So I have been living at my residence for just about a year now. I have owned the property for about 2 years. I have had chickens about that long and never had any complaints except if a rooster had escaped my property and went all the way down the road to a little old lady's house and it ate her flowers. I had to get rid of that rooster along with others anyways. So I had a new neighbor move in next to me, and she was happy that the chickens now are free range since she wanted them to eat ticks and how they ate left overs. Well ever since pandimic she started hating them. She isn't home that much, she takes care of elderly people who have demintia full-time. She said they are going on to her property and eating flowers. Even though she hasn't planted any flowers, she actually killed all of them with a mix of household chemicals. She also was happy to have them on the property which was why she bought it. What do I do. I pointed out that when she started feeding them they would go over there more, she would have to stop feeding them on her property.
I presume that you share eggs with her? I haven't had to deal (yet) with anyone complaining about our 3 hens, and I just hatched 9 more (gave away 2--had to rehome our 9 chick's young dad early part of Quarantine)... so, we live in the city and will have up to 7 hens (thank GAWD I found a home for any boys in our 3 month old hatch)--we're allowed up to 8 hens total.
Every neighbor that I see (including strangers who walk by our house--especially moreso over Quarantine) I apologize for our loud rooster (that I rehomed) and prepare them to hear the up to 4 that started roostering 10 days ago... Anyway, to my shock--every single one of the neighbors say that they LOVE hearing our rooster, and hear others in the area too--how nice of them!
PS after I rehomed our rooster, who roostered ALL DAY LONG (NOT just when the sun rose like in the movies/cartoons)--I work from home and I could NOT stand the constant roostering--way too loud and startling every single time... anyway, once we rehomed him--I was literally shocked that ALL of our hens actually are about as loud as him--but, less often--one in particular CLUCK CLUCK CLUCKS right before she AND each hen (3 total) lay an egg, and, again, DURING laying her eggs, AND right after laying eggs... It's the most insane thing I've ever seen/heard (I read that they do this around egg laying to ward off potential predators).
I CAN though, get her/the other 2 to quiet if I call them over for treats--whereas, I could NOT divert the roostering of the rooster, so if it's convenient, I plan to run out and give them treats when they're about to go nuts clucking. So, I was going to ask, does your neighbor complain about sound or just the chickens getting out / into her yard?
And, I don't know if you've looked into your local "laws" about owning chickens? Because when I went to buy a permit (required to own chickens in our city, at least), besides agreeing to a list of things like: not owning a rooster, not rendering chickens for meat on my property, building a coop 10' min from any structure, that I was surprised to know that the main complaints are for noise vs. just owning--so, if there's no audible concerns on behalf of any inspector who is responding to a complaint--that they're likely NOT to give you any warnings or tickets, etc.
One thing I did for one neighbor who seemed apprehensive about our getting chickens in the first place, is that I let her ADOPT one (that she could name, and we'd 100% feed/take care of--just that she basically gets to have a courtesy egg-laying hen that she can claim)--and, that she can come get eggs any time -- this mere offer turned her into a chicken lover and proud to help us tend to them
