Should I Report My Neighbour's Chickens?

Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 01:00
Last edited 15/03/2022 - 21:14 by 1 other user

We recently moved into a new place within Moonee Valley, and unbeknownst to us the neighbour we share a back fence with keeps about a dozen chickens

The coop is about 8m from our master bedroom, no roosters fortunately but they often wake us up in the early morning and it's driving us nuts

I don't mind chickens, and they're fine for most of the day when they're outside, but with the coop so close it feels like they're performing a concert when they all join in with egg song

Problem is that there isn't really anywhere else it can go, as their yard is long but very narrow with houses on all sides, so it's going to annoy someone no matter what

And by council rules they need 15m between any dwelling for a coop, which they don't have anywhere as it's a pretty dense area, so he won't be able to keep them at all anymore

So not sure if we should ask him to move it as far away from us as possible and risk pissing off another neighbour, or get the council to ask him to do it

Figure if we ask him to move it and it's still an issue, then it'd be pretty obvious who called the council. But if we start with the council then it could be any of 5 direct neighbours including us

What the most effective option here that won't make us assholes or enemies? Never dealt with a situation like this before

Poll Options expired

  • 202
    Complain to council first
  • 139
    Talk to neighbor first
  • 15
    Chicken coup
  • 34
    Bikies
Home & Garden

Comments

  • [Deactivated] on 14/03/2022 - 01:24
    +21

    ask him to move it, they're his chickens and he can bear the brunt of their noise by moving it closer to his house, if he wants to keep them.

    What the most effective option here that won't make us assholes or enemies?

    most effective is council, but that will make you enemies (he can probably take a wild guess that the new neighbours are the ones with the sudden complaint)

    talk to him first, be polite and friendly, but don't be a doormat, and see how he responds. if he is rude and / or not receptive, that is when you involve the council.

    MS paint diagram would be helpful

    a solution that could keep all parties happy is installing some kind of sound barrier at the fence line, such as some trees (you would probably want some mature ones for immediate effect) or a hedge

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 20:32
      +18

      MS Paint (not to scale): https://i.imgur.com/HPpQYN4.png

      The area is very compact, most full-size blocks here have been either subdivided or turned into townhouses due to the amount of corner blocks, so he has 5 directly adjacent neighbors and probably 8 that could hear the chickens

      So I don't think it'd be all that obvious if we said nothing else to him about them, and the townhouse next to us also has new tenants

      Just on the fence about whether that'll be a dick move or not

      • [Deactivated] on 14/03/2022 - 20:37
        +1

        that is unfortunate, though odd to keep 12 chickens in such a small space.

        it would be a dick move if you did it without talking to him first, my suggestion would be that you ask him to plant some trees / hedges on his side and you do the same on your side, to create a sound barrier. there isn't really anywhere he can move them to, but you would be within your rights to get the council to make him get rid of them, it's just not the nicest thing you could do

        • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 14:16

          There are already trees along his boundary, I can only really see into it from either the corner of my block over the fence, or by looking through one of the gaps in the fence. My side is just a concrete walk-way, so can't really plant anything

        • purplelady on 16/03/2022 - 10:13
          +1

          Depends on the neighbours. As a victim of being yelled at by neighbours when I tried to politely discuss issues with 2 different neighbours, I honesly dont bother to deal with neighbours directly anymore. I'd just suck it up or get council to deal with them. Some people seem real nice until you bring up issues that involve them.

    • belongsinforums on 16/03/2022 - 18:20
      +1

      If i was your neighbor and i started mowing my lawn at midnight wwyd?

  • endotherm on 14/03/2022 - 05:04
    +37

    Buy a pet fox.

    • payless69 on 14/03/2022 - 09:22
      +2

      Breed pythons!

