Neighbors have hens and they are NOISY

[Cheeki]

My chickens are right outside my open bedroom windows. Their noise only starts at daybreak and there are times I can go out to total silence because they all nap around a specific time. Even in the beginning their noise wasn't disturbing and I have roosters. Eventually, the only noise I paid attention to were alerts to predators.
There's nothing your neighbor can do to quieten their hens if they're that noisy.

 

[DaisyG2317]

I am on a little over a wooded acre in the country. Can't see my neighbors but can hear their dirt bikes and kids screaming. I figure my chickens and target shooting gallery probably offset their noise

Shrieking kids is by far the worst sound to hear!

 

[Chickens Tired Neighbor]

I am on a little over a wooded acre in the country. Can't see my neighbors but can hear their dirt bikes and kids screaming. I figure my chickens and target shooting gallery probably offset their noise

Shrieking kids is by far the worst sound to hear!

Sounds like a fair trade.

 

[Chickens Tired Neighbor]

We live on a double lot inside city limits of a VERY small town. When we moved here almost exactly a year ago, we made friends with our neighbors on both sides. All went well until we brought in a company to build our chicken coop and run. "What's THAT going to be?" asked our neighbors to the east. "A chicken coop and run!" we said. "Oh no, it's going to stink! It's going to reek of ammonia! I used to live by a person who had chickens and we had a horrible ammonia smell all the time! Can you put it on the OTHER side of your property?" Well no...we couldn't. We explained about the deep litter method and how we would make sure there wasn't a smell. "IT WILL STINK!" was the lady's last word. We invited her over when it was done and the chickens had been in it for a few months. She admitted that no, there was no smell. Then, when it was being built, "Your chicken coop is going to block out all the sun from our cabana!" (what??) And of course, it did not. Next was "We are being bitten to death by mosquitoes! They must be coming from your place." We explained that no, we patrol our yard every day for any standing water and there are mosquito dunks in our little ornamental pond. We sit out in the evening and never have any bites. Still, there were complaints made about "standing puddles" in front of the house, even though they were only 'standing' until the rain stopped, then they vanished. However, in the name of neighborly peace, we got someone to come in, re-grade, make a new drain, and put down gravel. The latest thing was a phone call, first thing in the morning. "We are absolutely infested with flies! We think they're coming from your chickens!" We again invited her over to see that there aren't flies around the coop. Or around anywhere else on our property. Deep litter method means no wet poop or anything to draw the flies and it works really well. The run is dry and fly-free. Also, because we have 2 small dogs, the yard gets walked nearly every day with a dog-poop picker-upper. We have no swarms of flies in the yard...only the normal amount that you'd run into if you have a yard you spend time in. The latest thing...? They nailed up two fly-trap things on their fence, overlooking our yard.
Why am I telling this long story? Well, the moral is this: Now we don't talk to them any more. Instead of going over and hanging out with them, giving them fresh produce from our gardens, and being good friends...we see them as people who are trying to make trouble with us and are going to continue to do so. Never mind their barking dog, their late night cabana parties, their live-music birthday parties and their pool parties in which many invited children yell and scream for hours...
So, give careful thought to how you approach your neighbors, is my advice. Do you want to be on good terms with them, or become enemies? We're lucky in that our flock is very quiet, but when 3 of the eggs I hatched out turned out to be roosters...we ate them as soon as they started to crow. We've done everything we can to please these folks, short of getting rid of our birds and tearing down the coop and run, which we aren't going to do. We have train tracks behind our house and twice daily a train comes by. After a year, I don't usually wake up when it makes its early run - even though the crossing is a block away and it blows its horn several times. I believe that you can get used to a sound if you aren't so angry that you become obsessed with it. Try black-out curtains. They also dampen sound. Play a classical station on a radio while you sleep. Try ear plugs. But as long as you're furious about it, you may find it impossible to ignore.

