Chickens exposed to raw human sewage from store in front of our home

[Eve97]

I am hoping that someone can help us with our chicken situation. My husband spent hundreds of hours of work plus a lot of money into expanding our coop to a 7x12 and the run to 24x24 as we were planning on getting many more hens. At the moment we have 8 laying hens with the youngest 5 being only 7 months old. The problem is we live behind a convenience store and a few months ago their septic tank overflowed and the raw human sewage drained all over our property. My husband had finished the new coop and run just a few weeks before the stores septic problems. We are now being told that we have to cull our chickens and to not keep any of their eggs. Also we have to tear down the coop and run and move it somewhere else, which we do not have anywhere else to put it. My question is has anyone had or heard of any of these problems before and did you have to cull your chickens, or what did you do? It breaks my heart to think we have to do this. Thank you to anyone who might be able to help us.

 

[tripletfeb]

Who told you that you have to cull and move the coop?

 

[HappyDuckie]

I don't know about culling. If they aren't acting abnormal or seem sick, I would just toss the eggs and let them be. Moving the coop so it doesn't happen again does seem like a good idea, though.

 

[DouglasB]

who is and why are you being punished for a problem they caused. They are responsible for the problem that damaged your property. Id get an attorney to go after them for damages.

 

[J-Danger]

Who told you that you have to cull and move the coop?

I second this.

I would get in touch with someone within the local government and ask to be directed towards or provided the policy or legislation that requires this outcome. Additionally, there may be other methods to remedy this situation.

If you get an undesirable response I wouldn't stop there either. I often find that the people who are tasked with providing information/advice don't even know what they don't know. This is more than likely an unusual situation that is not often encountered, magnifying the chance that you will be provided with incomplete (or incorrect) information or advice.

Furthermore, should this directive be enforced, then this would imply that the contamination of your property is a severe issue and your personal (and family's) health is at risk. I imagine you have the right to obtain remediation from the party at fault. I would seek legal advice in this instance, but the local library may be a valuable resource should you wish to research this matter yourself to reduce costs associated with consulting with a lawyer.

 

[tripletfeb]

I second this.

I would get in touch with someone within the local government and ask to be directed towards or provided the policy or legislation that requires this outcome. Additionally, there may be other methods to remedy this situation.

If you get an undesirable response I wouldn't stop there either. I often find that the people who are tasked with providing information/advice don't even know what they don't know. This is more than likely an unusual situation that is not often encountered, magnifying the chance that you will be provided with incomplete (or incorrect) information or advice.

Furthermore, should this directive be enforced, then this would imply that the contamination of your property is a severe issue and your personal (and family's) health is at risk. I imagine you have the right to obtain remediation from the party at fault. I would seek legal advice in this instance, but the local library may be a valuable resource should you wish to research this matter yourself to reduce costs associated with consulting with a lawyer.

I second all this. Just because someone says you should cull doesn't mean you need to. And contact that lawyer for clean up help at least. You should NOT have to pay for any of it. And if you do have to cull or move your coop, seems like the store should be paying for that too. Good luck!

 

[TimberLine Homestead]

I Fully and completely agree

 

[CHlCKEN]

I agree with the above. You should have to pay for none of that. We recently had a storm this April knock out the culvert over our creek in our driveway, the culvert was the only way for vehicles to get to the house, and if there had been an emergency there would not have been access to the back buildings or house. We received 160 dollars to pay for the damage, and we are now working on upping that, but it was completely unfair and it obviously didn’t pay for anything.

hopefully your issue is resolved, I’m so sorry that this happenEd to you and your chickens