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 20:36
      +2

      It's a real shame that our Labrador grew up around Chickens and doesn't give them a second thought, as the fence is almost falling over in some places and she could probably break it down with enough determination

      • lonewolf on 16/03/2022 - 15:54
        -2

        You just lost me with this comment…

        • Jolakot on 16/03/2022 - 23:40
          +2

          Tongue in cheek of course, it would be absolutely awful if something like that happened

      • payton on 16/03/2022 - 18:12
        +1

        Release the hounds

    • goms on 16/03/2022 - 07:45
      +1

      Crows will eat them

  • DiLs on 14/03/2022 - 05:37

    Put them on silent mode?

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 20:37
      +28

      Unfortunately these are actual birds, not the fake ones that the government uses to spy on us…

  • mskeggs on 14/03/2022 - 07:44
    +16

    Is the coop 8m from your room, or 10m? If the coop was moved 2m further, would if make much difference? If the other neighbors don’t care and the coop is moved a little further, you will have an annoyed neighbor with nothing to show for it.

    • pharkurnell on 14/03/2022 - 11:06
      +3

      If the coop was moved 2m further, would if make much difference?

      That was my thought…

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 20:39

      MS Paint (not to scale): https://i.imgur.com/HPpQYN4.png

      8m from our room, about 3m from the directly adjacent neighbor's window as well as the townhouse at the end

      • liongalahad on 16/03/2022 - 01:40
        +1

        write to the council, it's the right thing to do

      • D6C1 on 17/03/2022 - 10:41
        +7

        Funny how he positioned it as far as possible from his house.

  • elgrande on 14/03/2022 - 07:58
    +25

    I think you should settle this like an adult - demand free eggs!

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 22:12
      +1

      Solid suggestion, but we're already rolling in organic eggs from a family friend that retired to a hobby farm

  • o53djz7qTPY4der on 14/03/2022 - 08:02
    +9

    I would just complain to council. If you speak to neighbour and they are not accomodating/receptive then make a complaint, you've just made an enemy.

    If you complain, they'll never be certain it was you.

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 22:14
      +7

      At this point I probably will just go to the council, I can't see any resolution to this that doesn't piss the neighbor off and make us an (profanity), may as well do it anonymously

      • popsiee on 14/03/2022 - 22:26
        +9

        That is the wrong method . I want to see a entertaining neighbour dispute on ACA .
        Think of us .

    • AustriaBargain on 15/03/2022 - 19:43
      +4

      When complaining directly to neighbour about chickens, dig two graves.

  • iamherenow on 14/03/2022 - 08:04
    +13

    12 sounds like a lot.

    Council website says:

    How many animals can I have?
    Poultry:
    Small property (under 150m2) - 0
    Large property (150m2 and over) - 6

    But then:
    If you want to keep more animals than listed, you will need to submit an Extra Animals Permit Application online. Permits expire 10 April annually and the fee for the 22/23 registration year is $39.40.

    • bloom on 14/03/2022 - 08:13
      +6

      200m2 block and you can have 6 chickens? That’s surprising

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 22:15

      The coop must be >15m from any house though, so they're over the chicken limit and have no legal place to put them

      53.3(d): https://www.veryediblegardens.com.au/wp-content/uploads/2009…

      • byjingobycrikey on 16/03/2022 - 11:30

        18m from road. nothing about 15m from neighbours fenceline… hmmm

        • chriise on 18/03/2022 - 00:19
          +2

          Page 49?

          53.3 A person must not keep or allow to be kept on any land in separate ownership
          or occupation, a structure for the housing of an animal within a distance of:

          (d) in the case of a poultry house or pigeon loft, (including any pen,
          compound or yard attached to the poultry yard or pigeon loft) 15
          metres from any dwelling on the land or any adjoining land in
          separate ownership or occupation.

  • MS Paint on 14/03/2022 - 08:13
    +20

    You didn't look over the neighbours fences prior to purchasing or renting?

    Rookie mistake.

