Our farmer neighbour is planning to rear chickens, is there a minimum distance they should be from our house?
We think he may wish to have chickens on an industrial scale, my wife and children find this upsetting (my wife may wish to move). Should I be concerned about the noise, smell, view, etc. Is there anything I could reasonably request the farmer or authorities to do to minimise its impact on us. (we all eat chicken!)
Answers:
It would seem that (so far) I'm the only rural type to respond to this (based on the answers so far). I assume you are in the USA and country not city. In most states he can be a jerk and put the coops right up to the property line!
Free range? Geez people! You've got no idea what free range means. Go to the link below and dig up what the legal definition of "free range" is and see what a joke the term is!
If he is planning on raising more than 200-300 birds you as a neighbor have a serious problem. Besides the stink you can look forward to dust, flies and possibly contaminated groundwater. How are the roads in the area? Expect heavy truck traffic once production gets going.
I come from a production agriculture background and have relatives that currently operate 'standard' and 'organic' poultry operations. The only difference is that the 'organic free range' birds have access once daily to an area of around 2000 sq.ft.! That is essentially *all* it takes to meet the federal standard! Do the 'organic free range' operations smell better or have fewer flies etc? NO!
The *only* thing you can do are to first talk to your neighbor about details of what he plans and speak to legal council about what his plans are. Only an attorney knowledgeable about your local laws can offer *real* help (if any).
check your local zoning laws, i have chickens and i don't live on a farm i only keep hens because i respect my neighbors but don't worry about the smell if he keeps 3 or 4 there shouldn't be a problem, unless he has a coop he doesn't clean, but other then that chickens are awesome pets!
This depends entirely on the local zoning regulations. Check those first to find out where you stand. Good luck.
In the US, most towns will have ordinances prohibiting such nonsense.
does he plan to have battery hens or free range? If they are battery hens, the smell could be a little over whelming, but I grew up on a farm all my life and had free range, it's quite calming to hear them clucking away at the ground. Roosters aren't such a problem, just a cheap alarm clock. Maybe you could make him a deal if he does go ahead, and that he suppliers all the neighbours in the area a dozen free eggs each week and supply the sunday roast?
If the farmer was there first (as I suspect), then he can pretty much do what he likes with his land. Most farms are grandfathered in terms of zoning - if you don't want to live near a farm, move someplace else.
I'll ignore that last comment. If he's going to keep chickens outdoors then fair play to him - better than battery farming. The noise is worse when they're indoors with lights on. As someone else said, the smell is going to be down to his ability to manage them and their mess. Most of the time, although we have little control over our bodily functions (sorry) we're not too smelly.
And as for the view. I imagine the value of your property will increase beyond belief once you start looking out of the window and see all our fluffy little bodies wandering around, carrying out our soil experiments.
We're lovely. I'll trade with you if you disagree.
Check with you local council `cos the stink from chickens in the summer can be awwwwwful, and what about the cockerels waking yers up at 4o`clock in the morning? That`s just damn maddening!
Ask him to plant conifers or something to screen the sheds. If you talk with your neighbours you'll usually find them accomodating.
There are local by-laws, just find out what they are in you area. Try your local council.
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Answers:
It would seem that (so far) I'm the only rural type to respond to this (based on the answers so far). I assume you are in the USA and country not city. In most states he can be a jerk and put the coops right up to the property line!
Free range? Geez people! You've got no idea what free range means. Go to the link below and dig up what the legal definition of "free range" is and see what a joke the term is!
If he is planning on raising more than 200-300 birds you as a neighbor have a serious problem. Besides the stink you can look forward to dust, flies and possibly contaminated groundwater. How are the roads in the area? Expect heavy truck traffic once production gets going.
I come from a production agriculture background and have relatives that currently operate 'standard' and 'organic' poultry operations. The only difference is that the 'organic free range' birds have access once daily to an area of around 2000 sq.ft.! That is essentially *all* it takes to meet the federal standard! Do the 'organic free range' operations smell better or have fewer flies etc? NO!
The *only* thing you can do are to first talk to your neighbor about details of what he plans and speak to legal council about what his plans are. Only an attorney knowledgeable about your local laws can offer *real* help (if any).
check your local zoning laws, i have chickens and i don't live on a farm i only keep hens because i respect my neighbors but don't worry about the smell if he keeps 3 or 4 there shouldn't be a problem, unless he has a coop he doesn't clean, but other then that chickens are awesome pets!
This depends entirely on the local zoning regulations. Check those first to find out where you stand. Good luck.
In the US, most towns will have ordinances prohibiting such nonsense.
does he plan to have battery hens or free range? If they are battery hens, the smell could be a little over whelming, but I grew up on a farm all my life and had free range, it's quite calming to hear them clucking away at the ground. Roosters aren't such a problem, just a cheap alarm clock. Maybe you could make him a deal if he does go ahead, and that he suppliers all the neighbours in the area a dozen free eggs each week and supply the sunday roast?
If the farmer was there first (as I suspect), then he can pretty much do what he likes with his land. Most farms are grandfathered in terms of zoning - if you don't want to live near a farm, move someplace else.
I'll ignore that last comment. If he's going to keep chickens outdoors then fair play to him - better than battery farming. The noise is worse when they're indoors with lights on. As someone else said, the smell is going to be down to his ability to manage them and their mess. Most of the time, although we have little control over our bodily functions (sorry) we're not too smelly.
And as for the view. I imagine the value of your property will increase beyond belief once you start looking out of the window and see all our fluffy little bodies wandering around, carrying out our soil experiments.
We're lovely. I'll trade with you if you disagree.
Check with you local council `cos the stink from chickens in the summer can be awwwwwful, and what about the cockerels waking yers up at 4o`clock in the morning? That`s just damn maddening!
Ask him to plant conifers or something to screen the sheds. If you talk with your neighbours you'll usually find them accomodating.
There are local by-laws, just find out what they are in you area. Try your local council.
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