East Auckland residents in a flap over chickens

November 11, 2016

East Auckland residents in a flap over chickens

Simone McFarlane’s chickens Chickie, Tikka, Toots and Nia roam in their urban backyard. Photo: Phoebe McCreath

Some East Auckland locals are becoming frustrated with an increasing number of chickens kept on urban properties.

Complaints have been posted on neighbourhood Facebook group East Auckland Grapevine about the noise and smell caused by chickens kept on residential land.

Brittany Herbert, a student from Howick, has ongoing issues with her neighbour’s chickens causing excessive noise.

“It sounds like they have quite a few because they are quite loud.

“Even when I am down the other end of the house, the noise is just all day, they’re just clucking,” said Miss Herbert.

Miss Herbert believes the chickens are not caged and roam quite close to the shared fence line, aggravating her dog which causes even more noise.

She believes the solution is to “move them somewhere to decrease the noise".

Dannemora resident and chicken owner, Simone McFarlane, has owned her four chickens since September last year.

Mrs McFarlane has had no complaints about her chickens, and said she doesn’t know why there would be complaints.

“They aren’t really loud. They are a bit in the morning, but once we open the gate and they come out they’re quiet and they come out and peck around. We try to let them come out and not keep them caged up.”

Mrs McFarlane said smell was also not an issue so long as the cage is cleaned regularly.

“They don’t give off a huge pong.”

Max Wilde, manager of bylaws and compliance at Auckland Council, said the popularity of keeping chickens in urban areas of Auckland was a cause for concern.

“[There have been more complaints] from the northern, southern and western regions.”

The bylaw states that a typical residential property which is under 2000sq m can only house a maximum of six chickens “as long as it does not cause nuisance for your neighbours”.

A chicken coop must be set up, with access to greater land, as part of the bylaw.

Following a complaint being lodged, the council will assess the property for compliance with the bylaw.

“Invariably we will respond, go out and visit the site and just confirm… the number of chickens is at or below the maximum level they are allowed, and we will also consider the odour in relation to nuisance problems.”

If there are issues, the council will follow up with a “graduated enforcement process” to encourage people to make the appropriate changes.

“Our initial focus is on advice and education to achieve voluntary compliance,” said Mr Wilde.

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