Generally, chicken ranching is going very well, and their society seems very stable at five. There is no sad pariah chicken and no real bully. The pecking order is settled and there is always a hen to keep another company, even if one or two go broody.
HOWEVER, there are apparently cracks in paradise. Someone called the city and reported me–I got a letter yesterday. It merely said, “Three is the limit” and dinged us for the dead Christmas tree in the driveway, which, NOT ours. The neighbors left the tree in the driveway for months last year as well. It is their way.
So now I am faced with which two chickens to give away, which sucks. And yes, I broke a rule and got called. That’s life. I am thinking the two silkies should go together, since they were raised together, and are homies. I would also let the giant blue cochin go with a silkie. The cochin is my youngest and she is laying very well now that it’s getting lighter–she’s just under a year old. All three birds are very non-aggressive.
Pass this on if you can think of someone who might want to take a couple for free. Otherwise I will put a call on Backyard Chickens in a few days.
So, whomever you are, anonymous reporter, vengeance is yours. Unless you are the new people in the apartment which overlooks my backyard who have commented on how noisy our chickens are, because you will soon discover that three chickens make as much noise as five.
Email sj at this domain for details/pics. Thanks.
Sorry to hear about your chicken situation. Whoever reported you is an ass.
I think they just don’t realize nothing will really change.
The beauty of this IS that nothing will change! I would love if this turned in to a huge urban issue, as in, A family of X needs 5 chickens to have enough eggs for th week. 5 to Stay Alive! I could do the posters…
I get why there’s limits but it is frustrating when you have two broody birds and one wandering around looking lost.
What does it mean when they “go broody?” I’ve been planning to start my own backyard chicken adventure for a while, but clearly I need to do more research. :) I’ve heard the term before, but didn’t quite understand it.
Also, a hearty FACK OFF to the person who reported you. Very lame. When you get the opportunity, you should upgrade to a moderately louder trio of chickens. Not “noise complaint” loud, just “bite me” loud. Why can’t people just leave each other alone? My neighbors are terrible back yard beagle breeders, so the noise when we first moved here seemed deafening. But we grit our teeth and ignored it until it faded into the background. Now we only occasionally hear it. It was the same with the upstairs 3am disco-playing neighbor in our old apartment–first we were incredibly irritated, we dealt with it quietly for a while, then we began to find it somewhat endearing, and finally we ceased to notice it at all.
The thing is, we know that our dogs bark too (though MY GOD not like that!), and hopefully someday our chickens will bock, and all the suburban farm noise can harmoniously coexist. You can acclimate to almost any set of sounds, as long as they aren’t accompanied by violent house shaking or some such. Sub-audible irritation is part of living in proximity to other humans.
Are some breeds of chicken louder than others? What are your chicken breed recommendations?
PS: Sorry, sorry, this is a loooong comment!
Emily–the chicken thing is really personal, I think. Do you want pretty, or do you want mad laying? That seems to be the basic choices. Do heed the advice they give when they tell you a bird is aggressive, or stand-offish, if you want to be able to hold them or be in close quarters with them while gardening.
I have never had a dull Easter Egger, though the are mutts, and while Orpingtons aren’t very smart, really, they are chill. I love Silkies but they often go broody (meaning they think it is time to sit on eggs and hatch them, which will never happen if there is no rooster, of course).
I like Choosing and keeping Chickens by Graham but it is a UK book so he will not have all the American breeds. Still, excellent for beginners. Chickens in Your Backyard by Luttman is USian but overrated, imo. Check Backyard Chickens for forum/community, but be warned that you don’t have to be a bright spark to keep chickens. I think the posters are barely post-alphabetic. Good luck.
It was definitely the new neighbors that narked you off.. I am sure of it. You KNOW the answer is yes to this.
So, how to revenge? You said it. 3 chickens will do fine. But I say you alternate their feeding schedule to every 36 hours. This will induce random and aggressive clucking with some clucks reaching 120dB (above jet engine). They get quite vocal when they are just mildly hungry.
Cheers,
A Fellow Assholer.
You know, one way to work around this in the future is to design your chicken space so that the only way someone can count them is to walk right up to it and look in. This would mean that, in order to count your chickens, someone would have to trespass on your land for which I’m pretty sure you can hold them both criminally and civilly liable. Government employees would probably be allowed to do that — animal control or police — but private citizens wouldn’t. And actually, if you had a locking fence in place, even government employees would probably have to ask permission before they went into your back yard.
Meanwhile, the Seattle Municipal Code is full of things you can drop dime on your neighbors for. And it’s available online. You could make it a hobby. It’d be like birdwatching, only you’d be watching for ways to assfuck your neighbors. Fun for the whole family!
That’s jolly mean, it must have been those neighbours as you say. More ideas for revenge: Get a parrot, any parrot. Encourage your offspring to play musical instruments whilst at home (a euphonium would be a good choice, they could practise in the garden).
Re Emily’s comment, I believe Bantams are quieter than the norm. They are also great for backyards as they are small birds. We had some, they laid tiny little eggs and were most often off in the bushes somewhere trying to hide their nests.
Boo! Tattle tales suck, as do letters from the city. At least, I never get good news from MY city, but maybe that’s just me. I would LOOOOVE to have chickens but can’t right now. Someday when I live where I can, I’m going to email you and beg you for advice. I found your blog awhile back and LOVE it, but have been a lazy about comments. Sorry, yo, I’ll do better. :) Your Franny and Strudel stories crack me up. ~Susan
Hi there. Yeah, news from the city is NEVER good. “You’re a gr8 citizen!! Just thought we’d drop you a note. Here’s a coupon for free ice cream.”
Thank you for your help, SJ! I’m looking up those books right now.
Ooh neighbors who call can suck it. We didn’t even call when our neighbor had a giant huge mountain of twigs right next to our house with an upside down empty gas container inside the twig mountain.
I love ‘it is their way.’