Chickens versus neighbours

[hepina]

Hello there,

I am newbie here and my only problem is the neighbour two houses down the road.

We started to keep chickens in our back garden. Our house is almost at the end of the road and our gardens back up to woods. I didn't see any problem with keeping just 5 chickens and we were always polite to any of our neighbours.

This neighbour I am talking about had a go at me as soon as we realised that out of our 5 chicks one became a cockerel. Before he even started to crow (as he was just too young) she demanded his removal. He was eventually removed couple of months later as he became a nuisance crowing early in the morning.

Our chickens escaped today and to make the matter really bad they ended up in this neighbour's garden. I don't know how as their wings are trimmed (they simply can't fly) and neighbour's fence is about 1.5m high. I suspect neighbour's garden gate was left open. I knocked on the door and tried to apologise and was going to ask for a permission to enter their garden to chase the chickens out.

Before I had a chance to say anything she had a right go at me. ...chickens should be kept on the farm not where people live and so on... She was pretty rude.

I am bit shaken by this as I generally don't cope well if somebody has a go at me. Has any of you experienced something similar? We really try to keep a good relationship with our neighbours but I won't accept behaviour like that.

Thank you for reading.

 

[Aileen]

Hey,
I live slap bang in the middle of a row of 6.... my neighbour to one side is lovely and my other... well she deserves her title of Cowbag..
Like yourself I let my birds out initially, but after my ladies discovered life outside my garden (in next doors patch) they had to go into a run as my neighbours garden is her pride and joy, she spends hours in it even in the winter... Do you have room in your garden to build one?

 

[hepina]

Ours chickens are normally free to roam in the woods behind our gardens. They once wandered into another garden but we found how and put some wire down so they can't do it any more. Nobody else has a problem with them, some neighbours even commented that they like to watch them pecking around.

This neighbour keeps her gate wide open (I just took a picture) so my chickens must have found it very welcoming. Funnily enough the gate was shut when I found them in there.

I just want to avoid any unnecessary confrontation - I am not that type.

 

[Aileen]

No, neither am I honey but some people just are......
But if you can't absolutely guarantee they will never get in there again....... it's not worth the raised blood pressure you will get.... Or can you sneak out each morning early doors and shut her gate???

I had the same issue with a RIR named Rouge.... who we had to change to Roger.... we had to re-home ASAP as they would have kicked off hugely.
I know you want whats best for your girls but you need to think about whats best for you too... what about putting them out maybe just for the last couple of hours of sunshine each day? Damage limitation!!

 

[elmwood]

Hi,

I agree with everything Aileen has to say in response to your dilemma.

Firstly we are not on speaking terms with our neighbours over their dog terrorizing our girls, they are moving soon.

However I think this is a case of your neighbour wanting you to take responsibility for your girls. She maybe thinks the wood(land) is for everyone, but you let your chickens roam free, and maybe she thinks why shouldn't she leave her gate open?

I am just trying to see it from an outsiders point of view. If things get too bad, she may decide to borrow a dog, and then that will put paid to your feathered friends freedom.

I think I would air on the side of caution, by reigning them in........and giving them a secure and private enclosure. I knows its probably not what you would like, and the neighbours will have won- but its the welfare of your girls and your sanity that is more important.

There is always someone waiting to complain about something. I reckon my neighbours would get their stewing pot out if our girls ended up in their garden!!

I think its best to keep your dignity, and to be honest are the girls really safe wandering in the woodland?

I hope I havn't sounded too harsh, I just want to put another point of view across. I wouldn't like my neighbours chickens wandering around in our communal wooded space even though I love the girlies.

 

[Anonymous]

Having read this I think our neighbours must be angels 0 We have still managed to keep Eddie our cockeral even though we have neighbours both sides. They are both OK with it at the moment but we are planning to get a bigger house and soundproof it for summer. I will then let him out at 8am when I go out to work. However. I think with your neighbours, it is clear they are not going to change their mind(some people are soooooooo unreasonable,) therefore you will have to do all you can not to inflame the situation.