    • elgrande on 14/03/2022 - 08:40
      +20

      Failed to order a chicken and building inspection too…

      • altomic on 14/03/2022 - 08:49
        +71

        a chicken inspector only costs a poultry sum

        • tazmaniak on 16/03/2022 - 08:57
          +2

          Hahaha this killed me. :)
          Always get a chicken inspector if you suspect foul play.

          • Intoxicoligist on 16/03/2022 - 09:07
            +1

            @tazmaniak: I heard the chicken inspector got laid off? Apparently they were egging on some unsavoury cocks? I hope the new one isn't as fried.

  • AndyC1 on 14/03/2022 - 08:29
    +4

    Poll please.

    • holdenmg on 14/03/2022 - 09:13
      +3

      An egg whisk works better.

  • Euphemistic on 14/03/2022 - 08:46
    -7

    Chickens were there first. Stop being so annoyed by them, learn to relax with their sounds and they won’t be a problem anymore.

    • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 13:54

      I doubt you'd apply the same standard to a neighbor's barking dog, I don't mind normal chicken sounds but not at 6am

      • Euphemistic on 15/03/2022 - 15:14
        +6

        I’d rather hear chickens than a dog.

        • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 15:23

          I'd rather the chickens over a dog that barks constantly, but I'd rather a dog that barks occasionally over this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=47l396ZWWRo

          There's a yappy westie next door, and I'd replace the chickens with another one of those in a heartbeat

    • gimli on 16/03/2022 - 20:25
      +1

      pretty sure it was the eggs first

      • Euphemistic on 16/03/2022 - 21:04

        I’ve left eggs out on occasion. Haven’t got any chickens from them. Chickens will give eggs, so must have been the chickens first.

  • juzza87 on 14/03/2022 - 08:47
    +33

    Plot twist: The previous occupants also didn't know what to do with this quandary and just moved out instead.

    • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 13:53
      +21

      No wonder it was such an eggcellent deal…

  • altomic on 14/03/2022 - 08:50
    +4

    I bought a house next to a pub and the live music at night keeps me awake, who do I complain to to get the pub shut down?

    • [Deactivated] on 14/03/2022 - 09:25
      +23

      What a strawman argument.

      The pub is a legal enterprise and would be well known before moving in.

      The chicken coop, from OPs admission is not legally placed with enough distance from his house.

    • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 13:58
      +2

      We lived across the road from a Northcote nightclub for a year and it was less annoying than this at 7am: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VO8CZ3EV2E

    • AustriaBargain on 15/03/2022 - 19:45

      I lived next to a popular restaurant, the kind where Christopher Pyne and other federal politicians would eat at while in Adelaide. Surreal to be sitting in front of your house smoking a j in your underwear and seeing Pyne walk past talking to a private school principal after eating an expensive meal.

      Anyway this restaurant would constantly be pouring tubs of empty glass bottles into a big recycling bin all night, extremely loud, can hear it even from your bedroom. Our neighbour said they had been told to stop but I guess they didn't care, it would cost them an extra few cents to have their minimum wage workers gently pour the bottles a little slower.

    • nigel deborah on 16/03/2022 - 06:26

      Check the conditions of their liquor licence. If they are complying, not much you can do besides possibly lobbying the government to revoke it (very unlikely).

      If they are breaching the licence you should be able to lodge a complaint with whatever local authority manages them (VCGLR in Vic). Problem is these authorities are pretty toothless, and the venue can just make a token effort to address complaints.

      If they are breaching the conditions of their licence, and also playing loud music after midnight, you can call the non emergency police number and they will enforce it. Have to do that every single time though because the police don't hand out fines or give any other kind of penalty.

  • holdenmg on 14/03/2022 - 08:57
    +3

    You can't unscramble an Omelette!

  • WreckTangle on 14/03/2022 - 08:58
    +2

    A dozen chickens…How many eggs does the bloke eat?

    • cupcake on 14/03/2022 - 14:37
      +1

      He might do a lot of baking and makes his own pasta!

