How do I keep next door neighbor's free range roosters away

I talked to a cop about something similar before and he told me personally that if anyone harms a pet they can go to jail, so I know from personal experience by conversing with a local officer that someone who harms another bird or any other animal that is not theirs (on purpose) CAN go to jail. At any rate whether the animal is in their yard or not does not give them the right to kill or steal that animal, now they can say hey please get this animal off of my yard or I will either call the police or the animal control catchers whatever, but they cannot shoot or steal the animal! Now if the animal caused any harm to someone well that could possibly be a different story, but that isn't even the issue here.

I think it's terrible to tell someone to take something that does not belong to them, and even more terrible to tell them to kill it, and if anyone kills something like a chicken that does not belong to them for just merely coming on their property well they should be ashamed of themselves for doing such a thing, and in fact they're lucky they were not arrested or taken to court.

This is the very reason why society is going down hill, and the very reason why we have shows like Judge Judy lol, people resort to brash actions like taking the law into their own hands instead of going the legal route first.

ILuvMyFlock said:

 I talked to a cop about something similar before and he told me personally that if anyone harms a pet they can go to jail, so I know from personal experience by conversing with a local officer that someone who harms another bird or any other animal that is not theirs (on purpose) CAN go to jail. At any rate whether the animal is in their yard or not does not give them the right to kill or steal that animal, now they can say hey please get this animal off of my yard or I will either call the police or the animal control catchers whatever, but they cannot shoot or steal the animal! Now if the animal caused any harm to someone well that could possibly be a different story, but that isn't even the issue here.

 I think it's terrible to tell someone to take something that does not belong to them, and even more terrible to tell them to kill it, and if anyone kills something like a chicken that does not belong to them for just merely coming on their property well they should be ashamed of themselves for doing such a thing, and in fact they're lucky they were not arrested or taken to court.

 This is the very reason why society is going down hill, and the very reason why we have shows like Judge Judy lol, people resort to brash actions like taking the law into their own hands instead of going the legal route first.

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As with cattle, horses, and hogs the person confining wayward stock cannot just claim them as property. There is a subsequent process of notification / attempted notification that the state must be aware of or involved in. There will be intervening steps where cost of keeping said animals must be paid. Normal ideal situation is for original stock owner to get animals back into confinement on their property. There is a point where the original owner stands to loose ownership and owner of land visited accrues cost of feeding the animals. It is not hard to imagine a situation where the land owner can then sue the owner of the wayward stock for damages / grazing pressure placed on the land owners property. Otherwise the owner of the wayward stock is free-loading off his / her neighbor.

centrarchid said:

As with cattle, horses, and hogs the person confining wayward stock cannot just claim them as property. There is a subsequent process of notification / attempted notification that the state must be aware of or involved in. There will be intervening steps where cost of keeping said animals must be paid. Normal ideal situation is for original stock owner to get animals back into confinement on their property. There is a point where the original owner stands to loose ownership and owner of land visited accrues cost of feeding the animals. It is not hard to imagine a situation where the land owner can then sue the owner of the wayward stock for damages / grazing pressure placed on the land owners property. Otherwise the owner of the wayward stock is free-loading off his / her neighbor.

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I understand what you're saying but that still does not mean that the other person has the moral and legal right to steal or kill the animal. Sometimes the owner can be sued for not properly containing the animals, but sometimes not as again I had a similar discussion with the police officer about my two wondering fixed male cats. The officer informed me that cat's are cat's they go everywhere and that nobody has the right to harm my cats and so forth even if they wonder into their yard. All of that is a whole other story though but anyway, the deal is, if someone wants to keep someone else's animals off their property they need to build a fence, place a no trespassing sign up, perhaps erect some cameras up, tell the local authorities, or let the other person know hey I would really appreciate it if you keep your animals off of my property. At the end of the day there's a difference between cattle and a rooster. I recommend they tell the neighbor to contain their rooster, if the neighbor fails to do so I would call animal control, but even then sometimes animal control does nothing, and even then it still would be illegal to kill or steal that animal. I know because I had a family member who hated when her neighbors chickens and cats came over doo dooing everywhere, she called the animal control and they did nothing, absolutely nothing and she called multiple times. That family member was and possibly did do the wrong thing by hauling some of them off etc, that was not legally or morally right. Of course the neighbors had a wart hog that did damage the siding on that house and in that case yes they could have sued but I don't personally know what happened with that.

See we are talking about someone else's property we are not talking about foxes, coyotes, etc that come in and kill things here, nor are we talking about animals that can inflict physical harm, we are talking about a rooster that just so happens to come over into this other yard.