We live on a double lot inside city limits of a VERY small town. When we moved here almost exactly a year ago, we made friends with our neighbors on both sides. All went well until we brought in a company to build our chicken coop and run. "What's THAT going to be?" asked our neighbors to the east. "A chicken coop and run!" we said. "Oh no, it's going to stink! It's going to reek of ammonia! I used to live by a person who had chickens and we had a horrible ammonia smell all the time! Can you put it on the OTHER side of your property?" Well no...we couldn't. We explained about the deep litter method and how we would make sure there wasn't a smell. "IT WILL STINK!" was the lady's last word. We invited her over when it was done and the chickens had been in it for a few months. She admitted that no, there was no smell. Then, when it was being built, "Your chicken coop is going to block out all the sun from our cabana!" (what??) And of course, it did not. Next was "We are being bitten to death by mosquitoes! They must be coming from your place." We explained that no, we patrol our yard every day for any standing water and there are mosquito dunks in our little ornamental pond. We sit out in the evening and never have any bites. Still, there were complaints made about "standing puddles" in front of the house, even though they were only 'standing' until the rain stopped, then they vanished. However, in the name of neighborly peace, we got someone to come in, re-grade, make a new drain, and put down gravel. The latest thing was a phone call, first thing in the morning. "We are absolutely infested with flies! We think they're coming from your chickens!" We again invited her over to see that there aren't flies around the coop. Or around anywhere else on our property. Deep litter method means no wet poop or anything to draw the flies and it works really well. The run is dry and fly-free. Also, because we have 2 small dogs, the yard gets walked nearly every day with a dog-poop picker-upper. We have no swarms of flies in the yard...only the normal amount that you'd run into if you have a yard you spend time in. The latest thing...? They nailed up two fly-trap things on their fence, overlooking our yard.
Why am I telling this long story? Well, the moral is this: Now we don't talk to them any more. Instead of going over and hanging out with them, giving them fresh produce from our gardens, and being good friends...we see them as people who are trying to make trouble with us and are going to continue to do so. Never mind their barking dog, their late night cabana parties, their live-music birthday parties and their pool parties in which many invited children yell and scream for hours...
So, give careful thought to how you approach your neighbors, is my advice. Do you want to be on good terms with them, or become enemies? We're lucky in that our flock is very quiet, but when 3 of the eggs I hatched out turned out to be roosters...we ate them as soon as they started to crow. We've done everything we can to please these folks, short of getting rid of our birds and tearing down the coop and run, which we aren't going to do. We have train tracks behind our house and twice daily a train comes by. After a year, I don't usually wake up when it makes its early run - even though the crossing is a block away and it blows its horn several times. I believe that you can get used to a sound if you aren't so angry that you become obsessed with it. Try black-out curtains. They also dampen sound. Play a classical station on a radio while you sleep. Try ear plugs. But as long as you're furious about it, you may find it impossible to ignore.

I'm afraid a lot of assumptions appear to have been made. I am not picking on the chicken's existence. I made a point that the noise is my only complaint. I feel like giving them three years to adjust and for me and my family to adjust has been generous. I would like to stress again also that this is not me being bothered by an occasional clock or craw. This is hours on end of high-volume hens. I will load some audio that I already have but in the meantime believe me that it is louder than most loud dogs were other neighborhood noises and again it goes on incessantly. Me moving shouldn't be the answer unless I truly am being unreasonable and I am not. They are noisy neighbors all around. In fact they could be described as your neighbors plus the chickens. I'm not being a hypocrite. I have always been a Consciousness neighbor. All those that doubt, please hear me that I am frustrated because of the noise I am not hearing the noise because I am frustrated. Classic chicken b4 the egg here. I get that I am sensitive to it now but the freq alone is excessive too.

 

[tribalacres]

We are chicken people, I don’t think anyone is being malicious or ill willed. We love our chickens, not saying you don’t like chickens, maybe if you posted audio recordings someone could help you on how to better handle it.

If you are not a confrontational person it may be difficult either way (confronting the individual or going to the city). Either way they are going to find out it’s you unless you sent an anonymous letter? Idk. Just a thought.

I agree that after about three years the littlest thing might set you off. I am on a large property but still close to neighbors and I just choose to keep to mine, lol, they have dogs that bark all night long, so I don’t mind when mine do now, ha ha. It kind of works out that way. I am not saying to excuse it but you have to do something even for your families sake

You can ignore it
You can confront it
You can go to the city

I think you know that and am certainly not talking down to you or not hearing your side, I just think after three years it might be time to do something.