      I would probably complain via email to the council and say that having 12 chickens in a small back yard is too much, too close, too noisy, too smelly, attracts rodents and pigeons etc and hopefully the council will have a word with them.

      Good Luck.

      • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 14:01
        +3

        I think if he had half as many chickens it'd be ok, there's just too many of them in the one coop and they all join in on the egg song

        Given the poll and most comments, I'm going to send council a message via their online system and let them sort it out

    • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 13:59

      He's an old Italian man with a beautiful garden, so honestly he probably uses a lot of it for pasta, and the poop for fertilizer

    • geekcohen on 15/03/2022 - 14:21
      +2

      Just because you have 12 chickens doesn't mean they all lay eggs. I have 10 and would only get 4 eggs or so a day.

      • ahly92 on 17/03/2022 - 11:02

        Mrs Tweedy has entered the chat

    • nobro25 on 16/03/2022 - 06:45

      Here's food for thought. There's 12 goats and 16 sheep on a boat. How old is the driver?

      • Intoxicoligist on 16/03/2022 - 09:08
        +2

        7, because giraffe's dont wear hats.

  • [Deactivated] on 14/03/2022 - 09:23
    +11

    And by council rules they need 10m between any dwelling for a coop, which they don't have anywhere as it's a pretty dense area, so he won't be able to keep them at all anymore

    That's his problem, not yours.

    People need to realise you can't live in suburbia and have things that are really meant for large farms. What next, a cow?

    • mskeggs on 14/03/2022 - 09:30
      +4

      12 chickens is a lot, but there should definitely not be a ban on keeping chooks in suburbia.
      Would you also ban dogs?

      • [Deactivated] on 14/03/2022 - 09:58
        +23

        Would you also ban dogs?

        I'd ban dogs that are kept in back yards and bark 24/7 at anything, even their own shadow. Sure.

        The overarching idea here is that you're entitled to peace and quiet in your home, and if someone is infringing on that because of chickens, a dog or a jet engine, something needs to be done.

        • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 14:12
          +10

          This is basically it for me too; I don't expect 24/7 peace and quiet because I intentionally moved into a semi-dense area to be near amenities, but I do expect that noise to be limited to normal hours, or at least be sporadic not constant

          If a dog barks for 30 minutes at 4am once that's annoying but expected, if it barks for 30 minutes at 4am every day then it's an issue

  • Jason Genova on 14/03/2022 - 09:23
    +9

    yes, ive done it before. guy with a rooster waking me up at 4am everyday

    council rangers put an end to it two weeks later and he was also fined. success it so sweet

  • mskeggs on 14/03/2022 - 09:29
    +12

    Looking at your posting history, it seems your place is a sub-division of a block where your place was built at the back of the block - so it might be the case the coop was 30m away from the old ‘front’ house, then an extra place was built at the rear of the block.

    For me, this would be rough if my neighbour sub-divided their block then used the new building to tell me I was now in breach of the rules.

    • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 14:34
      +2

      We've moved on from the last place, the shower upstairs started leaking through the floor into the ceiling, and then coming through a downlight in the kitchen. It took them months to even look at it and by then the kitchen ceiling started growing mould from the damp, and I wouldn't be surprised if the space between the floors was full of it too

      Had enough of it at that point and didn't want to deal with them tearing the house apart while we lived there, so pushed to buy a place early and left (the agent was happy to release us with full bond as we were gearing up to take them back to VCAT for the shower)

      This is the basic layout: https://i.imgur.com/HPpQYN4.png

      Our house is 20 years old and the row of townhouses next-door are about 5 years old, so I can understand being pissed off at subdivisions limiting your rights, but he's had 3-4 generations of chickens to figure it out

  • holdenmg on 14/03/2022 - 09:44
    +3

    This thread is Clucked.

  • popsiee on 14/03/2022 - 10:04
    -4

    I'm going to buy a house next to a major freeway and whinge to the council to shut it down so I can get my beauty sleep .

