Chickens in the road..

[bufforp89]

Yesterday I found a nasty note in my driveway that said "You really ought to take better care of your chickens so people stop hitting them in the road daily." followed by a nasty word that is not allowed on a family forum...

Am I like the only one that free ranges chickens???

My chickens do freerange and occasionally go across the road...we live on a rural dirt road..In the 3 years that I have had chickens on this property I have lost 1 to a car that I am aware of...and considering I do a heacount every night I am pretty sure that was the only one.

Needless to say it annoyed me. Alot. I like to think I take great care of my chickens, if only the leaver of the note could see my feed bill lol...Not to mention there are 4 other famlies that have chickens on our road and they all freerange...

Anyone else ever have anything like this happen?

 

[Farmer_Dan]

I got a note once that simply said "fence your chickens"

It made me so mad

I kept the girls in their coop for 2 days and then "fixed" the "holes" in the fence (ok, the fence is truely only a suggestion). That was the end of it, nobody has said anything since (knock on wood)

My girls run all over my neighborhood. I figure if they really cared that much if I "fence" my chickens, then they can tell me who the explitive deleted they are so I can have a little fun.

 

[ralleia]

My chickens don't get as far as the road, though they get pretty close to it. The freerange whenever I'm going to be around to make sure that no dogs or humans interfere with them (and that they're not going to mess up my front garden!)

No, I haven't had a note like that, but I would feel quite threatened if I did. The writer of that note does NOT sound like a nice person. I might consult with the other chicken owners around the area to see if they've gotten similar notes or have an idea who the anonymous rude person is. GRRRRRRRRRR...

 

[7L Farm]

Sounds like your neighbors are lonely. LOL. Its gonna be hard to put your chickens on a leash. Roll on is my thoughts.

 

[bufforp89]

I think Im going to get some "chicken Xing" signs to put at both ends of my property lol

I suspect that the leaver of the note is a city person that works at the children's home a few miles down the street. I have had chickens for 3 years here, Im thinking that if a neighbor had an issue with it they would have said something by now..

Im just going to ignore it, I have plans to put up some runs to better seperate my breeds but it did tempt me not to

 

[JoePa]

Sorry folks - but you should keep your chickens on your own property - if you need a high fence then put one up - if someone's dog was running all over the place you wouldn't like either - just because someone doesn't say anything doesn't mean they they like it - remember the old saying " " - man I forgot it!

 

[ErinG]

I hate to be a downer, but I also feel that people should keep their animals on their own property. It's respectful to everyone around you and it keeps your animals safe.

I have dogs going through my yard daily and it drives me nuts. I have a fence to keep my chickens in, why can't they put up a fence to keep their dog in?

I also have chickens coming onto my property. I don't mind this as much, but who's to say they aren't carriers for something that my birds aren't immune to? It's just responsible to keep your animals contained.

 

[SunnyCalifornia]

Personally, I'm too overprotective to let my chickens venture too far, but when my neighbor used to let his out, I actually enjoyed seeing them near the road, and in the field next door.

If its a rural country area, I think loose chickens are part of the charm.

Slow down, and enjoy them!

 

[sourland]

A plain and simple fact of life: People like to mind other peoples' business.

 

[Blue]

I let my chickens free range some when I'm at home and don't see how anyone could consider letting chickens out to scratch around the yard as neglecting them. We, however, have too many wandering dogs to let them do it while I'm at work. They never leave our yard, except for when we had guineas (they went everywhere and took the chickens with them, which is why I finally decided the guineas needed to go). I, too, feel that it's better to keep my animals on my own property (to the best of my ability). I don't like my animals wandering on other people's property, and I can't figure out why half the people in my area just let their dogs wander all over the countryside. Most of those dogs don't even come from that close by! They come through the woods from who knows where or from the complete opposite end of our road!

Sorry! I'm out of rant mode now. To the OP, your situation sounds different from the roaming dogs issue that I have. If you and your neighbors all have chickens and none of you mind your chickens wandering back and forth to each others property, then I don't really see the issue, other than somebody (who may not even live in the neighborhood) has driven by, seen some chickens walking across the road, and gotten annoyed.

If someone has a problem with your chickens, they should really have the courage to confront you about it in person; I know if someone had a problem with an animal of mine I'd want them to come and talk to me about it and see if we could work it out. However, from what you've described about all the chickens in your neighborhood and the fact that you keep track of how many you have, I'd guess that it must be a neighbor's chickens that are getting hit and not yours. It would be interesting to see if the neighbors also got similar notes, or if this unknown person just assumes that all the neighborhood chickens belong to you for some reason.

That chicken crossing sign sounds like a good idea, especially if you can get your chicken keeping neighbors in on it, too. You could all put chicken crossing signs in your yards and possibly annoy the note writer even more.

I'm not a trouble maker, I swear!