I wish you the best....

 

[Chickens Tired Neighbor]

We are chicken people, I don’t think anyone is being malicious or ill willed. We love our chickens, not saying you don’t like chickens, maybe if you posted audio recordings someone could help you on how to better handle it.

If you are not a confrontational person it may be difficult either way (confronting the individual or going to the city). Either way they are going to find out it’s you unless you sent an anonymous letter? Idk. Just a thought.

I agree that after about three years the littlest thing might set you off. I am on a large property but still close to neighbors and I just choose to keep to mine, lol, they have dogs that bark all night long, so I don’t mind when mine do now, ha ha. It kind of works out that way. I am not saying to excuse it but you have to do something even for your families sake

You can ignore it
You can confront it
You can go to the city

I think you know that and am certainly not talking down to you or not hearing your side, I just think after three years it might be time to do something.

I wish you the best....

I agree. It is time. I have been asking for suggestions on how to possibly improve the noise that I can take with me. I thought the best way to speak with them is to come with potential solutions so I am not dumping it on them. It has become muddled with just a few people telling me I am wrong, I am being negative or that it is the same as the other neighborhood noise when it is constant. Thank you for comments but please know, I am not looking to take offense just like I am not listening out for the chickens purposefully. Read the way some have spoken.

 

[Chickens Tired Neighbor]

Welcome to BYC.
You should talk to them. Maybe they could move the coop and run further from your house.
I happen to know that my neighbors love the sound is my chickens but I live in the country (on far less than 5 acres.)

If I asked for that, it'd just be next to another neighbor instead. They run the yard most of the day. Thanks!

 

[Chickens Tired Neighbor]

Welcome to BYC!
Will you please take a video, while you're sitting inside your house, of this chicken noise and upload it to YouTube?

 

[Chickens Tired Neighbor]

Hope the audio works.

 

[humblehillsfarm]

I agree. It is time. I have been asking for suggestions on how to possibly improve the noise that I can take with me. I thought the best way to speak with them is to come with potential solutions so I am not dumping it on them. It has become muddled with just a few people telling me I am wrong, I am being negative or that it is the same as the other neighborhood noise when it is constant. Thank you for comments but please know, I am not looking to take offense just like I am not listening out for the chickens purposefully. Read the way some have spoken.

Unfortunately people are naturally defensive. I'm sorry you've had a few people act that way when you are trying to solve a problem without coming to the worst case scenario (offending your neighbors).

As for the noise, I don't feel it is appropriate to tell anyone to just "get used to it." I was diagnosed as an HSP (hypersensitive person). This invovles a lot of things but one is that I am overstimulated by NOISE (misophonia). It's not all noise, just certain noises, and it varies by HSPs. While chickens don't bother me, clicking, tapping, snoring, and other certain loud noises can put me on edge, and I'll never get used it. I'm not saying you are an HSP, but point is you shouldn't have to, and may not be able to, get used to those noises! Some of us can get used to it, but I understand that we can't all do that.

I had written earlier but my reply was apparently deleted, much to my dismay. I had suggested trying sound dampening curtains to mitigate the noise. The reason why because they help me substantially with my HSP issues, they can dampen noises by as much as 10 dB. I had also suggested (depending on your comfort level with your neighbors) asking if they could put those same type of curtains in their coop because 1) it dampens sound and 2) it could buy an extra 30 minutes or so of darkness to "trick" the birds into staying quiet. Once daylight fully hits though, they will be noisy.

I agree with others (and I didn't think of this) about looking into the possibility of moving the coop a bit further away. My coop is 100 ft from my house and just far enough that I can't hear them from my bedroom or office, but I can from the kitchen. I didn't comb through all of your responses though to see if you indicated this was possible.

I hope that some of the suggestions on here have been useful to you. I think it was very brave that you came here to express your concerns. I wish you the best of luck! As a chicken keeper myself, I feel for both sides of this scenario.