What this?
Flocks of unruly wild chickens are reportedly wreaking havoc on close-knit villages in the UK, upending the quiet community’s way of life as well as attracting tourists which exacerbate the problem.
According to The Guardian, residents of the village of Snettisham in Norfolk, England, say their lives have become “hell” since chickens swarmed their area. The feral chickens are reportedly causing a variety of nuisances, including destroying gardens and keeping residents up at night.
Villagers said they don’t know who is keeping the chickens but their numbers are booming.
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File image of chickens. A close-knit village in England is reportedly being threatened by hordes of feral chickens. (iStock)
To make matters worse, curious tourists who travel to see the birds leave food for them, which attracts rats.
“They’re a real nuisance – they come into the garden and dig up everything – not just chicken food but any rubbish they find – which attracts rats,” parish councillor Rod McKenzie told the Guardian.
“Guess what someone left behind last week? A quart of pink shrimp,” he said. “The rats around here are pretty big, and they’re breeding like crazy.”
Village resident Ben King, 48, said he sleeps with earplugs because of the constant bird calls at night.
“They’re out of control now, it’s not just one or two… if anyone comes and moves them I’ll buy them a big glass of beer,” he said.
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Chickens are fed on a farm in New Zealand. Residents of a British village are reportedly fed up with noisy wild chickens that are ruining their gardens and attracting rats. (iStock)
While there are certainly critics, some residents don’t mind the herds.
“New homeowners complain about the chickens but they’ve been here for a long time and there are more important things going on in the world than a few chickens,” said a dog walker, who declined to give his name to the newspaper. “They should live their lives.”
“They’ve been in my garden since they were young and they’re not a nuisance.”
Though chickens are tasty and largely harmless, they have caused trouble for neighbours in the past: in Ireland, a man was attacked and killed by a Brahma rooster that had been moved into his Ballinasloe home after it had attacked a child.
Some British village residents say chickens are not a nuisance. (SWNS)
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The man, named Jasper Krauss, was found collapsed in a pool of blood and with wounds to the bottom of his feet on the kitchen floor of his home in April 2022. A trail of blood led from his body to the chicken coop outside.
An autopsy determined that Krauss died after being mauled by a rooster.
