My Neighbor got chickens

[dreamer17555]

So my neighbor (behind me) has decided to raise a few chickens. We live in a small development in a suburb (but without an HOA which I normally like). And the rooster in partiular is very noisy. You can hear it in the house but it really ruins being outside which is normally something we enjoy as a family. This isn't like yard work where a leaf blower eventually gets turned off. The chickens are loud until nightfall.

I don't know this neighbor and I don't want to start a huge issue with them but I am at a loss. What would you do? Any advice?

 

[Suger Mag]

check with your local zoning. In many places it is legal to keep chickens (hens) but not a rooster. For example under 5 acres no roosters. You do not need them for eggs, they are noisy and can be aggressive, so many places regulate roosters as they are such a nuisance.

 

[Nayan]

Check and see if your county allows roosters. Ours allows chickens but not them (for the exact noise reason you state).

Most all of the people who had chickens around me no longer have them. They only lay eggs for a certain amount of time, then they become expensive pets. No groups want them and you're not allowed to slaughter them yourself, so I have no clue where they went or what they did with them, but I am glad they're all gone.

 

[bcla]

I'd look up the zoning requirements. It's typically a city ordinance that regulates the keeping of livestock. In my county, roosters would only be allowed in agricultural zoned areas in unincorporated areas with a minimum lot size. There may be exceptions for poultry ranches.

Roosters are not necessary for hens to lay eggs.

 

[dreamer17555]

Thanks I will check into it. I am assuming rooster based on the amount of noise but are some hens just loud (crowing kind of noise) or is that a clear sign of a rooster? I am obviously not a farm animal girlie.

 

[dizneegirl]

Hens will do an "egg laying song", but that's the "bawk, bawk, ba-AWK" you hear. It can be noisy, but it's nowhere as loud as a rooster... they would be the birds crowing ("****-a-doodle-do"). The egg song isn't an all day thing, either, but if there are multiple hens, you could hear it a few times.

 

[bcla]

Thanks I will check into it. I am assuming rooster based on the amount of noise but are some hens just loud (crowing kind of noise) or is that a clear sign of a rooster? I am obviously not a farm animal girlie.

I think you'll hear noise. There's an educational farm in my area, and I would think they have some sort of exemption. But they only have one rooster at a time. And that rooster tends to make a lot of noise.

 

[lynxstch]

Join the club. My next door neighbor has a rooster and 3 chickens. The rooster crows every 20 seconds from sun up to sun down, and is annoying as heck. They know that they aren't supposed to have them, but they are good neighbors in every other way, so I'm not going to be the one to complain about them.
Another neighbor on the other side of the street (a few houses down) now has a rooster too, and I think they try to outdo each other crowing all day. I know several neighbors are fed up and ready to call the county. I'm just biding my time until the rooster becomes a chicken dinner for them.

 

[Tink-osophy]

I have some experience of this. As others have said, they definitely don't need a rooster. Luckily, our neighbor re-homed his as soon as we mentioned being disturbed. The hens could be very noisy to begin with, as their owners were learning how to care for them, I guess. ...Crucially, once they started to let the hens roam free range they quietened down almost completely. Most days we hear nothing now (they're actually pretty peaceful to watch pottering around). They only occasionally squawk if a new one enters the mix and there's a bit of jostling for top position.

 

[mommasita]

I can’t even imagine this. I'd go bonkers. Someone just bought next to us and put wind chimes in the back.. it’s so irritating to me, as I am someone who will spend a lot of time in the yard and pool in the summer.

 

[kyton]

Chickens can be vocal. Ours are loudish when they enter their coop to lay eggs. Other than that it would only be if something scared them in their run (ie a native bird flew in with them). They get excited when their food is distributed in the morning but nothing over the top.

You’d hear more noise from passing traffic / dogs barking / kids playing / lawn maintenance.

They could also be establishing their “pecking order” so a bit louder as they are all settling into their new home.

 

[Tink-osophy]

Chickens can be vocal. Ours are loudish when they enter their coop to lay eggs. Other than that it would only be if something scared them in their run (ie a native bird flew in with them). They get excited when their food is distributed in the morning but nothing over the top.

