Our neighbour has some hens which are in a pen just 2 feet away from our property. I keep chickens myself but mine are a long way from any residential building. Does anyone know if there a law against having poultry so near to a neighbouring home? Were they to get a cockerel and with our bedroom window being just 4 feet from the perimeter of the pen, I would not get any sleep!
I have put this on a poultry forum but as some of you have looked into the laws about keeping chickens, I thought I would post something on here as well. Your comments would be much appreciated.
Not sure about the exact law, but i assume that you can keep em anywhere - or at least people do.
I remember a neighbour on the street (when i was young) kep chickens in their backyard. There was a program on TV last year about noise nuisance and the trials a couple had to undergo to put a stop to the geese in their neighbours garden.
Having said that, they may all have been doing it illegally - seems a nuisance to me...
Good luck!
Not familiar with law on such things, their may be byelaws if you are in an urban environment. I would imagine it is doubtful they would want a cockerral themselves. Do they have chickens or hens at the moment. If hens then they are unlikely to add a cockerel unless they intend to breed.
ipt8, we are very rural here. Their house and all the other houses in their road are a good 2 - 300 feet from where the chickens are. The back gardens of these houses all adjoin our land and our house sits right on the border. In the past there have been cockerels in one of the gardens but they weren't as close as these hens are.
We have had problems in the past too with people lighting fires really close to our house.
I don't know how to put text into pictures so have dabbed red paint on the roof of our house, put yellow where the hens are and put blue on the roof of the hen owners house.
(http://i186.photobucket.com/albums/x311/7stephenson/house.jpg)
Just have word with them explaining it is a bit close and you are worried about rats. If they do not take any notice inform the enviromental health people telling them you now have rats because of the closeness of the chickens.
They will soon find rat runs as they go hand in hand with keeping fowls.
I see you are in Wiltshire, what a lovely place to live, apart from the chickens. Looking at your map I think they should move the chickens nearer to their house. I don't suppose they like the noise, so have put them at the end of their garden which is right near yours. I expect they are within their rights as it is their garden but seems a bit silly to unnecessarily upset you. Hope you can sort it out. Sure someone else on this site will have the answer or an opinion. I live in north London and we have a double glazing shop/workshop adjacent to me. It was a small craft shop (with no customers) but it was sold and they built an extension, which I should have objected to when I had the opportunity but didn't. At least the noise is only during the day and I am quite friendly with them now after my first complaints about the noise. At least I can escape to the allotment as my little garden is no longer peaceful. Next door but one has ducks in the garden which I feel sorry for as they own the Chinese restaurant and get upset from I don't hear them. I assume they kill them for food and I do eat duck.
I remember reading an official document about 2 years ago but no longer have it. I cannot remember if it is law that states poultry in peoples urban gardens must be a certain distance from neighbouring occupied property, or local council policy. It stated a minimum distance but your local environmental agency will be able to give you these figures. These rules may differ slightly depending upon your council.
Chickens occupy a strange middle ground between pets and productive animals. They can be as affectionate as cats, and some will happily sit on your lap to be petted, but at the same time they're a farmyard animal whose main purpose - for their owners - is to produce eggs and meat.
As such there can be restrictions on whether or not you can keep them. They can be outlawed by either the deeds of your house or the rules and regulations of your local council, so before setting out on poultry-keeping you must first ensure you have the necessary permissions in place. Also, there should be no unreasonable levels of noise/odour generated if councils allow hens. There may also be a cap on numbers per garden in urban areas. Check out your housing agreement or tenancy deeds.
i was told by my local environment officer, that i should have any fowl atleast 25ft from my house or the next door.
but as i dont want my ducks out of my view, i have the closer to the house. not to close to upset next door. must be 10-14ft i say.
(http://i234.photobucket.com/albums/ee116/patrickking04/coop/location.jpg)
red= my house.
yellow= where the environment officer said i should place them.
green= where my ducks are sleeping.
But then my environment also said they could'nt stop me having it that close. but once next door say noise is up setting them. it will make it into noise pollution.
There definitely were regulations about the distance from a dwelling, whether National or County Council bye-law I am not sure. A good place to start research would be the Public Health Act 1936. Then enquire of your local County Council.
Hi Pauline, Hi all, :)
Going by the tractor tracks, it seems that they live next to a large corn or beet field. It should be relatively simple to relocate the hens on the field side by the edge of the sandy coloured area (whatever that is) to get the best use of space and noise reduction for yourselves and your neighbours too. Have you asked them about it?
Best of luck with your negotiations,
Col
I agree that they are very close to your house!
Surely the other corner of the garden would have been more suitable! Unless they are using your house for wind/pretator protection. I also would be miffed if it was me.
I would certainly agree with you about having a quiet word first and then, if they don't move them become a bit more pro-active with the council or something. It would be a disaster if they did get a cockerel - they wouldn't necessarily hear them from their house!
Good luck with it!
Old Bird
;)