[craig1981]

afternoon all . Im having an issue with the neighbour whos garden is attached to the bottom of mine . She confronted me on sunday and again this morning via a note through the door  saying  she is being woken by my hens at  around 6am ish or whenever i let them out . Now ive done everything legally and checked my deeds and so on and even rang the council before i set up my run and so and have even had the rspca have a look over my set up when they visited recently in regards to 2 hens i had dumped on me by someone and i have no worries there so i was wondering if any of you guys had issues and what was done and so on . My girls are quite noisy when they lay and so on but nothing more than next doors dog on her morning trip to the loo so im a little taken aback by it all . Im looking into getting a few signatures of support from the 15 ish peeps on my street who have eggs off me . Any ideas and advice on the legalitys of the situation would be gratefully received as always

[nzdunn]

oh no gees your worst nightmare, i hope you can get this sorted out, theres always one isnt there.   Im getting abit paranoid have to admit myself with my girls.   I live in the middle of a busy estate, have house that back all on the the side and back of my garden, although you carnt see the chooks due to the very high pannelled fences,  my girls are getting very noisey to especially when cassie has laid her daily egg,  i go out to them now and hush them up, just dont want any complaints, i never checked with my local council, did look on their website though and have been told that if its only a couple of back garden hens there was no need to bother,  we live in army quarters but checked over the rules for living in one, a girl who lived across the road from me kept chucks then she moved, she had a cockerel aswell, but was told by the estate manager to get rid cause of the noise but never said anything about the two hens, everyone knew she had them.    My immediate neighbours know about my hens as i did ask them first to see if they minded, think its just me im a very paranoid person, wish i lived in a field.    My hubby keeps saying its no worse than a dog barking or howling all day, kids running up and down the street screaming their heads off but its the fact that the noise is something different isnt it.     NIckyx

[poppies]

Hi do you have to let them out so early, I dont let mine out untill  8 -8.30, you could use this as a compromise as most people are up by then, that way it will look like you are trying to be understanding and if she still moans makes her look bad

if that fails buy her some earplugs

[Sue33]

Hi Craig
how many hens have you got?  I'm guessing must be quite a few if you supply 15 other families with eggs.  Can you explain to her that as the mornings get darker they won't be up so early, also point out other people make far more noise what with dogs barking, kids screeching and teenagers standing outside till 1am talking (or is that just my road??)I was praying for it to rain last night so they'd all go home 

[tam]

If possible I would let them out after 7am as the permitted noise levels go up then.

[craig1981]

i have ten hens in all now . i dont think getting them up later is an option as they go crazy on a sunday when i leave them in til half seven eight ish plus 6 ish suits me as its b4 the school run preperations and so on  . hhhhmmmmmmm its a tough one . Do i change my ways just to suit them ! If she takes the complaint further i cant see what she could actually do .  hhhmmmmmmmm not a clue im in a muddle

[dizzylizzie]

hi, its a tuff one isnt it, but i would go with some others on this site and try to leave them till 7. the mornings are getting darker....or will be soon and they probably wont want to be out early anyway. i have to say i let mine out at 6 every morning , but last night i didnt sleep well, i finally fell asleep around 5...so didnt wake till 8.20 i thought they would be going mad, but i think they were glad of the lie in also good luck anyway x

[kitkat]

Is there any way you could make the hen house darker perhaps, without stopping ventilation?

[SarahJC]

I think it's become a trend to complain about chickens  Especially cockerals 

Do your girls get let out into a run or the garden? How about giving them something to amuse them, like hanging up a cabbage. Or is it the noise when ones laying an egg?

I think it would be hard for the neighbour to complain to the authorities and get any action taken. Ten hens isn't a lot and if an inspector visited it wouldn't be very early, so how could he/she judge the noise levels? I think a cockerel would be more of an issue to them. You could always contact the authorities and tell her you've checked with them and they say there isn't a problem.

It sounds like you have a lot of good customers to support you 

[tam]

Even if you can legally keep hens, if they are too noisy you could still fall foul of the environmental heath noise department. Same as if you have a dog that barked all night or played loud music. They will test out of office hours or how do they catch people playing music at 2am.

It all depends how loud they are. There are set levels of permitted noise, if they are below then yep, nothing your neighbour can do, above then EH could make you get rid. The level at which there is a problem is set lower before 7am.

If my neighbour was waking me up at 6am every morning I'd be pretty annoyed. I work late so somedays that would be 4 hours sleep for me! If you can adjust your schedule without much hassle to accommodate the neighbour then that seems the logical solution to me.

[craig1981]

from what i gather in reading the letter its not just the noise the chickens make thats the issue its the noise myself and the kids  make in letting them out . banging and so on and whistling to the girls  and it reads like she has an issue with the laying call my girls make. I may try letting them out at  7 on the dot but at the same time make more noise about it . . I have rang the council eh department and they are more than happy to advise me on noise levels and someone is paying me a visit but unfortunately she couldnt let me know if a complaint had been made at this stage . Im not gonna let any intefeering busy body beat me on this one . If she wants a battle she can by all means have one 

[hillfooter]

Hmm seems that the only thing you didn't do here was initially get them on side.  I think a little contrition is the best option here.  Don't let it degenerate into a full scale dispute try and be as reasonable as you can and an apology with half a dozen eggs might be the right starting point.  If you start to turn it into a legal issue with petitions and the like anything might happen re a nusiance ruling and the bad feeling you'll generate just isn't worth the stress win or lose.

Notes through the door are a bit petty but whether you think you are right or wrong try to sort it amicably.

Regards

[Foxy]

well I dont let mine out till later, I have auto openers on and some have timers to open at 7.30am. Mine are housed in spacious sheds which they are used too. Chickens are creatures of habit and if they are used to getting out at a certain time they will moan like mad if you are late. You could try changing their accommodaton, make it larger or adjust the time you let them out gradually. I think it is always worthwhile discussing what you are trying to do with neighbours and invite suggestions from them. Dont let this escalate as Hillfooter suggests the stress would not be worth it!

[Aunt Sally]

It averages about 7:30 when I let mine out.  I have lovely neighbours and would hate to think my hens might upset them early mornings so in they stay like it or lump it. 

[poultrygeist]

Ours are let out at 6.30 at the moment, but it was 6 for a few weeks earlier in summer.
Could you continue at 6, but make less noise ?

I stumble out in my jamas (it's the least I can do ), open the door, mumble good morning to them and stumble back into bed for an hour. If I'm lucky.
They do occasionally make a few squawks but the laying shouts don't start until about 8ish. Our garden is quite long so it doesn't bother anyone.

Could you gather evidence on other noise at a similar time in case you need comparisons ?

Rob