I need the truth about chicken noise - ASAP

[Over Easy in Adna]

Something to think about:

You give in to your neighbor and decide to put in a nice greenhouse instead. It's 5:33 am and her dog is barking its head off and you can't sleep. You go to get something to eat and all you have in the fridge is stale, store bought eggs.

Bet you wished you had chickens then!

 

[Big Chicken Little]

It does not sound like she is very reasonable and a good neighbor. Forget about her problems and get your chickens. This kind of biddy will always find something to complain about. I have one like that as nothing suits her so being in the country i do as i please because nothing pleases her. Some people are never happy.

 

[Bosque]

I have one like her too. My hen that is into everything is named after her, "Betty!"

 

[msjones]

OP here! We're back from a beautiful camping trip at Mt. Rainier. I've done 6 loads of laundry, and am back to thinking about my chickens.

I am very appreciative of all your responses! It really helps to hear from so many chicken-owners. I only know one other gal with hens here in Seattle.

We are going to go ahead and get the hens, in spite of our neighbor. The plan is to just DO IT. My hope is she'll not notice for a week or so and by then will see that it's not a problem.

She did clarify her concern about her dog. We have LOTS of raccoons around here, and they sometimes seem to get under her deck. The dog goes wacko barking at them, and she thinks he'll do the same for our hens.

Of course, the hens won't be under her deck. And my assumption is that he'll grow accustomed to the hens.

The final question is which location. We have a nice, level spot where our boys' swing set used to be. It's perfect, but it is on her side of the yard. The other site isn't prepped yet. We're taking out 2 messy trees, and will need to level the site, -- that'll take some work.

My husband wants to use the easy site, see how it goes, and move the hens if necessary. He wants to go ahead with the pretty coop we have our eyes on, but I'm inclined to start with a tractor, to make moving them easy if we need to, or if, for some reason, the hens really are a disastrous combination with her durn doggy.

We have one more trip planned this summer, so we're aiming for getting them at the end of the month. I'm going to start another thread for suggestions of quiet, friendly hens. Thank you all for your friendly advice!

~msjones

 

[Metanoia]

I don't think our back neighbours, nearest their pen, even know we have chickens to be honest. My other neighbour knows and thinks it is great! I am lucky

I rang the council before we got them and they said as long as there isn't a rooster and I keep their grain stored properly and area clean there shouldn't be a problem unless I get complaints.

We ended up with 6, though planned to get three. lol

I barely notice our hens and don't think they make a noise our neighbours could hear. They are quite talkative up close, but I wouldn't call it loud.

Goodluck!

 

[Rising_Phoenix]

The only problem we have had with a neighbor here was when one of our chicks turned into a rooster and started crowing but there is no law in our town that forbids roosters so we just unplug our house phones, and sleep soundly while she can't sleep all our other neighbors love our chickens and the free fresh eggs they provide. And the one neighbor is the one who complains when our dogs go out to go to the bathroom at 1 P.M. and bark once. Can't please everyone. If you are within your cities law I see no problem. On the dog issue one of the neighbors has a boxer that was crazy over the chickens at first but now they can walk right along the fence where he sleeps and he doesn't bother them one bit. And on where to put the coop I would do it in the spot you would have to clear as it's farther away from the neighbors dog so less chance of him noticing them and going crazy may take more work but in the long run will save time and energy. It's not exactly easy to move a whole coop with chickens.

 

[kandoos]

Hens don't make much noise, roosters may do .

 

[dragonlaurel]

You put up with her dog's noise for years.

It needs real training.
I suggest get both. Put the coop further away from her yard. It may be safer for the chickens

in the long run and it shows that you tried to keep the peace.
Then put the greenhouse in the part by her since flat land and less tree roots are a better garden spot. Her dog is also less likely to get upset by the veggies.

 

[Uppity Peon]

I just hope the chicken coop is built like Fort Knox since you have so many raccoons. Perhaps you can trap and get rid of the raccoons and do your neighbor a favor too. Does the neighbor keep dog food outside where the raccoons can get it? She might be creating the raccoon problem.

 

[zoomia]

HEY! I'm in Seattle too!

And I can tell you what you probably already know:

You can keep three fowl on a standard city lot; for every 1000 square feet above the minumum lot requirement of 5,000 square feet, you can keep an additional fowl.

This can be ducks, peafowl, geese or whatever. And please note that this includes ROOSTERS. All these people were telling me you can't keep roos in Seattle city limits. This is false. There is nothing in Seattle Municipal Code that says otherwise, but to be sure, I called the city clerk's office. And yes, you can keep a rooster.

She did add that your neighbor's can complain about the noise. Here is what Seattle City Code has to say about this:

25.08.500 Public disturbance noises.
It is unlawful for any person knowingly to cause or make, or for any person in possession of property knowingly to allow or originate from the property, unreasonable noise which disturbs another, and to refuse or intentionally fail to cease the unreasonable noise when ordered to do so by a police officer or, pursuant to subsection A of this section, when ordered to do so by a police officer or animal control officer. “Unreason-able noise” shall include the following sounds or combination of sounds:

A. Loud and raucous, and frequent, repetitive, or continuous sounds made by any animal, except that such sounds made in animal shelters, commercial kennels, veterinary hospitals, pet shops, or pet kennels licensed under and in compliance with Chapter 10.72 of this Code shall be exempt from this subsection; provided, that notwithstanding any other provision of this chapter, if the owner or other person having cus-tody of the animal cannot, with reasonable inquiry, be located by the investigating officer or if the animal is a repeated violator of this subsection, the animal shall be impounded by the poundmaster, subject to re-demption in the manner provided by Chapter 9.08 of this Code;

As you can see, the law does not treat noise coming from livestock differently than noise coming from pets. Would you ask her opinion before getting a dog? Probably not--even though we all know that the dog barking chain can be a HUGE source of noise. This is about perception.

All this is to say that your neighbor needs to suck it up. I think you're being very nice and considerate, and kudos to you for that. It's always better to be on good terms with neighbors. Ultimately, however, I wouldn't let her opinions interfere with getting chickens if you want them, nor would I let them dictate where on your property you build your coop.