Neighbor hates my chickens- will she do them harm?

[tatertot]

Nyred...no I'm not Limited like you say...that post was made way back in what...September? ..bring yourself to the present ...
IV dealt with crummy neighbors that go out of their way to do every thing possible to make living next door to them unbearable..there is no respect of anyones feelings because they Just don't care....sorry you feel the need to judge me..at least her neighbor is a sour old lady and not a house hold full of teenagers smoking Meth next to your driveway...or breaking your windows on your car to see what they can steal...or have them sic their pitbull on you when
you're hanging clothes on the line to dry...

 

[tatertot]

Oh I was 36 weeks pregnant with multiples when he sic his pit on me....heard most of em are doing time in the pen...perfect place for them...limited...I know everyone doesn't like chickens...but should the neighbor to the op dictate how the op uses their property?

 

[tatertot]

Oh yeah...and staying within the limits of the law of course...we owned our house in a nice neighborhood but the house next door to us was a rental property that an upscale slum lord rented to the lowest forms...I took my children and moved out..at leastI don't have to worry about a bunch of teens smoking Meth next to my house....sorry if that sounds disrespectful but I couldn't take any more....I'd rather live next to a stinky hog farm...or a flock of noisy Guinea fowl...or peacocks...or even a pasture full of braying jackasses than another crummy neighbor like I had....Limited...my foot

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

Of course there is always one voice of reason... my DH. He went next door and talked to crazy lady's husband instead of sending a letter. He said that once you send a letter and stop talking then you can't go back... and that we have to live next door to these people. But my DH stood firm... Spock stays. Neighbor husband admitted that the survey had been done to try to get the town to make us move our chickens because crazy lady said they were too close. They also wanted to get a permit to put up a property line fence. My DH told them no problem as long as the fence was on their property. I had seen her stalking up and down the property line loudly talking to herself in the dark with a flashlight. Her husband said that she was convinced we were draining raw sewage into her back yard because she saw a piece of broken white pipe....realize their property is uphill. So for two weeks after the surveyor staked the property line she and her husband fought about where they were going to put their fence.....and then the ground froze, no fence for you!

Barn/garage didn't get built by Christmas..... but it's OK because they are starting tomorrow! And I no longer see her trash cans because I had the foundation people move the giant leftover dirt pile in front of them!

...about me giving her some eggs.

I tried in the past.... she told me I was lucky I wasn't dead from eating them myself.

I ordered my chickens from Meyers again this year. 7 hens.... no roosters! But if they make a mistake again, DH agreed, we are keeping him!

 

[donrae]

Wow--I bet you had no idea you were good enough to make liquids flow uphill

That would be a special kind of talent, right there.

Good for your honey, what a great guy. Now I'm feeling sorry for her husband--I can't imagine being sane and living with someone like that. She needs some serious meds or something.

 

[Amarisus]

I'm glad things are working out better for you, Neighbors can be a pain. I used to have bad neighbors on both sides of me lol I never understood why some people have this need to make what you do on your property their business. Ya I get not everyone likes chickens, but it's not like you're putting them in her yard or making her care for them. They're not hurting anyone, people like that I think WANT to be bothered so they have something to complain about. I think if they had nothing to gripe about they'd wither up and die lol

 

[newbie32]

I think the fence on the property line is a good thing-as long as it is on their side. I would make sure that it is!!!!! Pay for your own surveyor to oversee it. The fence will keep her off your property!!! If she is on your side call the law for trespass!!!!

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

It's spring finally! My baby chickens have arrived....so far no crowing...only time will tell if there is a “oops” rooster again! Thought a spring update on the craziness was due!

The barn is up! No, I have not painted "Cock a doodle doo" on the roof....but it's always an option. We planted six spruce trees on the inside of our fence to block our view of their trash. I did not get a privacy fence. We could only go 6 feet high because of zoning and I have two that fly to the top of my five foot gate with ease. So I put up a six foot welded wire fence. If they can’t see a spot to land on the top…they don’t seem to want to fly over!

