Does a neighbor have the right to kill chickens if it enters their property?

[rancher hicks]

Perhaps we should ask ourselves, "Do my/our neighbors chickens have the right to going into my/their neighbors lot and eating my/their plant's leaves and making poop" ?

I hesitate to say on more than one occasion I've gotten myself in hot water here for pointing out that it is our responsibility to keep our animals safe, be they dogs/cats and chickens who get shot, run over, eaten or whatever because they were allowed to roam where they should not have. I've honestly never considered my chickens.

I would not take kindly to a neighbors cat or dog using my garden for a little box nor their chickens eating all my vegetables like my chickens have done. (Mine not my neighbors) They've eaten my garlic tops for the second time since I've been growing it, because I've not blocked it sufficiently. Again! I really need to learn to build a decent gate.

I wish everyone well with this strange weather,

Rancher

 

[keesmom]

Your birds need to stay on your property. It really is that simple.

As for your missing chick, a 6 week old is easy pickings for a lot of predators. You have no rats, cats or hawks?

 

[speckledhen]

I agree with Fred and keesmom. I put up a perimeter livestock fence, one 330 ft roll at a time as I could afford it, on 2 of our over 5 acres so when our birds were out of their pens, they were contained on this property. If they leave it somehow, I cannot gripe if they are hurt by a neighbor's dog, just as that same neighbor cannot gripe if I hurt their dog on my property harassing or killing my chickens. One example would be that, obviously, I must relax my expectations of having a lush hosta bed if I free range my birds on my property, but why should my neighbor put up with my chickens eating her hostas she spent good money for? That just isn't right, IMO.

And if the crazy old woman across the driveway from me gets chickens, as it appears she will do (building a coop in view of the end of my driveway, just across the road), if hers come on my property, it is a disease risk to my own flock so hers may not make it home if the first warning is ignored; that is, if I decide to give a first warning. I won't tolerate other chickens on my property as I practice biosecurity measures here.

Keep your animals on your property, no ifs, ands or buts. Everyone deserves the right to the enjoyment of their boundaries/property without being put upon by a neighbor's animals physically intruding on it.

As far as legalities, you'd have to check your local ordinances for that answer. It may be a moot point if a bird disappears and you never know if the neighbor or a local predator got it.

 

[SpringPeeper]

I am not accusing my neighbor. In fact, I am just suspecting that it did it and I don't think that killing my chicken is the right thing to do, just because it ate some adult plant leaves which can grow back, or replaced, made feces on the property and scatter soil on unwanted places. It is about 6 week old bantam cochin mix breed, so I don't think that it will be broody, and the only predator that can harm it are my neighbors dogs and PEOPLE. I really don't want them to go in there, and my adult chickens probably knew that they shouldn't be in there. I only saw all of my chickens go in there 4 times, and I am checking them a lot of times, when they are out. Probably all of the wild birds feces combined this year, is more than the feces that my chickens drop on their property this year. Insects and wild birds even eat the fruits of her plants, and some eat the leaves of her plants. The same thing happen to my parent's plants and my neighbor's plants. I don't kill them though and I just let them eat it, since it won't even harm the plants. I would compare it as like cutting a human hair and it will regrow or replaced. I won't even desire in my mind to kill the wild birds who make poop on my parent's property. I feed them, and I clean their poop. That is what I call peaceful co-existance. Why not show love and/or kindness to them just like what I did to wild insects and animals? I don't think that my neighbor really want the real peaceful co-existance, if it tried to kill every animals and insects that does undesirable things to him/her. Also, that is not possible, unless a law is passed to make them all extinct.

A loose bantam chick is at risk from many, many more predators than a dog or a person. A housecat, a raptor, a weasel, a corvid, a snake, or many other things would find it an attractive meal.

