please help people have the right to keep chickens!

[Poet]

Myself and lots of other chicken keepers want to get pet chickens to be removed from this all encompassing 'livestock' term so that everybody can keep a few chickens in their garden if they want to by signing the following petition!



http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/GardenPoultry/



please also join our facebook group



http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=55594908075&ref=nf

[teresa]

This is so sad, during the war and afterwards people were allowed to keep chickens, so what has happended to that law?
below the link from BBC just incase you cannot access facebook.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/tyne/7926539.stm

[lottiewood]

Done x

[ktlawson]

I agree you should be permitted to a maximum of say.....4.  No cockerels though and  the number would need to be capped.  What about some breeds that are noisy?  I do have hens on my plot but would not want loads in nextdoors garden at home.

[lewic]

Nothing against chickens but I do not want a cockerel next door, or to smell chicken poo on the wind when I sit in my garden!

[louise stella]

Chickens aren't noisy, most people don't keep cockerals unless they are in the country.  Chickens don't smell - but their housing can if not cleaned regularly - but so can rabbits, guinea pigs etc, not to mention dog and cat poo!!!! 

Most hen keepers are fastidious about keeping everything clean - I know I am!  My chickens are great company and make great pets, they follow us around chatttering to us as they go !

These by-laws are usually un-enforceable, most councils do not enforce them.  My council were happy for me to keep chickens as long as I had below 50!!!!!!  The enviromental health peeps willl only get involved if there is a hygiene issue. 

The issue of covenants is another question.  These are usually put in by new housebuilders and are there to protect the look of the new housing development whilst they are still building the houses (open plan front gardens was one of mine).  Once all the houses are finished and the builders have moved on - they don't enforce them.  If you break one of these covenants - it would need the person who applied it to take you to court to enforce it and builders are just not interested in that!  The only exception is when a house is built in a conservation area - then they have a duty to keep the look that was outlined on the planning permisssion and may well have to enfoce covenants.

Louise

[Twoflower]

I think if peolpe had more contact with chicken we would have less battery eggs and broiler chickens. It is a common idea that chicken are stupid but it is just not right. Mined are as bright as my mum's spaniel, and hes not thick

[chriscross1966]

I think if peolpe had more contact with chicken we would have less battery eggs and broiler chickens. It is a common idea that chicken are stupid but it is just not right. Mined are as bright as my mum's spaniel, and hes not thick

Having watched a pair of my friends springers  getting so excited that he was coming out of work and jumping up and down in the back of the car so much that they knock themselves out on the roof, I can well believe that there are amoeba that are brighter than some spaniels

chrisc

[Mr Smith]

First of all I'm not anti Poultry I would love to have chickens in the back yard if I lived in the middle of nowhere but not in a residential area on some housing estate, no matter how clean you keep them they will still attract vermin, Rabbits, Cavies and cage birds kept avaries all attract vermin, don't tell me they don't they do, try buying a Victorian property with plenty of land at the rear and more than likely in the deeds it will state that you can keep animals and poultry,

[Robert_Brenchley]

Can or can't? I used to live in a Victorian (1840) cottage in Cornwall; they all had stuff in the deeds banning washing and veg in the front gardens, because they were overlooked by the pit owners' houses. Try enforcing any of that in court!

[stuffed]

Chickens do pong a bit but then the house next door but one to me have 2 dogs and they smell a fair bit.  And I personally don't like the smell of my neighbours cooking.
I think there are standards which should be put down with regards to how many are allowed in an alloted space.

[impkin]

Just done that!

I would love a couple of chooks, not allowed them at home or the lottie

I agree there needs to be rules and regs on how many and no cockerels in a built up area, but a few should pose no more problems than any other animals most people keep.

Vermin are a problem with or without other animals in the area and with good hygiene  and traps can be kept under controll.

[Isleworth]

Hi,

Sorry to dig up an old topic but came across this searching for something else.. and as it hasn't been mentioned yet I thought i would remind people of The Allotments Act 1950.

