City Issued a Citation and claims we aren’t allowed to have chickens due to neighbor’s complaint. What are my options?

[All4Eggz]

Some time last year the city came because of a noise complaint, demanding we get rid of almost all the flock and all the roosters. We had almost 10 roosters, had to get rid of all of them.
Had about 60 chickens, they said we can only have 15 so we brought it down to about 20 and the guy let us slide. He’s a nice guy, always is trying to help us and doing everything he can to let us keep the chickens.

That was sometime last year. We’ve had chickens for around a decade so we thought we’re off the hook. City clearly said we are allowed 15 hens because of the size of the coop and property, multiple inspections followed the complaint last year.

Some back story. Fresh eggs are huge in our family. Chickens are a big deal here. We don’t even eat store bought eggs, before they would even make some of our stomachs hurt.
So I am trying to do anything I can to keep these hens. We don’t sell eggs anymore, no profit from them. Just the fresh eggs, and occasionally, meat.

I am just needing help on how I can fight them this time…

It’s the same neighbor complaining this time.
This time there’s rats “coming from the coop and into her garage.” And i don’t deny we have rats, i’ve seen a few here and there. The chickens are close to her property line but we have double fencing to divide both sides.
The guy from the city claimed she provided “evidence” of the rats because she took photos/videos of them in her garage.
HOW is this evidence that they’re coming from our coop, and how is that enough to force us to get rid of all our chickens?

The man mentioned something about other neighbors being involved, so she must’ve got other people on board to fight against us.

I am willing to do what it takes the keep the 15 that we were allowed in the first place.

Thinking of moving the coop to the other side of the property, it would be almost an acre away from the complaining neighbor’s fencing.
I can get an exterminator for the rats if it I find it to be affordable…. I’ll do this if I need to. I’m not going to do it if I have to get rid of the chickens either way.

Please share your experiences if any, and any insight on what to do/how to do it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Chicken_tiger_catt]

Some time last year the city came because of a noise complaint, demanding we get rid of almost all the flock and all the roosters. We had almost 10 roosters, had to get rid of all of them.
Had about 60 chickens, they said we can only have 15 so we brought it down to about 20 and the guy let us slide. He’s a nice guy, always is trying to help us and doing everything he can to let us keep the chickens.

That was sometime last year. We’ve had chickens for around a decade so we thought we’re off the hook. City clearly said we are allowed 15 hens because of the size of the coop and property, multiple inspections followed the complaint last year.

Some back story. Fresh eggs are huge in our family. Chickens are a big deal here. We don’t even eat store bought eggs, before they would even make some of our stomachs hurt.
So I am trying to do anything I can to keep these hens. We don’t sell eggs anymore, no profit from them. Just the fresh eggs, and occasionally, meat.

I am just needing help on how I can fight them this time…

It’s the same neighbor complaining this time.
This time there’s rats “coming from the coop and into her garage.” And i don’t deny we have rats, i’ve seen a few here and there. The chickens are close to her property line but we have double fencing to divide both sides.
The guy from the city claimed she provided “evidence” of the rats because she took photos/videos of them in her garage.
HOW is this evidence that they’re coming from our coop, and how is that enough to force us to get rid of all our chickens?

The man mentioned something about other neighbors being involved, so she must’ve got other people on board to fight against us.

I am willing to do what it takes the keep the 15 that we were allowed in the first place.

Thinking of moving the coop to the other side of the property, it would be almost an acre away from the complaining neighbor’s fencing.
I can get an exterminator for the rats if it I find it to be affordable…. I’ll do this if I need to. I’m not going to do it if I have to get rid of the chickens either way.

Please share your experiences if any, and any insight on what to do/how to do it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

If push comes to shove, keep two, and claim they are your “emotional support birds.” It works for a relative of mine, and if it’s not enough for you, you should move because the hens seem very important to your family.

 

[Sally PB]

Thinking of moving the coop to the other side of the property, it would be almost an acre away from the complaining neighbor’s fencing.

While that might not deter the rats from roaming, it might help with other potential problems, like noise or smell, in case the neighbor has mentioned those.

Rats might have discovered the chickens' feed, and moved in for that. Can you keep the feed in a rat-proof feeder and container?

Keep in mind any poisons put out for the rats might harm your chickens.

Good luck. I hope you resolve this issue.

 

[GirlsHuntToo]

So a rat problem? A shame shotguns aren't allowed in city limits. I wouldn't tell off your neighbor yet. But I wouldn't pay for an exterminator yet either. They cost a lot.
How about a lot of rat traps, and some highly toxic poisen? Of course away from chickens.

 

[sourland]

I would start with trying to control the rat problem. That may require the help of a professional.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I would start poisoning the rats right away. In my neighborhood, I have a neighbor who is getting similar complaints. Everyone, including myself, has seen rats in her woods and around her barn, and last year, our neighborhood got overtaken by rats. Our neighbors had a legit reason to complain about my neighbor with the farm, but to some of us, the blame for the rats shouldn't only be on her. We live in a trailer park, and there's a lot of people here who have overflowing dumpsters, trashed yards and houses. So as far as she getting all the blame, some of us agree that the rats are coming from all the trash- not just the chickens.

I've been raising chickens for nearly thirteen years, and only in the past couple of years, I've been dealing with rats. This I blame entirely on a nearby neighbor who often has an overflowing dumpster (this dumpster has even called in vultures). As soon as I see new rats moving in, I put out this one-bite poison screwed to a board in a fully enclosed run that's attached to my chicken coop. The rats will eat it all within a couple of nights, and because they live under the coop itself, they're having minimal access to predators who might eat them afterwards.

• Kill off the rats.
• Ensure your neighborhood is clean, and if not, move some of the blame to that.
• Know your town/city's ordinance on chicken keeping, right to farm, and possibly food sovereignty as well.

 

[All4Eggz]

If push comes to shove, keep two, and claim they are your “emotional support birds.” It works for a relative of mine, and if it’s not enough for you, you should move because the hens seem very important to your family.

Thanks for the advice.. unfortunately two will not be enough to support our family.
And moving isn’t an option at this time.

 

[All4Eggz]

While that might not deter the rats from roaming, it might help with other potential problems, like noise or smell, in case the neighbor has mentioned those.

Rats might have discovered the chickens' feed, and moved in for that. Can you keep the feed in a rat-proof feeder and container?

Keep in mind any poisons put out for the rats might harm your chickens.

Good luck. I hope you resolve this issue.

Feed is in a big plastic tub, rat proof. I’ve seen rats eating the food out in the run, even in broad daylight.

Poison isn’t really an option because the chickens free range often. So we have been using traps ever since we discovered rats but they must keep reproducing or something to be causing this big of an issue.

 

[nuthatched]

Move the coop away from the neighbors would, I think, lessen the immediate issue. Then get the rats under control.

 

[All4Eggz]

So a rat problem? A shame shotguns aren't allowed in city limits. I wouldn't tell off your neighbor yet. But I wouldn't pay for an exterminator yet either. They cost a lot.
How about a lot of rat traps, and some highly toxic poisen? Of course away from chickens.

Poison isn’t an option because we free range the chickens, but we have been using traps ever since we discovered the rats. We do catch a few every now and then but it just seems like there is so many of them.

We live sort of near a river, rats live near rivers so maybe that will help in defending the possibility that these rats aren’t here because of the chickens..