The cutting human hair analogy doesn't really fly with me, either. Human hair does indeed grow back. Does that mean I can sneak up behind you and cut out a few clumps of your hair, and then just shrug and mention peaceful coexistence when you get upset? What if your neighbor plucked out all your chicken's tail feathers, could he shrug at you and say "they grow back, why don't you want to peacefully coexist with me? You can't complain." What if he emptied a cat's litterbox over the fence onto your property, then just said not to be upset because a stray cat could have just gone to the bathroom there anyway, so you need to buck up and peacefully coexist with his cats and their droppings? Is that really something you'd be fine with?

Once more, peaceful coexistence is never, ever going to come from the attitude of "me and my animals should be free to do whatever we want to your property, but you should not complain or do anything back". Have you ever heard the saying "fences make good neighbors"? A peaceful coexistence with your neighbors comes from mutual respect and consideration. Not from abusing their property and thinking there is something wrong with them if they do the same.

You sound quite young and perhaps naive because of that. I hope your parents are more realistic and considerate (although maybe not if the neighbor let your mother know this was an issue and she didn't think to address or even mention it until a bird vanished). Think of it this way, if a board of crazy chicken-lovers is telling you what you are doing is not ok, then how would animal control or the city council respond? This is the type of chicken ownership that contributes to anti-backyard chicken ordinances getting passed. Even if you think your chickens have some sort of right to run rampant through your neighbor's gardens, won't you think of restricting it to save their lives and your ability to own them? If not, I hope you are at least not going to end up damaging anyone else's ability to own and enjoy chickens in the area.

 

[Ol Grey Mare]

A loose bantam chick is at risk from many, many more predators than a dog or a person. A housecat, a raptor, a weasel, a corvid, a snake, or many other things would find it an attractive meal.

The cutting human hair analogy doesn't really fly with me, either. Human hair does indeed grow back. Does that mean I can sneak up behind you and cut out a few clumps of your hair, and then just shrug and mention peaceful coexistence when you get upset? What if your neighbor plucked out all your chicken's tail feathers, could he shrug at you and say "they grow back, why don't you want to peacefully coexist with me? You can't complain." What if he emptied a cat's litterbox over the fence onto your property, then just said not to be upset because a stray cat could have just gone to the bathroom there anyway, so you need to buck up and peacefully coexist with his cats and their droppings? Is that really something you'd be fine with?

Once more, peaceful coexistence is never, ever going to come from the attitude of "me and my animals should be free to do whatever we want to your property, but you should not complain or do anything back". Have you ever heard the saying "fences make good neighbors"? A peaceful coexistence with your neighbors comes from mutual respect and consideration. Not from abusing their property and thinking there is something wrong with them if they do the same.

You sound quite young and perhaps naive because of that. I hope your parents are more realistic and considerate (although maybe not if the neighbor let your mother know this was an issue and she didn't think to address or even mention it until a bird vanished). Think of it this way, if a board of crazy chicken-lovers is telling you what you are doing is not ok, then how would animal control or the city council respond? This is the type of chicken ownership that contributes to anti-backyard chicken ordinances getting passed. Even if you think your chickens have some sort of right to run rampant through your neighbor's gardens, won't you think of restricting it to save their lives and your ability to own them? If not, I hope you are at least not going to end up damaging anyone else's ability to own and enjoy chickens in the area.

So well put - especially the bolded

 

[byc4me]

I won't restrict their freedom, just because of fear. Maybe he/she will feel guilty about doing it, if he/she do it again, or he/she is going to do it.

