Topic: Do you need permission to keep hens?

[mandi62]

Please can you help us?  We are very new to hen keeping. We got our hens 2 weeks ago. We started with 4 as my husband said that was plenty and then 5  days later we got another 4. So now we have 8. (at the insistence of my husband, as he has fallen in love with them!! ;D)
4 of them are laying lovely eggs. 
Our neighbour tells us that she was chatting to a friend about our chooks, and her friends says it's against the law for us to keep hens. Due to foxes and rats.  We have 2 dogs and a cat. And in my research for hen keeping i learnt having dogs and cats helps keep away any pest like foxes and rats. We own our own house and have a fair sized garden. The chooks have a 15ft by 15ft pen and 6ft by 4ft shed to sleep in at night.(which has been adapted for them).  Please can any one advise us on the law for keeping hens? As we do not want Mr Council man coming round and telling us we have to get rid of them.  They are so much part of the family now and our 5 grandsons adore them. Thankyou for any help in this matter..

[Rosyred]

I live in a residential area, on my deeds I just can't keep cockerals. I can't see there being any law that you can't unless you have cockerals just keep just neighbours sweet by giving them eggs from time to time and chat openly about your hens telling them funny storys so they enjoy as much as you.

Join practial poultry forum they may be able to help too.

Good luck  ;)

[Robert_Brenchley]

People invent all sorts of laws to suit themselves. It's the same as with bees and bonfires. There's no law defining keeping chickens as a 'nuisance'. So anyone who thought they had a grievance would have to go to the County Court and convince a judge that you were doing something with them that constituted a nuisance. As long as you don't have a noisy cockerel and awkward neighbours who are willing to spend a couple of grand on a feud, you'll be OK. The Council may well ban chickens in its properties, but that wouldn't apply to you if you own the house.

[powerspade]

I keep chickens in my back garden I have 7 hens. There is no law saying that you cannot keep them. There are a couple in our street who keeps pigs with no problems.

[petemason]

In the offchance that someone knocks on your door asking about the hens, offer to introduce them to your pets. Give them all names if you want. It's not against the law to keep animals as pets as long as they're not dangerous.
Enjoy them.

[Larkshall]

You should check up on the regulations. There used to be a regulation that you are not allowed to have livestock within 50 feet of a dwelling. It may still apply or chickens may be exempt. It may have been a byelaw which only applied to Cambridgeshire.

[mandi62]

 :) Thankyou all so much for your replys. You have put our mind at rest on this situation.  We have wanted chickens for the last 15 years. And now we have them and absoloutly enjoy them. (Even being out there with them in the rain...lol) The last thing we wanted was to loose them because of someone being silly.  We will look at pratical poultry forum. Thankyou for that.  And we do have names for all 8 of them..
Jermimah,Gereldine,Gracie,Henrietta,Harriet,Missy, Betsie and Esme..  Sometimes we get a bit confused with some of them, but we are new to this and still learning their little personalities...lol... Thanks again everyone,  :)

[bunjies]

in my deeds its says no pigs or poultry :(
so i guess i could have a goat in me garden but no hens. shame goats dont lay eggs really.

however being the cunning, devious type person that i am...
i'm getting some italian laying quail.
quail are game not poultry ;D
fnar fnar fnar!
stoopid regulations!

[Robert_Brenchley]

Deeds don't always matter. When I lived in Cornwall, the deeds specified no vegetables or washing in the front garden. This was because that side of the house faced the local mine owner's house. It's very common down there, and completely unenforceable. No court will uphold an unreasonable restriction.

[Suffolklad]

Many new estates of private housing have restrictive covenants that you can only keep a dog or a cat

[RW]

Also Councils often invent rules and regulations that no hens are allowed on their allotments.

These rules themselve are illlegal as they do not comply with the allotment act (unless the council has a proper byelaw which is unlikely).

[carrot-cruncher]

Where I live I can keep chickens in my garden if I wish.   One of my neighbours about four doors away has chickens, they're a lovely jet black colour & very small.

I can also keep chickens on my allotment if I wish, it's stated quite clearly in the contract that each plottie can keep chickens and/or rabbits on their plot as long as they don't take up more than 1/3 of the plot.

Have a quick word with either your council or CAB office, they can probably advise you better.

CC

[wildthing]

Some Councils do have By Laws about keeping chickens in residential areas, & a lot have regulations re:- no cockerels. These apply to private as well as Council Housing.
My tenancy agreement just states I must keep the gardens in a "husbandlike condition"  as in husbandry, so I've got 7 hens a rooster and a pair of Silkies. I used to have 2 goats too.
I wanted bees, but there is a law about not keeping bees within a short distance of a school. Not sure exactly, but as I am next door but 1 to the school I don't think so. The man next door has bees, but he "farms them out" and he gets paid to have his bees at pick your own fruit farms.

[Robert_Brenchley]

I know someone who used to keep bees in a school. Check it out, there's certainly no Act of Parliament forbidding it.

[ipt8]

There is no law about keeping hens but note other peoples comments about bye laws and such like.

The odd free eggs to neighbours may work wonders. I have noticed that whatever one does someone always critcises it, or is jealous, so keep at least some on your side.

Re vermin, we have a slightly raised floor to our hen house that birds cannot get under, but vermin can. we have board in the floor that is loose and can be lifted, and put rat packs down there, just check them now and again and you will keep vermin at bay. the biggest attraction for rats will be peoples dustbins who have put food items in them, or in bin bags for those that have them, and of corse over stocked bird tables.

Have your hen feed in hoppers hanging free of the ground so vermin cannot reach it but the hens can.

[Old bird]

Good luck with your chooks!

The only problem I can see is if you live in a builty up area is the possibility of this wretched Bird Flu that we are constantly being threatened with. 

I would think the neighbours would kick off if that did actually happen - but  i think that bird flu is one of those things that the media have exagerated dramatically and may never happen!

Rmember they were talkling that there wasn't enough vaccine when they were talking about it - was it earlier this year? - can't remember but surely they must now have made enough.

All this talk of chooks is getting me going I looked on ebay earlier and there were several chicken houses and runs going really cheaply - maybe I will join you!

I feel quite broody now!!

Best wishes

Old Bird :o