Neighbor filed a warrant against me after she saw me with a camera yesterday!

kallan

Chirping
6 Years
Sep 18, 2013
102
7
79
Hardy, VA
I have a neighbor couple that acted so nice and told me where to put my coop, etc. and now has turned and filed a warrant yesterday for me to appear in court on June 25th. I was out with my camera yesterday, so this warrant may have been filed to protect them.

About a week ago, the husband stormed over here while I was working on the shed waving his arms and saying we had to do something about the rooster! He looked drunk. I told him I was working on it and he turned and went back home. At that time, it was a hen laying an egg, not the rooster.

Yesterday, the air horn started at 5:30am and continued until 7:30 when her husband left for work. The same "Shut the h.... up" and "Shut the f... up" continued on from his wife whenever a crow would start to emerge. One good thing is that the loud Steve FM music was not on today. They have an enclosed outdoor pool with speakers, etc. that has been blasting us since around the first week in April. While I was cleaning the coop yesterday morning, I noticed rocks scattered around. I did hear the run being shaken in the early morning hours, and when I checked to see if a large animal was trying to get into the run with my flashlight, I could not see anything. I have put up 8 polycarbonate panels at $33.00 a piece and if they are cracked, I will be upset.

This is the same neighbor we had come over and approve the site for the new shed and they thought it was good and suggested we go out back of the shed and attach the run to their fence instead of how I was going to do it. The husband said they were thinking of having one built like ours for storage except it would be larger 16' x 22'. He mentioned his mother-in-law didn't like the rooster, but everything bothered her. We have always been so respectful and kind to them. Given them books to read and given them eggs, etc. They have thousands of dollars of our electronic equipment that we may never get back. It is so sad that some people consider kindness as weakness and try to create havoc in your life. We have 4 acres here and I have grown attached to my chickens, but am thinking of giving up my beautiful SFH roo to have peace, but since the hens laying bothers them, too, I don't know now.

I am considering filing my own noise disturbance for cursing, loud music, air horn, etc. against them and also alert the authorities to the damage of the hurling rocks. I have ordered a game cam from amazon and should have that up in the next week or so. I am still waiting on a zoning map that shows my chickens are okay where they are. I am split zoned....AV- agricultural village and RI- residential.

Anyone else have this problem? Any suggestions on what I should do?


 
Depending on your resources hiring a private investigator for a week to dig up every bit of dirt on your neighbors as they can may be the best way to gain the most leverage in the shortest amount of time.
 
Oh happy day..........I was visited by yet another officer today to explain that my neighbors essentially don't have a case in court and that the magistrate should not have even allowed the warrant to be filed in the first place. I had to go to the dentist yesterday and this same officer happened to come by while I was out and peeked in my coop and around the property, etc.! He told me today that he had never seen one so clean....that the Snyders' should see his! He read up on the noise ordinance and being agricultural, it does not apply. Now I wonder if the court case will be dismissed beforehand. I am sure the neighbors are very mad that they can't force my chickens out. The officer mentioned that they had been complaining about other neighbors around me, like, how they park their vehicles and another chicken guy in back of me. I said that they were just miserable and he said "thank you, exactly". Now that I know there are chickens so close, I'll invite that neighbor over to see mine. I am so relieved that I am going outside and finish planting my garden and put in the last few pots of flowers around my coop.

Here's a photo of my coop where my hens will be housed and another one of my roo. I am in the process of moving my SFH roo further down the hill where his enclosure will be larger. Was planning on doing this anyway before the neighbor. I am sure he won't be happy until my gorgeous roo is gone.


 
I told him not to photograph their property where you could clearly see the nice boombox near the property line...don't think you can do that.

In general you can photograph anything in plain view and visible to the public, this is protected by the 1st amendment and has been upheld by the courts more times than anyone cares to count...

So if you can clearly see the boom box from your yard you are more than welcome to photograph it...

The only time photographing things that are in plain view gets questionable is if you are photographing an area where there is a presumption of privacy, or if you are using 'extraordinary means' to obtain the photo...

For example aiming your camera at their bathroom window and photographing with a night vision telephoto lens is likely illegal as as there is a presumption of privacy in the persons bathroom and you are using extraordinary means to take the photo... On the other hand if they have their bathroom window wide open and you happen to snap a photo of them in the bathroom from your deck with your cell phone it's likely legal... This is why paparazzis can for all intent take pictures anywhere they want of whomever they want even if they are in the persons face doing it... It's also the reason a news reporter can put a camera up on the sidewalk outside a suspects home and film away or even walk up to the door with the camera in hand filming...

Yes, many ignorant people will claim they have privacy rights, but the reality is they do not have those rights for things that are in plain view, and that even includes overhead photography from planes or what not...

And as others have said, call the police and don't stop at one call, call them EVERY time your neighbor is out of line even if it's everyday or every hour... The bigger the paper trail you create the more proof you have in court if it comes to that...
 
I got 12 hounds and had a dozen roosters each with 3 hens each, I feel yeah been dealing with neighbours for ever! If you coop has windows, put blinds on them. Keeps light out till you say it's morning, for your rooster.

Keep all rocks for court! Expecially if you don't have the same rocks on your property, looks like quarry rock , so your neighbours got a pile of it somewhere, take a pic of his rock pile for comarison/proof of origin. (his yard) . And deer cam good idea also!!

Your split farm/residential, property, is zoned for your needs, and fight it that way!!

I moved to comersial land once, (didn't know the zoneing ) and they bugged me till I moved, but your zoned for chickens, so fight it, even if you don't want to go threw it all. Or more laws that restric, may be put in place.

He could be charged with animal cruelty if he's caught throwing rocks at them.... Place camera acordingly, but not at there house so you don't get invasion of privacy.

Keep us posted either way it turns out, please.
 
First off, I'm so sorry that this is happening to you. I can't imagine going through this with my chickens and goats. I thank my lucky stars that I live in the country and my only neighbors are family and their a 1/4 mile away.
I added a few more rocks to my dish today. As I was out at the coop, I noticed some boards missing on their fence and glanced through and saw about five rocks lined up on their secondary back fence railing....just like the ones I collected. Do you think it would it be okay to snap a photo of these rocks as long as I am on my property? They may be doing this to intimidate me.

I'll definitely keep you updated. Thanks for all the replies.
I would think that you could take as many photos as you want as long as it is on your property.

I agree that a game cam would be very benefitial OR even this : http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00C9KOWA8/ref=oh_details_o05_s00_i00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 I have one that I used for watching my goats while at work, you can watch on your phone in real time and snap pictures.

Have you gotten any authorities involved? It seems like this person is unstable and wouldn't have problems hurling rocks at you or your family.
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Get the game cam. IF they are throwing rocks at your coop that is just idiocy. What is that going to accomplish? idiots.
 
Record the loud horn, music etc.....get the day and time of disturbance. Get the camera and game cam. The guy is unstable, no telling where he is willing to go. I would try to move the birds away from his fence line, just increase he stoops to poisons.
 

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