Keeping hens in the garden (legalities)

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OldForum
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Joined: 28 Apr 2007, 01:12

Keeping hens in the garden (legalities)

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chili
hi. im a newbie here so any advice would be greatly appreciated. my main question is:
are there any restrictions on keeping chickens in the back garden? do i have to ask the local council? im hoping to get an allotment. are there restrictions on keeping chickens there instead? sorry about all the questions, im just desperate for info

Mo
I think not unless there are restrictive coventants in your deeds or rental agreement. If you own the house your solicitor should have told you if there were restrictions. Landlords can put conditions on, if they do it at the start.
Similarly allotments, they will say what you can and can't do. I wouldn't want to be too far away from my hens as you have to visit at least 3 times a day, to let them out, collect eggs (not good to leave them, if they get broken the little horrors might start eating them), then to shut them in at dusk. And if you are not feeding them ad lib from a hopper thats another visit an hour before you shut them in, to give them their supper.
Not to mention the joy of chicken watching.
Go for it and have fun.........And if you kept them on an allotment you would have to make very sure they didn't get out. It's bad enough when they scratch up your own seedlings


Wendy
Hi Chilli,
I live in surburbia LOL. My house number is 365, so you can see there are a lot of houses in my road.
My back garden is about 190 ft and my girls have a run and a house, and are let out to ruin my garden every weekend. I haven't asked permission from the council but what I have found out, I can keep hens but not a rooster, for obvious reasons.
My neighbours have had a rat problem, well before the chickens arrived. I have had to have visits from the council, before and after getting the girls, so that I don't get the problem also. The council workers are very supportive of my rescue girls, and always go to see them first before looking for signs of rats in my garden.
Mine aren't noisy and I give my neighbours 6 eggs every now and then and they are delighted.

Lucy
I'm living in a terraced house, have three ex-batts in a run/house in the garden. They get loose for two hours or so every evening to ransack the garden.

Some houses, especially older ones, have a entry in the deeds if there are any restrictions so its worth checking them if you own your house.

I keep the food/etc under the house in a sealed bin and never had rats or foxes, I think the cat scares them all off!



Richard
Hello, good to have you here.

I think the only problem would be if they smelt or if you had a cockerel of course.

I believe they can come into noise abatement guidelines.

I know people in quite crowded streets with chickens and as long as you tell the neighbours and try and get them a bit interested as well - all should be OK.

Take care, Richard

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