Hi all! Long story short--got chickens a year ago, we're on 2.5 acres, surveyed our immediate neighbors and all were fine with chickens. Built a coop and moved the girls in, all 25 of them. A few months later, our next door neighbor calls and apologizes for asking, but says the chickens are sometimes in her yard and she saw poop once. We apologized profusely and put up a fence where we thought the chickens were getting in her yard (we own all three sides of her property, stupid property lines). It seemed to help and there were no further calls, we never saw the chickens in the yard again...until a knock on the door a few months later from the Board of Health. Cranky neighbor called the BOH and complained.
The BOH guy apologized, seemed bashful that he was there (this is an ag friendly town), and suggested maybe just extend the fence on that one side all the way down to the road (150 ft.). He said he'd call if he got any more complaints. I extended the fence that afternoon, end of problem. I also called over to my neighbor, reminded her that we've always been good neighbors to her and asked why she did not simply give us the courtesy of a phonecall? She got upset and started yelling, saying that the fence hadn't helped and that we knew the chickens were still getting in and yet we did nothing. A) We have 2.5 acres, she has a half acre, and our hens hang out in predictable places, visible to us, so how were we supposed to know that a FEW hens were OCCASIONALLY wandering onto her property (even though they used to feed them and call them over), idiots? B) I have 3 kids and have better things to do than stare at her property, a quick glance going in and out never showed any chickens, but she's nosy and has nothing better to do than stare at us.
My husband and I decided to call a surveyor to have them stake the property lines on all 3 sides of her so that we could put up a proper fence (high enough to keep the hens out AND protect us from her prying eyes). The surveyor came out and said it was difficult because the property lines were not easily accessible because she'd been throwing wood debris and trash on our property for years, and her well is on our property (surprise!). I called and communicated this all to our neighbor and told her we'd put up a fence on the remaining two sides, that we needed her to clear her debris from our property lines and then we could move forward. I told her 3 times, but she avoided answering each time, and just kept trying to dictate the type of fence she wanted us to put up (something nice on the sides, nothing fancy in back). She grew irate when I told her that it would be a chicken fence, nothing fancy. She hung up.
She never cleared her debris, it's been several months. All was fine...until we received a BOH letter this weekend issuing a Public Nuisance, stating that they inspected her property a month and a half ago, discovered chicken poop, which is a public health nuisance and ordered us to restrain our chickens or they'd order us to get rid of them. Soooo....we marched out that afternoon, put up LOVELY orange safety netting all around her property, blew through her wood debris piles with a chainsaw and waded through their trash (we now have rashes on our arms, god knows what's in the bags) to access our property lines. She's built herself a fenced in garden, well over half on our property and her well is there, so we can't really built a proper fence because she's got stuff there. Additionally, I have fencing on order (it's been backordered for 2 months) to pen the chickens in on our property (to save my gardens for the summer months from hungry chickens). We sent a letter back to the BOH detailing all this, but she's a problem, very passive aggressive. She's made comments more than once about how we don't give her eggs (she's very entitled, thinks people should just give her stuff, but she never gives back).
Anyone with similar issues? Resolutions? Resources?
The BOH guy apologized, seemed bashful that he was there (this is an ag friendly town), and suggested maybe just extend the fence on that one side all the way down to the road (150 ft.). He said he'd call if he got any more complaints. I extended the fence that afternoon, end of problem. I also called over to my neighbor, reminded her that we've always been good neighbors to her and asked why she did not simply give us the courtesy of a phonecall? She got upset and started yelling, saying that the fence hadn't helped and that we knew the chickens were still getting in and yet we did nothing. A) We have 2.5 acres, she has a half acre, and our hens hang out in predictable places, visible to us, so how were we supposed to know that a FEW hens were OCCASIONALLY wandering onto her property (even though they used to feed them and call them over), idiots? B) I have 3 kids and have better things to do than stare at her property, a quick glance going in and out never showed any chickens, but she's nosy and has nothing better to do than stare at us.
My husband and I decided to call a surveyor to have them stake the property lines on all 3 sides of her so that we could put up a proper fence (high enough to keep the hens out AND protect us from her prying eyes). The surveyor came out and said it was difficult because the property lines were not easily accessible because she'd been throwing wood debris and trash on our property for years, and her well is on our property (surprise!). I called and communicated this all to our neighbor and told her we'd put up a fence on the remaining two sides, that we needed her to clear her debris from our property lines and then we could move forward. I told her 3 times, but she avoided answering each time, and just kept trying to dictate the type of fence she wanted us to put up (something nice on the sides, nothing fancy in back). She grew irate when I told her that it would be a chicken fence, nothing fancy. She hung up.
She never cleared her debris, it's been several months. All was fine...until we received a BOH letter this weekend issuing a Public Nuisance, stating that they inspected her property a month and a half ago, discovered chicken poop, which is a public health nuisance and ordered us to restrain our chickens or they'd order us to get rid of them. Soooo....we marched out that afternoon, put up LOVELY orange safety netting all around her property, blew through her wood debris piles with a chainsaw and waded through their trash (we now have rashes on our arms, god knows what's in the bags) to access our property lines. She's built herself a fenced in garden, well over half on our property and her well is there, so we can't really built a proper fence because she's got stuff there. Additionally, I have fencing on order (it's been backordered for 2 months) to pen the chickens in on our property (to save my gardens for the summer months from hungry chickens). We sent a letter back to the BOH detailing all this, but she's a problem, very passive aggressive. She's made comments more than once about how we don't give her eggs (she's very entitled, thinks people should just give her stuff, but she never gives back).
Anyone with similar issues? Resolutions? Resources?
