help animal control wants to remove my chickens because of noise.

[maryhsc]

My 7 girls are 1 year old and my whole family LOVES them. We live in a neighborhood but out of town limits. My next door neighbor has called animal control. yesterday while I was not home he walked into the backyard and they began to sing thinking he was going to feed them. They are fenced in and have a better home than some people. Always have access to shelter water and food. It's been rainy here and there is a small smell but anyone with a dog in the yard has a smell right now, in this neighborhood. They have cleaned out all grass in their fenced area which is a large area. Could they just need grass? Can I get them to quiet down? Please help me.

 

[Folly's place]

Local zoning codes trump here; are you legally allowed to have chickens? If there are odor control issues or whatever, work on fixing them and see what the actual complaint is about. Good luck! Mary

 

[tcstoehr]

I presume they are making noise at other times besides when this guy walked into your yard. Do they raise a ruckus every time you feed them? Or after laying? How often? How loud? What times of day?

 

[Wxguru]

My first question would be "Why is the neighbor walking into your backyard at all?" Where I live we call that Trespassing! I would call the police and file a complaint against your neighbor.

 

[maryhsc]

Complaint filed ty

 

[maryhsc]

they only really make noise when they see person because they think that means food they're kind of spoiled and yes they do make a lot of ruckus when laying eggs

 

[CrazyTalk]

Are you legally allowed to have them? What do the zoning laws call for? If you don't know, where are you - we can look it up.

If you're not allowed to have them, reporting your neighbor isn't going to help anything.

 

[Wxguru]

Reporting the neighbor may not help...but they neighbor trespassed...simple as that. I would report it all day long regardless of the situation. Nobody has any business going on another person's property unless they are invited onto said property. Cutting across a yard to get to another street is an annoyance...but going into someones backyard...especially when they aren't home is an issue....just my opinion. I feel strongly about that opinion.

 

[thomasboyle]

A poet once said good fences make good neighbors. I use electric net fence, and this allows my birds to roam freely around the yard, keeping them in, and more importantly in your case, keeping others out. If you have access to a game camera, I would set it up to monitor the coop. No telling what angry neighbors will do when you are away. Hopefully the law and zoning are on your side.

You don't say how much space your chickens have, or how many you have, but having an all dirt run is sign that it is too small for anything green to survive the # of chickens you have. The only way to let anything grow is to increase the amount of space they have access to, reduce the amount of time they are out, or a combination of the two. You will also find early spring and fall can be challenging, as grass is not growing as well during these times, and the chickens can strip mine the place easier during these times. I have my chickens in a 15x15 covered sand run, and they have daily access to a 1/2 acre yard. I manage the time they have in the yard so they can't strip mine it. 3-4 hours a day plus 6-8 on weekends works well for where I live.

 

[CrazyTalk]

Wxguru - of course the neighbor shouldn't trespass - but sometimes talking to the person is a better avenue than calling the cops immediately. There's really no going back from escalating to the police.