letter to the editor " addressing animal health and welfare. It might at least make the ball roll faster.

PETA good idea will take a look. When you say letter to editor, editor of this site or some other editor?

 

[KittyO]

PETA good idea will take a look. When you say letter to editor, editor of this site or some other editor?

I assume you mean editor of PETA.

 

[Boppo]

It seems chickens get short shrift with humane authorities and vets world wide. Best wishes.

 

[Perris]

Thank you for all your replies and so promptly really appreciated.

Our two bantam boys are kept separately with their own girls - mainly bantams, plus four hens not overly big. Both have a toasty indoor run with room to move around. Both have separate outdoor runs with covered roof, and both have a further outdoor run with netted roof covering. No predators getting close to my babies, spoilt rotten.

Unfortunately, cannot say the same next door, their surroundings are pretty dire. We struggle with vermin because their food is not put away...

We have placed our poultry well away from our bedroom windows and four times as far from their bedroom windows. They have placed their 3 cockerels and 7 hens within 10 feet of our bedroom windows. Two of the cockerels became adults this year. Three cockerels with too few hens competing all day and early morning need I say more.

They are all roosting in the pine trees and start crowing from 2.20am, presumably when they see a predator as it stops ten minutes later. Picks up again at 3.20am and lasts 10/20 minutes. Then all hell breaks loose around 4.10am and it never stops. We have suggested they should be housed. Provided neighbour with Council website information. They have ignored our request, ignored the council request, and now we have no choice but to take it further. It could take months.

Monday we gave him three days Notice in writing that we would take it further if not addressed. We mentioned cruelty under the Animal Welfare Act 2006 that turns out to be nothing more than lip service. That evening he placed a ladder against one of the trees. We thought he was going to attempt to remove the cockerels that roost early because it is dark in the enclosed space.

Three plus sides are trees and the only place where there are no trees is directly outside our bedroom window. The hens were still there come the morning. I thought he would attempt to move them last night, but no, it seems the ladder is for the poultry to climb to make it easier for them to get into the trees and negate the claim of cruelty. Now as we all know they are not going to literally climb a ladder and if they do by some miracle it will make a good YouTube video. If they did get to the top they would still be left with their half-fly attempts to find a perch and needless to say every night they panic and squawk. I could say more but I have probably bored everyone rigid. We I will add we held off for quite a while for the sake of the birds but now lack of sleep is seriously taking its toll.

you may have more success by bringing a noise complaint. The council will measure the decibels and times and decide accordingly.
Reading on, I see you're trying this route. Can you use a smartphone to record it and send that as an attachment to the enforcement dept. to jolly them along?

 

[DobieLover]

Hello and welcome to BYC! Glad you joined.

I know many people who permit their chickens to roost in trees. Many chickens prefer it.
I think your strongest argument for change is the noise. Find out if there is a noise ordinance in place as tackle it that way. If your lack of sleep is affecting your work performance, you could use that to further support your case.
Good luck!

 

[KittyO]

It seems chickens get short shrift with humane authorities and vets world wide. Best wishes.

Thank you. Will keep you all updated if and when something is sorted.