How Noisy Is Living Next Door To Chickens? (7 Menacing Facts)

There are several challenges that may arise, if you find yourself living in close proximity to chickens. In this article, you will find information on those likely challenges, and how to cope with them.

Living next door to chickens may mean having to endure a bit of noise. If the hygiene of the chicken coop is not top notch, there may also be a bit of smell. And the chicken may keep on straying into your garden, driveway or sidewalk.

In case the chickens stray into your garden, they may do some damage to the plants there. And in case the chickens stray onto your driveway or sidewalk, they may keep on pooping there.

On account of these challenges, you may find yourself asking questions like, how can I quiet my neighbors chickens? Or what can I do about my neighbor’s loud, stinky chicken coop?

It may even get to a point at which you start thinking on how to get rid of neighbors chickens!

Thankfully, there are strategies that can make living near a neighbor who keeps chicken easier. These strategies can even come in handy if you find yourself living near chicken farm enterprises.

But first things first: let us see whether it is legal to keep chicken in residential neighborhoods.

Is It Legal To Keep Chicken In Residential Neighborhoods?

The law on keeping chickens in residential area varies from place to place.

In some places, keeping chickens in a residential neighborhood is legal: as long as one doesn’t keep too many of them.

But there are other places where the law is completely against keeping chickens in residential neighborhoods.

In places that consider chickens to be pets, the law tends to be lenient on them. But in places that consider chickens to be farm animals, the law tends to be tougher.

Besides the state and local laws, there may also be neighborhood rules that are against keeping chickens.

Indeed, when researching on how to move with chickens, most experts recommend enquiring on such rules.

Otherwise you may find yourself with neighbors who are openly hostile to your chicken. And then you find yourself crying out saying, help, my neighbor hates my chickens for no reason.

Yet when you make further enquiries, you come to learn that it is in fact the local neighborhood’s rules that are against the keeping of chicken.

And when neighbors say no to your backyard chickens, and the local rules align with their views, there is very little you can do.

Even if the local laws allow for chicken, there may be regulations on questions like, how far away from your house should a chicken coop be?

Or you may find another one on how far does a chicken coop need to be from property line.

So in some places, you find lots of laws that address problems with chickens in residential areas.

And when considering the legal position, you need to know that there may be state laws, local county laws as well as neighborhood rules to beware of.

How Bad Is It To Live Near Chicken Houses?

Living next door to chickens is actually not usually too bad. That is unless the chicken houses are those that house hundreds or thousands of poultry in farm settings.

But normal domestic chicken coops are not too bad to live with. It is as bad as living next to any other pet’s quarters, really.

The only unique problem you may face is that of the roosters crowing at daybreak.

Another problem that may arise is that of smell. But this only comes up if the owners neglect the hygiene of the chicken coops.

In that latter case, you may really find yourself saying ‘I hate my neighbors chickens‘.

But not to downplay the issue, there can be slight problems of neighbors chickens causing flies. This is likely, if your neighbors chickens smell, with the smell in turn attracting flies.

There can even be a problem of neighbors chickens attracting rats (who may come to steal the eggs).

All in all though, living close to chicken houses is not usually such a bad experience. That is unless there are too many chickens, or unless the people who keep the chicken neglect the hygiene factor.

What Are The Hazards Of Living Next To Chickens?

At least 4 hazards can arise, as a result of living next door to chickens.

First is the noise factor. Chickens, especially roosters that crow, can make quite a bit of noise.

Second is the smell factor. If people neglect the chicken coop hygiene, there can be nasty smell.

Third is the poop factor. If the chickens stray onto your driveway or sidewalks, they may keep on pooping there.

And fourth is the garden damage factor. If the chickens stray into your garden, they may peck the plants there and cause some damage.

What Are The Potential Benefits Of Living Close To Chickens?

At least 3 benefits come to mind, when one thinks about living close to chickens.

Firstly, the chicken may make the area more lively: with their chuckling, pecking order fights, crowing and so on.

Secondly, the chicken may be a good source of manure for the gardens.

And thirdly, the chicken can even be a source of food. This is like if the neighbors share the eggs their chickens lay with you.

Keeping Chickens In A Residential Neighborhood – How To Get It Right?

The most important thing is to consider your neighbors when raising chickens in a residential neighborhood.

Ask yourself, will chickens stay close to home, or will they keep on straying into neighbors’ properties?

Also consider the type of neighbors you have. Are they easy going people? Or are they difficult people? For instance, when chickens come home to roost next door, will the neighbors tend to raise hell?

Ultimately though, the main thing you will need to think of is the noise. If you research on is it noisy to keep chickens, you will find that the answer is ‘yes’.

So you have to think of the likely consequences of chickens’ morning noise annoying the neighbors.

You may thus find yourself thinking in terms of ‘a neighbor complaining about noisy hens, what can I do?’

But if you only keep hens without a rooster, there may be less noise. However, this means that the hens will feel uneasy without having a rooster around to ‘protect’ them.

Ultimately, the key thing you may need to do is ensure that you locate your chicken coop far from your nearest neighbor.

Why are chicken coops located away from residences of the closest neighbors? The objective is to avoid complaints about noise, smell, chicken straying and so on.

Many people may have a problem with having a neighbor’s chicken coop too close. But if it is reasonably far, then most will just be cool with it.

Fencing your yard so that your chickens don’t stray into your neighbors’ properties can be helpful.

To prevent them from flying into your neighbors’ properties, you can consider measures like clipping the wings.

What To Do About A Neighbor Who Keeps Troublesome Chickens?

There are times when your neighbors have hens and they are noisy. Or they may be stinky, straying into your property… and so on.

Now how do you deal with neighbors chickens in that sort of scenario?

The first course of action is to make the neighbor in question aware that the chickens are troubling you. You need to go about this politely. The odds of getting good results are better if you approach it politely.

If that doesn’t bear fruit, you can consider escalating the matter to neighborhood management. If you are in rented properties, consider bringing the landlords into the picture.

And if that too doesn’t bear fruit, you may have to escalate the matter to the local government.  You can start with the relevant government department. And if that too doesn’t hear you well, consider using the court system.

Final Verdict – Living Next Door To Chickens

Living close to chicken’s coops can bring about certain challenges. For one, the chickens may prove to be quite noisy, especially if there is a crowing rooster among them.

If the chicken coop’s hygiene is not good, it may start stinking. And there may also be the challenge of the chickens straying into your property and making a mess.

In case a neighbor’s chickens are troubling you, the best first course of action is to (politely) make them aware of the problem. However much incensed you may be, try to maintain composure and approach the issue politely.

If the neighbor does nothing about the issue, consider bringing in neighborhood management. That would include landlords, in case of rented premises.

If the person with troublesome chicken doesn’t heed neighborhood management, you may have to escalate the matter to the government.

So you start with the relevant government department. And if that too doesn’t give you the results you need, you consider resorting to the court system.

Conversely, if you are considering keeping chickens in a residential area, you need to put in place measures to ensure that you minimize your neighbor’s inconvenience from the chickens.

That includes fencing to prevent the chickens straying into the neighbors’ properties. It can even include clipping the chickens’ wings, to keep them from flying into neighbors’ properties.

You may want to avoid having too many roosters, whose crowing can be annoying to some neighbors.

As a pet lover, make sure to learn about pet more and give your pet chicken a good and comfortable life!

Rajkumar Ravichandran

Welcome to Learn About Pet. My name is Rajkumar Ravichandran and I love all pets, travel, and amazing food. I write about my passion and personal experience caring for multiple pets in this blog! ❤️