 

[pebojuno]

Agree with you Claire- My neighbours are fab- We keep most of our birds at my in laws farm but we do on occasion have a cockerel in our garden- we are in a small, rural village but have lots of very close neighbours - The only comments we have had are people saying how nice it is to hear a cockerel crowing

In response to the original post hepina I would try to enclose your garden as much as possible to keep your hens out of your neighbours way- like elmwood has already suggested. Personally I would far rather a chicken wandering into my garden than a dog (or cat!) coming in and leaving their smelly deposits around but sadly some people get upset about things which others would just laugh off. :roll: We regularly have sheep, cows and pigs wandering around the village so you learn to be tolerant quite quickly lol

I'd also try to keep the other neighbours sweet (few fresh eggs now and then etc ) That way if your awkward neighbour looks for allies they will already be on your side so to speak! Good Luck and welcome to the forum.

 

[Anonymous]

I AM a neighbour to 4 cute hens who escape into our garden quite often. We currently have 3 of them strolling/lolling about on our deck, in fact. My worry is that we have 2 cats, who are absolutely fascinated by them. The cats don't go next door, as my neighbours have dogs and a 'dog proof' fence. I don't really mind the hens wandering about our garden, although I do keep the patio door closed, which is a bit inconvenient.

My question is, are the hens in any danger from my cats?

If they stay here for a while (my neighbours appear to out for the day), will they go hungry?

I can't put them back, as the gap they're coming through isn't as accessible from our side, and my neighbours have a high fence and locked gate. (At least we now know where the gap is!)

On the other hand, I do now get how my other neighbours feel about our cats pooping in their garden!

 

[daniellesdogs]

my cats pay no attention to the chickens i even have a stray that would rather catch a mouse than my tiny pekin chicks.
i live on main road with neighbours eitherside and off the back, iv meshed along the fence either side stop them popping over but now an then 1 will get over

 

[hepina]

Hello benniesmum,

I am pleased that you are 'a kind type' of neighbour although I wouldn't definitely expect you to put up with our chickens coming for a visit... In our case it was an accident and we wouldn't let our hens wander into neighbouring gardens on daily basis.

You have a full right to expect your neighbour to hen-proof their fence; I would consider it a bit of nuisance and you definitely don't have to put up with it...

We managed to secure our hens by double fencing them (there is an inner ring and an outer ring). As the inner one is more-less natural hedge, they still very occasionally escape but only to the woods behind our garden. The second - outer ring is a proper 1.5m high fence so there is no way our chickens can end up in anybody's garden now.

Regarding cats... We have our own cat who received few hard pecks and a chase around the garden from our overprotective broody so he doesn't bother them any more. Neighbour's cats are normally chased away by our gentle giant white sussex cockerel :lol: Neighbour's cats used to bother our baby chicks before but they are now big enough to defend themselves so we don't have any more problems.

 

[chrismahon]

If your chickens can get out the fox can get in so backing on to a wood its only a matter of time before you loose them all I think. I thought you only trimmed one wing otherwise they just flap harder and can still fly? Chicken poo is pretty revolting stuff, although not as bad as carnivores (dogs, cats), I still don't expect most will accept it in their garden. Then there is the damage to the garden borders. However I think the root cause with this neighbour is bird phobia. I have met several people who will avoid going anywhere near our house because of the chickens. It seems to be a flapping wing and feather problem. Our local 'special constable' refused to come into the house because we had a 2 week old duck on the kitchen floor!! There is probably no cure -people carry this phobia for life and react accordingly near birds, especially big birds like chickens. Get an emu and they might move.

 

[hepina]

Thanks Chris, I will consider Emu as our new pet as long as I can get my other half on board And the neighbour... Well, not worth my time or space...

'The woods' as I like to refer to it is actually just a very wild brambles / trees / hedges mix backed by an open field. It is kind of valley and we can see houses on the other side (less than 10 minutes walk across the field). The field is not accessible from our side - firstly it is steep down through the brambles and secondly there are two or three rings of fencing put in by council when houses were build - some wired some just wooden barriers buried deeply in weeds. You will need a good machete to get from the field uphill to our garden as well.

So 'escaping to woods' means just getting lost in that jungle. I know what you mean about the visit from Mr.fox and we had a visit once (well, we think it was a fox although only two hens were taken and one injured). The field is a popular spot for dog walking and we have seen live fox there only about twice in 10 years of living in the same house.

Seems that old fashioned male urine works miracles