Neighbours

[echelon]

Hi there! I'm a newbie, please bear with me!

My husband and I live in a three bedroomed house with a smallish front and back garden. I would love to keep just two chickens and have found that we do have enough room.

I have contacted my local council (I'm in the UK) and they've said that it's not against any rules, but that the neighbours would probably complain and there'd be a risk of attracting rats.

My question is: how would I keep the environment clean enough to prevent rats visiting and what exactly would somebody mean by being a 'nuisance'? I know that chickens cluck, but they'd hardly be having all night parties would they?

What kind of behaviour do they have that might irritate and how much mess/scraping up the garden do they do. We have a small patch of lawn that the guinea-pigs chomp on. We're not posh types who keep an immaculate garden, but I wouldn't want the area trashed if you know what I mean.

Would a small chicken breed be more suitable? We have fencing all around the gardens and I'd be able to clip their wings.

Any thoughts or experiences with neighbours? Would the offer of free eggs buy their silence?

 

[lurky]

With 2 birds you wont have enough eggs to bribe them. I say just do it quietly and maybe a bantam would be a good idea if you dont have much space. Or you could move

 

[peepkeeper]

Be sure to get hens and not roosters. Roosters are the noisy ones and you'll hear from your neighbors for sure. Bantams are one idea, but some can fly. If you go to Mypetchicken.com, they actually have a questionairre that will tell you the best breeds for your situation. If you keep the yard clean and make the coop reasonably predator-proof, you shouldn't have a problem.

 

[SpottedCrow]

Well, since you're across the pond, you wouldn't have to worry about Possums, Skunks, or Raccoons. But you'd still have Foxes, Dogs and Cats.
I would also stick with a bantam pair or 3. They eat less, poop less and are rather quieter.
If you keep the poop cleaned up, then there should be not too big of a worry about smell or rats. Also make sure that you keep the food in a chewproof container lidded container.
They will scratch in a garden. They like to dust bathe and you can have holes in your yard that would rival the Blitz.
A chicken tractor would be a good bet for your yard.

 

[echelon]

Thank you so much for your replies.

I'm sorry, I don't know what a chicken tractor is!

If they were bantams would we be able to clip their wings?

 

[aimee]

If you check under the "Coop" section of the forum, you'll find lots of different ideas/pictures of tractors.

I have three standard chickens and two bantams. With mine, the two little bantams make a lot more noise then the big girls but it's not very loud and they only make a fuss when I go outside and they want to be with me.

One of my bantams can fly but the only time she does is when she want to sit on my shoulder, or on my DH. My other bantam is a Frizzle and doesn't get much air under him when he tries to fly. I haven't bothered clipping any of my chickens wings.

 

[sara]

Quote:

that made me laugh!

 

[foxtrapper]

An enclosed coop and run keeps the birds completely under control. Free ranging makes it very likely the birds will visit the neighbors at some point in time. A mobil tractor type unit would probably suit you best.

Quiet birds! Obviously, not guinea fowl! A few hens, no roosters. If you find you've got a noisy hen, get rid of her.

No reason to go with a banty unless you want small eggs. They are no less noisy than the full sized birds.

 

[SeaChick]

Chicken Tractor (USA) = Chicken Ark (UK)

 

[V Chic Chick]

Hi there! I'm a newbie, please bear with me!
We all were once!


My husband and I live in a three bedroomed house with a smallish front and back garden. I would love to keep just two chickens and have found that we do have enough room.
I started off in the same situation as you four years ago . . . three bed semi with a small front garden and a medium sized back garden in the suburbs of Bristol.


I have contacted my local council (I'm in the UK) and they've said that it's not against any rules, but that the neighbours would probably complain and there'd be a risk of attracting rats.
Chickens do not attract rats - it's their food that attracts them. To counteract this, I keep their bag of feed in one of the old-style metal dustbins with a thick rubber lid (I'm sure you remember them, they're from before we had wheelie bins). However, avoid plastic, as a hungry rat can chew through that if it's determined. If you can't find a bin like that, then I think Ikea sell some, but they are pink and smaller

My question is: how would I keep the environment clean enough to prevent rats visiting and what exactly would somebody mean by being a 'nuisance'? I know that chickens cluck, but they'd hardly be having all night parties would they?
There more than likely are rules & regs about keeping cockerels - don't. Cockerels are noisy (they don't just crow at sunrise!) and occasionally aggressive. Hens simply cluck quietly (I find the sound quite soothing) and cluck a bit louder when they've just laid their first egg. Keep to the advice above about feed, and clear them out when they start to smell (I find, with my two chickens, in a 3'x3' coop, that it's ~every 1.5 weeks).


What kind of behaviour do they have that might irritate and how much mess/scraping up the garden do they do. We have a small patch of lawn that the guinea-pigs chomp on. We're not posh types who keep an immaculate garden, but I wouldn't want the area trashed if you know what I mean.
I live with someone else who LOVES his lawn, but we came to a compromise, and the chickens have a coop & run that lies along a previously disused flowerbed. It's static, but gets put onto new ground ~every year and the previous ground reseeded, so that we don't get a build up of diseases.


Would a small chicken breed be more suitable? We have fencing all around the gardens and I'd be able to clip their wings.
Bantams lay smaller eggs, but aren't any quieter, and can often fly higher than a heavy breed like a Sussex or Orpington. How high is your fencing? I have seen a hybrid clear a 7' fence, despite having her wing clipped.

Any thoughts or experiences with neighbours? Would the offer of free eggs buy their silence?
We hardly have any gluts of eggs, but our neighbours have been fairly good, and we do give them eggs when we have a glut, as well as keeping them fairly tidy. I've also given them some vegetables, like tomatoes and beans when we have a glut. Talk to them beforehand, and make sure that they know that your chickens aren't going to give them bird flu or chicken pox

Then again, I do have a set of neighbours on one side that have started acting like snobs of late . . . it seems that a teenager dressed in black, and a garden that looks a bit like something out of the Good Life isn't to their taste, but there's nothing they can do. If they ever complained to Environmental Health, then I'd complain about their dog that barks