Neighbor threatening to trap birds

[Bananabread]

yes--a cease and desist or suffer the financial consequences of lawyering up are the type of letter you want to convey

 

[BlueBaby]

If she want's to see a horse so bad, tell her to buy one.

 

[GreenJay]

Definitely document everything you can and try to record any verbal interaction whether on phone or in person. Someone with legal knowledge can inform you what's allowed about recording someone in your state.

Doesn't this woman have animals of her own for "entertainment"? With 6 acres she's certainly got room for something?! And with that much area, she doesn't need to feed the "wild birds" right across the road from you, assuming that would be her excuse for throwing bread out there.

Also, has she always had such a nasty attitude or is it getting worse from something else? (moving your horses from her view isn't a good reason) How old is she and does she have family living there? Perhaps a family member should do a wellness check on her?

As for the ugly factor, how about some safety barrier fencing right across the yard from her? Might scare the chickens back AND give her something to look at...

 

[FrostHollow]

Definitely document everything you can and try to record any verbal interaction whether on phone or in person. Someone with legal knowledge can inform you what's allowed about recording someone in your state.

Doesn't this woman have animals of her own for "entertainment"? With 6 acres she's certainly got room for something?! And with that much area, she doesn't need to feed the "wild birds" right across the road from you, assuming that would be her excuse for throwing bread out there.

Also, has she always had such a nasty attitude or is it getting worse from something else? (moving your horses from her view isn't a good reason) How old is she and does she have family living there? Perhaps a family member should do a wellness check on her?

As for the ugly factor, how about some safety barrier fencing right across the yard from her? Might scare the chickens back AND give her something to look at...

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So... We attempted to be friendly when we first moved in by bringing baskets of fresh goodies to the neighbors and introducing ourselves and explaining that we'd bought the property to be our family horse farm and would have chickens/ducks/turkeys/guineas etc as well as horses and eventually sheep and a couple head of cattle as the kids are in 4H and have projects etc. She seemed "fine" but was quick to tell us everyone in the neighborhood's business so we knew she was a bit of a Karen.

She's in her 60s, lives with her boyfriend. Grown children have barely any contact with her. She's known in the area to be a PITA and a constant complainer. She herself has 2 geese and one hen. She keeps the geese confined in a VERY tiny pen that is maybe 3' x 3' and then the lone hen is locked in a large dog cage under an overhang. I know she throws corn and stuff to the wild deer in the area and it's caused the deer to be VERY brazen and quite prolific in numbers. We don't hunt, she doesn't hunt, none of the neighbors hunt. It's an issue.

I told my hubby today that we should put up a line of that fencing just to piss her off until we can install something permanent. We're looking at a minimum of $6k to properly fence and gate the front 600ft of property. Even still, the chickens can easily leap over a fence. Then what?

She has been officially trespassed as per the sheriff's department as of this morning. She actually then followed up with the fire department when we were burning brush by telling them the house was on fire. This woman is unhinged.

 

[FrostHollow]

Is there a fence keeping the chickens from this lady's yard? I had a 4" strip of fence just to stop my birds from going into the road. It was connected to the house and extended down the road a little ways past where the chickens normally hang out and it kept them in.

Currently the only fencing we have is horse fencing and they can just go right under that. We got a quote for fencing that will keep them "in" so long as they don't go over the top and are going to start working on getting that done. Sheriff has informed her that it's a "fence out" situation, but she's still carrying on. We just gotta do what we just gotta do.

 

[FrostHollow]

Being direct, open and sincere with the police may be your best option here. The cops in my town hate to do their jobs and they would absolutely give this broken karen hell for bothering them repeatedly over nothing

Oh don't you worry. Since posting this, she has called the fire department on us for burning brush and told them it was a structure fire so they flew over here loaded for bear. It resulted in her being officially trespassed off our property and told to discontinue the harassment through calling emergency services or else she'd be in pretty hot water. Our deputies are lovely.

 

[FrostHollow]

She's a jerk, true, but your chickens need to stay at home, and apparently that means fencing them away from the road, at least.
Our neighbors enjoy seeing our horses in their winter pasture too, and understand that it's for winter only! This person does need to butt out! Have you brought this up with your animal control people?
Legally you do need your animals at home, but it can't hurt to mention her complaints and behavior as looney.
Mary

Animal Control has stated that we are 100% in the right and there's nothing to be done about us or how we care for our animals. She can't make up law just because she's decided she wants to be a crappy neighbor and find something to whine about because she can't get her own way about watching our horses. She really should be minding her own business and we are not a zoo and the animals aren't being exhibited for her entertainment. That said, we are going to be putting up a perimeter fence, starting with the front of the property first, including an electric/solar gate system that if she attempts to bypass will put her in hotter water. She has been officially legally trespassed by the Sheriff's Department and warned about using emergency services to harass people after she chose to call the fire department on us when we were burning a brush pile around 11am. Unhinged.

 

[LaFleche]

Don't forget to install a camera or two along the perimeter in case she might try and poison your animals.

 

[FrostHollow]

Not sure the relationship but I would consider going over there to discuss with this person directly what may be going on. Possibly there is something else at the bottom of this....did you recently modify a tree line? is there some separate issue they're resentful over and holding it against you? A direct conversation may help said person realize they are being ridiculous.

That said, I agree, you need a fence. Along a property line with acreage, that doesn't sound cheap. I have no experience with this. Maybe there are deterrents you can put up that will make the chickens nervous to travel in that direction? fake owls? hawks? all just guesses. I don't know.

The last consideration would be to see if you have any lawyers friends who can help draft you a "lawyer sounding letter" about you doing everything you can to prevent your chickens from crossing the road but harassment and threats will not be tolerated. If you could find a way to video said person coaxing your chickens...that would work great to scare them off from doing this again as it clearly would demonstrate they are creating this melodrama...

ultimately...good luck!

Nope... We just put up paddocks on the back of the property and don't turn the horses out up front and that has her all pissed off. She also doesn't like that we have 3 boys that run the property and play and have a tree house (in the backyard). She has routinely complained that they "play too loud". I'm not sure how she's hearing them from as far away as her house is, I can't hear them if I'm in the barn or standing on my porch. We've had MANY conversations with her and even gone over there to help her with things when she needed assistance after storms when there was damage etc. We've been great neighbors. No one else has an issue with us at all. She's just pissed she can't have her way.

We have priced fencing along the front 600ft of road frontage and it's going to wind up being about $6k to make it chicken-resistant and not an eyesore (3 board split rail with no climb).

In the meantime, I'm going to put up a camera on the corner of the house that will monitor the road/driveways and hopefully catch her in the act of throwing food to coax em over. She's been officially trespassed as of this AM after she called the local fire department and reported a structure fire because we were burning brush. They didn't like that. She's been warned about using emergency services as a tool for harassment.

 

[FrostHollow]

Don't forget to install a camera or two along the perimeter in case she might try and poison your animals.

Great point. I was planning on installing a camera on the corner of the house to watch the road/driveway and see if we could catch her coaxing the birds over. I wouldn't put it past her trying to hurt the birds, honestly. She's a nasty old bat.