    • payton on 14/03/2022 - 10:53
      +6

      i wonder where can I buy chooks that are the size of a major freeway and easily noticeable, or houses with coops that are of that size.

    • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 14:36
      +5

      It's a coop not a cathedral

    • brendanm on 15/03/2022 - 14:39
      +1

      The sad thing is, that people actually do that. Buy a house under a flight path or near an airport, complain about the noise. Buy a house next to an oval track dirt circuit for motorbikes, complain about the noise. Move next to a motocross track, complain about the noise.

      • liongalahad on 16/03/2022 - 01:49

        they can complain all they want, they won't get anywhere
        OP on the other hand has every right to complain an will get the coop removed with a mere phone call or letter to the council

        • brendanm on 16/03/2022 - 09:50

          You think that, but they've actually had a couple of things shut down here because of it.

          • XeSSiV on 16/03/2022 - 11:13

            @brendanm: Yeah, like Sydney CBD/Kings Cross in general…

  • EightImmortals on 14/03/2022 - 10:50
    +3

    What do you call 'early'?

    We have chooks and they don't start chatting to get out until about 6AM

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 22:01
      +2

      Seems to be around when the horizon starts to glow, so about 6AM but sometimes as early as 5AM

      • lgacb08 on 14/03/2022 - 22:38

        that's a bit of a stretch, these chicken need some night out to stay in bed a bit late. But it's unusual at this time when sun doesn't come up until 7, 6 is still pitch black.

        • Jolakot on 15/03/2022 - 01:30
          +1

          Nautical sunrise here is 6:19am

        • dsgfh on 17/03/2022 - 15:24

          100% they won't get up until it's light. The early start for them might be easily solved by a panel or two to darken the enclosure.
          Our chooks don't get up until there's enough light outside. About 7:30 in the morning right now. Later than the tradies try to start on any construction around here.

  • popsiee on 14/03/2022 - 11:12
    +1

    Can't OP just put on some drowning out sounds like a fan if the chooks concert is too annoying ?

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 22:09
      +1

      How loud of a fan would I need to drown this out at 7am?: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_VO8CZ3EV2E

      The entire coop joins in on this, like they're doing a morning concert

    • [Deactivated] on 17/03/2022 - 11:08
      +1

      White noise generators don't drown out things like parties, chickens or cars. Let's be real.

  • teacherer on 14/03/2022 - 11:38
    +2

    I reckon if they're 8m away and the requirement is 10m, will 2m back a difference?
    I'd learn to live with them because they were there first.
    That does suck though.

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 22:04
      +1

      I was actually wrong and it's 15m by council law, I don't think 2m would make a difference but there's nowhere on their block that's 15m from another dwelling (MS paint: https://i.imgur.com/HPpQYN4.png)

  • scrambledeggs on 14/03/2022 - 11:54
    +5

    You've got to be clucking kidding me! What did you egg-spect? Hard to get a good night's roost.

    • holdenmg on 14/03/2022 - 12:26
      +7

      Name checks out…

  • Porker on 14/03/2022 - 12:06
    +3

    Not like they put in the chicken pen after you moved in.

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 22:02
      +1

      Point taken, but that also applies to nothing else

  • Euphemistic on 14/03/2022 - 12:37
    +2

    About 8m and ‘about a dozen’ chickens. So how far is it, and how many chickens?

    • Jolakot on 14/03/2022 - 18:04
      +2

      It's 8m measured on Google maps, not sure how accurate that is though, obviously I can't go over there with a tape measure. About 3m from the coop to their other neighbour's house as well

      I think 12 chickens, there's at least 4 distinct types but I've seen at least 2 of each type together, can't tell them apart well enough to tell if I've double counted though

      Regardless they less space between the coop and neighbouring houses than allowed, and they have more than the 6 allowed by council, beyond that it doesn't really matter does it?

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