The two weeks ago the fun began again. We hired someone to run a pipe underground from the new barn gutters so we could drain all the water to the large trench we created that goes downhill. This is the same trench that she accused of running raw sewage through last fall. The next day (while the trench for the pipe was still open) she confronted my DH in the yard. She told him that she had called the town because now we had standing water everywhere. (At the time it was 40 degrees out...daytime high). And that her cancer was back and if she was bitten by one insect she would die. True or not DH told her that we would welcome the town and that we had applied for all the permits required for us to do the work. DH is so reasonable. The town never came out to visit.

Then yesterday the fun REALLY began. The posts for the new fenced in area extending to about 60 or so feet from her garage were put in. After dinner I heard someone POUNDING on my front door. By the time I got up to answer it, she was gone, yelling at DH in the driveway. I took a deep calming breath and went outside. I will not be intimidated by her anymore.

Then she screamed at me that I was torturing her on purpose by putting my chickens closer to her house. She said I was an evil, vindictive person who was torturing an old lady with cancer. I explained that after losing both my parents to cancer in the same year I was now doing things for me…things to make me happy. Being able to see my chickens from my kitchen window makes me happy and that is why I expanded my pen.

She screamed that my fence was seven feet instead of 10 feet like the town required, but that she hadn't called...she had just "let us get away with it". In fact this was why she had gotten the boundary line survey. There is a 8 foot long section of the fence that is a tad too close if we accept where she says the property line is....out of over 150 feet! I told her to sue me...call the town...whatever, I didn't care. Then she said she was going to fence her whole property in with a chain link fence and let her dogs run everywhere. "I don't care," I replied. "But a chain link fence isn't really going to do much to help with the noise is it?"

When the conversation got to this point…where she was screaming crazy nonsense and no longer listening I told her to tell her twenty-year old daughter to stop calling my DH and asking him for money for her boyfriend's lawyer (the kid is in jail for many, many things). That I would like her to tell her daughter to leave us alone, STOP CALLING...we were NOT giving her any money. She did stop screaming for a moment...I don't think she was happy that we knew about the boyfriend. Then I told her to just put up her fence like she has been threatening to since last October and LEAVE US ALONE.

I could go on and on and on...but needless to say I feel much better having finally told her that all of the things she had done to me over the past 10 years had HURT ME. I didn’t get into specifics…just told her how her behavior made me feel. I wasn't going to let her hurt me anymore...and I told her we were going to do whatever we wanted to with our property. JUST LEAVE US ALONE! Then I walked away as she screamed who knows what at me...in my own yard. I don't think anyone ever tells her no. After I left my reasonable DH told her that under the law we had a "Right to Farm" and since she lived next to a farm she should expect farming activities to take place. He then told her that of course we felt bad that her cancer was back. And I do...I wouldn't wish that on anyone.

So now fast forward to this morning. The new goat pen is done...goat arrival TBD….still have to finish the shelter. My new chicken area is up! My chickens were happily scratching away at the dirt this morning and running in between the freshly planted spruce trees. And she had a fencing contractor walking up and down the property line with her. After he left she took every trash can and piece of gardening equipment, wheelbarrow, and kitty litter box she had and placed them in a row along the property line where the new run is. But I can't really see it now because of the trees. Then she spent an hour or so walking up and down entire the property line with her GSD. My chickens didn't seem to notice...they were too busy digging in the fresh dirt. They aren't afraid of her anymore either!

 

[Blooie]

Thank you for all the encouragement. I needed that. I would love a donkey and some guineas...but they would actually drive me crazy as well! "Princess" you summed it up ChickenLegs13!!!! That's a perfect description. Spock is loud Whoops! And sort of piercing! But if it is dark out he doesn't crow. But I have read about some other roosters that crow all night. I am just lucky (knock on wood) that he doesn't do that. But he is also a single rooster with 23 hens and he is still young. The dominant hens beat him up just enough to keep him in line.