You’d hear more noise from passing traffic / dogs barking / kids playing / lawn maintenance.

I can't comment on your hens, of course, but as the person on the other side of the fence, I have to say that when our neighbor's hens were noisy it was worse than most of those comparisons; partly, I think, because it was more persistent. It's always different when you're not the owner, but the one being disturbed and have no control over the situation. Other people's noise is always noisier, isn't it?!!

Luckily, it's all fine now and I hope it settles down for the OP, too.

 

[sasywtch]

My next door neighbor has chickens. He was kind enough to ask me first. His house faces south, mine faces west so his backyard fence is my side front yard. I don't have a problem with the noise as they only "talk" when laying in the afternoon. I would be more worried about smell and if they clean. My neighbor cleans all the time and uses a blow torch to burn all the droppings once a month. I worry a little about flies in the summer but, I spray around the outside of my front door and it seems to keep them away.

 

[barkley]

check zoning, check noise laws-and if you have small animals of your own and live in an area prone to racoons take precautions b/c chickens will attract them. hopefully your neighbor stores the chicken feed in a manner that will not attract mice and other rodents that will then travel on to your property.

 

[holden]

Neighbors down the street have chickens. The biggest issue we have is they free roam near and in the street. We have to be careful as we approach their property because there's always a chicken that decides to cross the street as we approach.

They have a peacock too who likes to walk down the street. I love seeing him!

 

[BrianL]

I can’t even imagine this. I'd go bonkers. Someone just bought next to us and put wind chimes in the back.. it’s so irritating to me, as I am someone who will spend a lot of time in the yard and pool in the summer.

Oh man, I HATE wind chimes!

 

[QueenIsabella]

Neighbors down the street have chickens. The biggest issue we have is they free roam near and in the street. We have to be careful as we approach their property because there's always a chicken that decides to cross the street as we approach.

They have a peacock too who likes to walk down the street. I love seeing him!

When we lived in rural upstate NY, a neighbor had free-range chickens. Sometimes, they wandered into our yard--interestingly, the cats never tangled with them. I took to naming the chickens--Parmagiana, Marsala, Francaise...

 

[LuvOrlando]

Maybe give it a few weeks to see how to plays out, I would wait in a game of chicken and let another neighbor say something first.

I knew people who got them, it ended up annoying them as much as the rest of the neighbors so they ended up re-homed to a local farm. They are not only loud but the poo stinks to high heaven and the flies are a horror. Another family had theirs, well... sadly they were noticed by local predators so that happens too.

Do they have kids? Could it be a 4 H thing or some sort of a badge task that may be temporary?

We have a farm near us, they used to participate in some sort of manure free fertilizer thing and the flies were unreal, this helped. For the garage, it keeps the flies from collecting in the garage then rushing into your home. Do not put this inside the house


and maybe some of these mouse traps for the garage and near the doors for now, so you'll be the first to know if it becomes a thing.

https://www.amazon.com/Mouse-Traps-...zK8ZykR1PZGzk7smpa-qZFpo3_0aAn2YEALw_wcB&th=1

 

[mom2rtk]

The people behind us have a freaking ROOSTER. And it must be very confused because it crows at all hours of the day and night. (Chickens are allowed here but roosters are specifically excluded). They got it last summer so it's not going away any time soon. I know I could probably call on them, and I would if it was actually waking me up (somehow it isn't). But I was kind of hoping one of the other neighbors would actually report them.

Last summer we also had a family of foxes that wandered the neighborhood sometimes. I was kind of hoping nature would just take care of things. Hoping the foxes are back this year.

 

[Tink-osophy]

Neighbors down the street have chickens. The biggest issue we have is they free roam near and in the street. We have to be careful as we approach their property because there's always a chicken that decides to cross the street as we approach.

They have a peacock too who likes to walk down the street. I love seeing him!

"Why did the chicken cross the street...?"

Peacocks can be very noisy, but they're fascinating to see. We had peacocks on the roof of our tree house at Disney.