How to Convince my Neighbor

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How close is your neighbor? "How loud are they" is a relative term.

It will depend on the distance and the noise tolerance of your neighbor. Where I live, chickens, horses, goats, geese and roosters are making noise all of the time. You sort of tune it out or get used to it, I guess.

 

I would start with four. Keep them extra clean, three days a week is sufficient, and they won't smell much at all. They can get kinda chatty, but in general they aren't too noisy... less than a barking dog. This is just me but (as long as chickens are legal where you are) I wouldn't even say anything to the neighbor. Four will be easier to manage and clean up after than eight. Plus you can get used to them easier.

Hope this helps!

 

I think they are VERY NOISY at times. Sometimes they will start clucking and screaming loudly when one is laying an egg. This can go on for a about an hour, and then more if another chicken decided to lay an egg too! This will happen every day and almost any time.

I keep 12 Bantams and the hens are more noisy than the roosters! If they see something unusual, like a large bird fly over, they will scream and make a noise for quite some time afterwards.

They don't smell if you keep their run dry and clean it several times a week.

I advise you just get 3 or 4 at first, and see how that goes. I would just get them and not tell the neighbour. Perhaps they will not annoy her at all. If you go around warning her she might be expecting it to be bad more that it will be.

Good luck. Let us know what you do.

 

I keep my neighbors on either side of me supply with eggs. They never complain about the chickens.

 

In the summer they smelled.You can keep the coop clean,but if they are hanging around the coop the poop will be all over. I move my chickens to the back part of my yard during the summer to avoid the poop smell/fly issue,because there is no way you can go around scooping poop in the lawn like you do with dogs.

As for noise the hens can get noisy at times. If there is any way you can relocate the coop I would.Less worry for you.Afterall if you do it all and your neighbor does complain what will happen? Will you get rid of the hens or move the coop? Better to just build the coop smack in the middle of your yard to be further away from anyone.

I agree in not telling a neighbor unless they ask. Just do it and see what happens. As long as the law permits you should be good to go. As for the numbers I would recommend getting them at one time. I got 6,sold 3,and got 6 added to the 3. The three original HOUNDED the 6 newbies. Then I got a rooster to control all off them,but that just knocked the 3 originals down a peg. 2 from my 3 originals are dead.The last is still mean to the 5 newbies(one died). My long winded pointed is it is easier to just get them as a group.The 5 newbies all hung with each other.The 3 originals hung together.They just did not mix.

You will lose some to disease,predators,and whatever.That 8 will fluctuate.

I gotta say when it was just 3 it was EASY to keep the coop and yard clean.Got eggs every day.Even in the winter.3 is plenty. I only took in extra because my kids class hatched the eggs. I give my neighbors free eggs.Sometimes they pay if I can't get away fast enough,but many times I just give the freebies.We have so many eggs and we just don't eat eggs much,lol.

 

Your first step should be to find out if they are legal and if there are any restrictions. Many towns and cities that allow them have minimum distances from property lines or sometimes from living spaces. And sometimes you are limited to a certain number of chickens. It is best to know what you are working with to start with.

Loud is relative. They will make noise, not just when they lay. Some people like those sounds and some don't. I agree it is best to keep them as far from your neighbors' sleeping areas as you can. Some people work at night and sleep during the day or like to sleep late on the weekends.

I find that the smell comes from moisture. If the poop is allowed to build up, it can get moist and smell. You can control that. But if the weather sets in wet, it is really hard to totally control the smell. You can build a run, fill it with sand, and scoop the poop daily, and get fairly close to controlling it, but when the weather is wet, it is harder. Or you can give them a really large area and they'll spread the poop around where it is not much of a problem, but if it sets in wet, you might still get some problems.

I find the same is prety much true with the flies too. If you can keep it dry, flies should not be a big problem. But if it sets in wet or you allow the poop to build up, you might see flies.

In my opinion, building a coop near someone's sleeping or living area is never a good idea. You are inviting problems.

As far as the number, they are living animals and you can never be 100% sure about how they will react. But it is usually not that hard to addd new chickens if you have plenty of room in the coop and run. If things are tight, it is a lot harder. It is your choice as to which way you go. Either way can be managed, but we each have our different conditions. We don't always get the same results.

 

I agree, your very first step should be to thoroughly research your local ordinances regarding chickens to make sure they are legal, especially if you anticipate any problems from the neighbor. If you're legal, then you don't need to convince your neighbor about anything, as long as you stick to the letter of the law all she could do would be to complain. I did warn my one neighbor that I anticipated problems from that we were planning on getting chickens. I also told him we were planning on getting 15 and having a rooster, so when we ended up getting only 7 it wasn't as bad as he was expecting. He still complained that the chickens were causing mice in his garage last winter, although after setting traps and following up with him he quite sheepishly admitted that he hadn't had any more problems with the mice since talking to me. But he's just one of those guys that would find something to complain about no matter what.

Chickens, even hens, can be loud at times. My neighbor on the corner, the one that has a house between mine and hers, can hear my chickens. She just recently moved from a larger city and at first thought they were geese, but she does seem to appreciate the ambiance. Yes, the girls are loud, but they are not constant. And they generally aren't any more bothersome than any of the barking dogs in the neighborhood. I did get a rooster in October, and so far I haven't heard any feedback from the neighbors on him and his crowing. He sleeps in the garage at night, so that his early morning crowing is less bothersome to the neighbors, but if *I* can still hear him in our bedroom (albeit muffled, he has yet to wake me from the garage but I can certainly hear him if I am already awake) I'm sure the neighbors can probably hear him too. In my town, roosters are allowed so long as they don't violate current noise ordinances. I've known people who have successfully kept roosters, and I've also known people who have had to get rid of their roosters because the neighbors complained. So we're waiting to see how it goes, if the neighbors complain about him he will be out of here.

Smell and flies will definitely be kept down if you stick to a regular cleaning schedule. And you can scoop chicken poop like you do dog poop, in the warmer months when I'm really good about getting out and picking up the dog poop daily I actually pick the chicken poop up too right along side it. Dog poop goes in the trash, chicken poop goes in a separate bucket that gets thrown on the compost pile. But like others have said, keeping things dry is the real key. No matter what, there is an undeniable funk to my run in the spring when it's just so wet and there's nothing I can do about it. Fortunately, that funk doesn't seem to travel very far and I have yet to hear any of the neighbors complain about the smell. I can smell it from a few feet away, but not from across the yard.

 

Adding new members to an existing flock can be extremely difficult. They form very close bonds and do not like new members at all. The new pecking order can be deadly, even with ( or especially with) hens, so beware if your plan is to add. You also have to worry about disease if you add.

 

You are correct. It can be difficult, even deadly, to integrate new chickens. Yet many of us do it a lot and, for some of us, it is practically always pretty easy. I really do think the main ingredient is how much room they have. If my space were limited, I'd worry about it a lot more than I do. We all have different experiences and different conditions.