Let me also add that sometimes us owners cannot keep our animals contained no matter how hard we try, and we do not deserve to have our animals killed or stolen. I have 2 cats that my neighbor has personally stolen from me, she kept feeding them and feeding them until they came over less and less. She had no right or reason to feed my cats considering she didn't even own any cats, she's loony to boot... Because of her feeding my two male cats they would cross the road to get to her house and one got hit thank God he survived though. My cats have not returned back here in a while, I could have possibly sued her or used the law to acquire my cats back because she has no right to steal them whatsoever, but I did not, because I know them two cats never liked being indoors I tried, and they hated it! I have a 6foot+ privacy fence and they still jumped it, I fed them the best of the best, even better food than she gives them yet they still would not be contained! I decided to let them go even though it still hurts because I know that they're safer over there, I wouldn't want something to happen if I brought them back here only to have them cross over the road one day and get hit. So I know from personal experience that again we cannot always contain our pets, in a perfect society we could, but pets do have their own wills. I have no ounce of sympathy for those who steal other peoples pets.

The police officer may not be correct. Police officers enforce the law. In this case there appears to be need for interpretation which would involve the courtroom.


If I had a neighbors rooster come in repeatedly, first I would notify neighbor that owned bird. Then if bird is allowed to come over without effective efforts to confine, then I ill confine on my end and turn it in to animal control. If bird came in an covered my brood hens or damaged one of my males, then it could be dispatched on the spot as it would be damaging my property.

lazy gardener said:

Sorry. It's the pet owner's responsibility to keep his pets home. Check with any ACO and you will find that the owner is responsible for his animal's where a bouts. Any problem visiting roo in my yard would be invited to dinner. Not only would he be a menace to my own roo, but he could be carrying parasites or disease.

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Agreed. It's part of being a responsible pet owner and good neighbor. Wandering animals may get a chance or two here, because sometimes things happen and they escape. I get that. The owners should have a chance to correct the problem. But when it becomes a habit and they are always here, steps would be taken to protect my flock. I feel that if a person can't keep their animals contained, they really shouldn't have them. Not only is it bothersome to the neighbors, it's not safe for the animals themselves. They could get run over by a car or eaten by predators.

ILuvMyFlock said:

That's not morally right though, that's stealing... I lost two of my cats this way, my neighbor kept feeding my cats until they never came back. I took very good care of those cats and I loved them dearly, but because of that lady my cats are gone.

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Sorry you lost you cats, but really why did you not contain them at yours, or feed them more? If they were not hungry they would not eat the food from your neighbor. You could also have kept them in your house, or built them a big enclosure in your yard if you really loved them as were going to be heartbroken if they left home.

Also its not stealing the rooster, at most its borrowing him for a week, because after that he is free again to do as he likes.

It's also justified as the neighbor is 'morally' responsible to keep their livestock under control and on their property. So this is just a little lesson to teach the neighbor some responsibility... they are free to have the rooster back, but if they don't want it going onto the OPs property to live, then they have to make it a coop.

Things are not 'black and white' in life, and there are rarely quick easy solutions to problems. This is the problem now that people are too lazy to do things, and also people like to just blame other people for their lack of responsibility for their own lives and mistakes.

So I would say that my suggestion is morally acceptable.

CluckHeaven said:

Well - we don't want the roosters getting the girls knocked up for one thing.... We have the ladies for egg laying....


In terms of free ranging on our property - I'm likely going to install some basic deer netting around the area where the chickens are likely to go into our neighbors yard - but I'm also hoping that we can figure out something else since the kids like the other animals coming to our place

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A boy friend on the side will not affect your hens' egg laying ability.

Why don't you go around to your neighbours and get them back?

You can modify you fence so they can't jump out or build them a big aviary style cage to spend some outside time. That is what people do when they raise valuable expensive pedigree cats.

Have a look at the 'International Cat Care' website for some good tips. I put the link above the quote for you.

If your neighbor won't give you your cats back go to the police. I know if someone refused to give my animals back to me, even my chickens, I would not give up until I got them back.

I am not trying to bully you or make assumptions... I did start by saying I felt sorry for you loosing you cats.

Edited by staff

jak2002003 said:

Why don't you go around to your neighbours and get them back?

You can modify you fence so they can't jump out or build them a big aviary style cage to spend some outside time. That is what people do when they raise valuable expensive pedigree cats.

Have a look at the 'International Cat Care' website for some good tips. I put the link above the quote for you.

If your neighbor won't give you your cats back go to the police. I know if someone refused to give my animals back to me, even my chickens, I would not give up until I got them back.

I am not trying to bully you or make assumptions... I did start by saying I felt sorry for you loosing you cats.

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Because like I said, those two male cats do not want to be contained. I know I can get them back but they choose to be with her, so therefore I have honored their wishes because I care for their wellbeing, I do not want them to get ran over, nor do I want them to be here if they're not happy.

Edited by staff