You're not 'getting' that your chick was more likely taken by a predator bird, cat, dog, etc. than by your neighbor. Your short-sightedness about the neighbor and your insistence that your chicks need 'their freedom' will result in more losses. Maybe that cat that buries it's feces at the neighbor's was involved -- cats are predators by nature after all. Part of 'loving' your animals is protecting them from peril. Just as I would keep my dog on a leash in traffic, free ranging your chickens (unsupervised) in an area that's not fully fenced is a disaster waiting to happen. I don't go from my fenced backyard to my unfenced front yard without double-checking that the gate gets latched. You owe that much to your birds. The above statement shows that you're not even considering other predators walking right onto your property. Who says the chick ever went to the neighbors at all? You're lucky that you haven't lost them all already. Learn something from this instead of focusing on the neighbor. Your lack of providing them a safe and supervised free range area is what caused your chicken to be lost, killed, eaten, whatever it may be. If they had been given 'freedom' in a run or enclosed area, you'd know where they all are, what they're eating, etc. Neighbors have their lawns sprayed with pesticides and who knows what other trouble they could be getting into off your property. Protection from danger is more important than 'their freedom.' You're taking a big risk. Just my two cents.

 

[Luckybaby]

Your birds need to stay on your property. It really is that simple.

As for your missing chick, a 6 week old is easy pickings for a lot of predators. You have no rats, cats or hawks?

My cats and my neighbors cats catch and ate rat, since last year, and I didn't see any big rat around since few months ago. Only dogs and humans are the one that I suspect that did something to it, since my cats and my neighbors cats doesn't want to eat chickens, and there are no other predator that wants to eat or harm my chickens They went into the property 2 days ago for probably just several minutes, and after I woke up on the following day, I didn't see it. Maybe my neighbor is ******, about the scattered soil, few chicken feces, and signs of chickens eating some leaves of his/her plant, so it either capture it or kill it, to intimidate me, so that I will not make my chickens free range.

 

[SpringPeeper]

My cats and my neighbors cats catch and ate rat, since last year, and I didn't see any big rat around since few months ago. Only dogs and humans are the one that I suspect that did something to it, since my cats and my neighbors cats doesn't want to eat chickens, and there are no other predator that wants to eat or harm my chickens They went into the property 2 days ago for probably just several minutes, and after I woke up on the following day, I didn't see it. Maybe my neighbor is ******, about the scattered soil, few chicken feces, and signs of chickens eating some leaves of his/her plant, so it either capture it or kill it, to intimidate me, so that I will not make my chickens free range.

You think the rats ran out and those cats just decided to stop hunting? You really think the area is entirely devoid of all other predators as well?

I am going to try to have enough self control to not try to talk any sense into you any more. You clearly don't have any desire to be reasonable and responsible in dealing with your chickens and neighbors, so there is no point. Enjoy your chickens while you still have some.

 

[speckledhen]

Even if you are in a city, you have predators. Coyotes and raccoons live in big cities. You may not see them, but trust me, they are there. A fox is quick as lightning to snatch a bird, especially a very young one like you lost. I never free range very young chicks unless they have a broody mother there to defend them and even then, I supervise because I know how fast and silent these predators can be. Domestic dogs probably kill more chickens than any other predator. Just read the stories in Predators & Pests.

 

[keesmom]

My cats and my neighbors cats catch and ate rat, since last year, and I didn't see any big rat around since few months ago. Only dogs and humans are the one that I suspect that did something to it, since my cats and my neighbors cats doesn't want to eat chickens, and there are no other predator that wants to eat or harm my chickens They went into the property 2 days ago for probably just several minutes, and after I woke up on the following day, I didn't see it. Maybe my neighbor is ******, about the scattered soil, few chicken feces, and signs of chickens eating some leaves of his/her plant, so it either capture it or kill it, to intimidate me, so that I will not make my chickens free range.

Chickens have many predators. Here there are rats, cats, dogs, hawks, owls, eagles, weasels, mink, fisher, opossum, skunk, raccoon, fox, coyote, bobcat, bear, and I have a hard time believing you have none of those.

You want to free range. That is fine as long as YOUR birds remain on YOUR property. You have NO rights to their land whatsoever. Your wishes and rights end at the property line. Your neighbors own their property, pay taxes on their property and are free to do with their property as they see fit as long as it doesn't conflict with town regulations. You have no rights to use it. It is YOUR responsibility to keep YOUR livestock on YOUR property. Failing to keep your birds restrained may result in regulations banning all poultry keeping.