I never considered that she was trying to lure my chickens to her side. I guess she doesn't realize that almost all my chickens have at least one clipped wing except the fat ones who can't fly anyway! I do have a game cam in the woods. I like to see what is running on the trails when I am not there with my dogs. I will move it up to the house tonight! My coop is stone...built as part of a giant barn from the 1940s. The barn fell down I think in the 80s, but this little building remains. I think it was the milking parlor. It's not movable!

What has she done to annoy me? When Spock crowed she went outside and blew one of those air horns at him about a dozen times. Not only did he crow through it but he continued to crow for a half an hour. She never did that again. Then a few days later she walked her 6 month old GSD up and down the property line as close to the chicken fence as she could get. Of course the dog barked at the chickens. I caught the tail end of it when I went to see what all the fuss was about. Poor Spock freaked out and crowed for an hour and half. She never did that again either!

Then she also waits until I go outside and cranks up awful music as loud as she can. This went on for weeks until other neighbors complained to her about the noise. A couple years ago she began storing her trash cans and debris right on the property line. I told her it looked bad-did she have to store it there? She told me not to look at it. Sigh...so I never complained again...keep the peace. So a couple of weeks ago she parked a a two foot high trailer in the garbage spot and went out and bought four more cans. She piled all the cans on the trailer so that is the first thing I see every morning.

She had extremely bright spot lights installed on the front (second story) of her house and keeps them on from dusk until midnight or so. She has them pointed at our property. That one backfired as the lights only go as far as the chicken coop and probably help to keep predators away. However, it is blinding if you look in the direction of her house which I try not to do. She has 1/2 dozen or so other lights on outside as well. It looks like you are driving by a prison! I had Lyme disease really bad in the past and she knows that bright lights actually causes my eyes to hurt. So I have to be careful to avert my eyes and not look directly towards her property at night.

A year and a half ago a troubled child in our neighborhood set a fire and almost burned down our horse barn (among other things he did). I went to her and asked her to make sure that if the kid was in her yard to please supervise him as this was not the first fire he had set and I was concerned he might set fire to something else. "Princess" of course was friends with the fire setter. She told me she wouldn't supervise him. I would just have to deal with it. He was over there frequently, wandering around, sometimes when she wasn't even home. It caused me a lot of stress for over a year. Luckily no other fires were set and those people have since left about 6 months ago.

She attempted to enlist the help of other neighbors against me...but that backfired. Two of them (there are only 3 other houses) made a point to come and talk to me and tell me that they liked my chickens and Spock didn't bother them one bit. She is too afraid of the guy who lives across from me to talk to him. But I'm not....and we get along fine. So because they supported me (one of them is 80 year old widow) crazy lady told her husband he was no longer allowed to plow the 80 year old widows driveway. I told my neighbor not to worry...I would do it for her instead.

And the fence issue....I would love to put up a 10 foot high fence so I don't have to look at her. But I decided not to. She wants a fence, then she can pay for it. I am done being bullied!!!

Most places I've ever lived (and as a Navy wife for over 25 years before we retired I've lived in many!) what she is doing is straight out harassment. No sugar coating, no gentler way to put it. Maybe it would be a good time to take the dummy video camera idea and do it - except with a real one. I wouldn't want to wait until something happened to my chickens. Oh, and is she aware that if her line of feeders attracts other things than birds she could be charged with illegally feeding wildlife?

 

[newbie32]

I am so glad you stood up to her. Yes cancer sucks, but that doesn't mean she gets her way because of it. She is the kind of neighbor in sitcoms

. Maybe you should write to a network and have your own reality t.v series. Then all the world can witness her antics and she will be forced to watch how absurd she behaves!!!!!!

Until then just start calling her Newman! Just make sure you say it the Seinfield way! Mwuahahaha!!!!!!!!