The Allotments Act 1950, Chapter 31, Section 12 states that regardless of clauses in leases/ tenancies/ covenants/ contracts or agreements to the contrary, the occupier of any land can keep hens and rabbits on it, for their own use, so long as they set up and maintain adequate housing and so long as they make sure that the hens/rabbits don't become a nuisance or pose a threat to health.

(Office of Public Sector Information website - www.psi.gov.uk and search for Allotments Act 1950 Chapter 31 to read the full text)

Someone on another site has previously sought legal advice and asked whether this means that they could keep chooks in their garden, despite the covenant in their deeds and even though their housing company/developer told them they couldn't - this is what they were told:

"the Allotments Act 1950 (and any other Act of Parliament) overrides all other sources of law, apart from European Directives"


To date this act has not be amended, so anyone having problems should seek legal advice!


HTH's

Isleworth

[skintnbitter]

Many thanks for this, my parents have been after keeping chickens on their allotment and was told that they could not as it was stated in the covenants.

Obviously I have emailed them the link, now all we have to do is wait for the poo to hit the fan!

[TommyTomato]

great info...thanks....

[.]

  Here   http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1950/cukpga_19500031_en_1


it states

 " Notwithstanding   any provision to the contrary in any lease or tenancy or in any covenant, contract or undertaking relating to the use to be made of any land, it shall be lawful for the occupier of any land to keep, otherwise than by way of trade or business, hens or rabbits in any place on the land and to erect or place and maintain such buildings or structures on the land as reasonably necessary for that purpose: "


not     Regardless of clauses in leases etc. etc.   

[Steven]

The covenant bit is only legally binding if the developer is still in buisness.If they went bust then all restrictions are null and void.Many building firms put restrictions like no caravans,no walls or fences in front garden,no tv ariels,but they're never followed through now.

Provided you're sensible with the amount of poultry and clean them out regulary-theres no reason why you couldnt keep them.

[Isleworth]

  Here   http://www.opsi.gov.uk/RevisedStatutes/Acts/ukpga/1950/cukpga_19500031_en_1


it states

 " Notwithstanding   any provision to the contrary in any lease or tenancy or in any covenant, contract or undertaking relating to the use to be made of any land, it shall be lawful for the occupier of any land to keep, otherwise than by way of trade or business, hens or rabbits in any place on the land and to erect or place and maintain such buildings or structures on the land as reasonably necessary for that purpose: "


not     Regardless of clauses in leases etc. etc.   

Hi.

Wording may be different, but it still means the same thing... or do you understand the act to mean something else?

[Oldhippy]

Our house deeds (built 1950s) contain a covenant stating 'no livestock' but our local councillor suggested we ignore it so we got a little set up for 3 hens.
We asked the council environmental health dept for guidance and they sent an inspector to look at our set up. He said it was fine and also stated firmly that most rats etc were attracted by seed and other debris scattered from wild bird feeders and that our system of feeding in containers taken in at night was very hygienic.
We clean the house regularly and dump the contents in the compost bin and there is no smell at all.
We love our chooks and wouldn`t be without them now - or the lovely eggs!

[Geoff H]

I disagree with the person who said that chickens will attract rats. Not if you take reasonable precautions about chicken feed etc. apart from anything else chicken feed is expensive and I have no intention of wasting it by allowing mice and rats to eat it. I also raised up my hen house and put it on wheels so rats will not take up residence underneath.
Cockerels in residential areas would bring the chicken keeper to the attention of Environmental Health re: noise nuisance so only a lunatic would keep one on a housing estate.
I keep my chickens at my mother in laws which is an older house surrounded by other houses with no problem.
I did not locate them at home because of restrictive covenant imposed by the builder over 20 years ago. Have since researched the topic. To complain about you ignoring the covenant the complainant would have to be able to show they suffered a financial loss by you breaking the covenant. That could apply while a builder is still selling houses but not after they have ceased to have an interest in the estate. In the present climate anyone else would not be able to claim they were suffering a financial loss because a neighbour was keeping chickens.
Trouble is my wife has seen what chickens would do to the lawn so they are staying put at present.