Psychochick
In the Brooder
- Aug 9, 2016
- 32
- 7
- 34
Hi, I'm from England and I've been keeping hens for a couple of years. My hens all ex bats, some are leghorns, some are brown. All nuts, but they're not my issue right now. My issue is my neighbour. She's irresponsible. It sounds bad and like I'm a nosy neighbour but frankly in this case I am. I'm not usually, it's just I feel I have a bit of responsibility here.
My neighbour decided to keep hens a few months ago because she'd seen mine around and thought they were cute. Not an issue, I welcome any new hen owners. She's raised them from a few days old and whilst I disapprove of this method it's also not a massive issue. The first issue came when one of her chicks turned out to be a cockerel. She was terrified of it and was chasing it around with a bat. Cocky came to live with me for everyone's safety.
After that she seems to have totally lost interest in the hens. She doesn't shut the coop door at night so they refuse to put themselves in the coop. You see them in the night sat on top of it in the dark. While she was on holiday I trained them to go to bed at night. Only I was closing the coop door, not just the run door.
Her run isn't fox proof so I gently suggested that she should make it fox proof and pointed out that a fox could be in within 20 minutes or less and she really should close the door. She's ignored me. She went on holiday having not arranged for anyone to look after the hens. It was the hottest day of the year and I finally went round at about midday to see if they were there to find the hens with no food or water. I ended up shipping food and water to them from my house. The day they came back I locked the hens up as she was busy. I closed the coop door without even thinking about it. She let them out of the coop at 4 PM! She only let them out then because I manufactured an excuse to tell her the door was closed.
I feel bad because her hens are gorgeous and I know that they are going to become the prettiest fox food in the county. Do you have any suggestions about how on earth I can get through to her? Because I'm at my wits end quite frankly. I have kittens every time I see these poor birds sat on the roof.
My neighbour decided to keep hens a few months ago because she'd seen mine around and thought they were cute. Not an issue, I welcome any new hen owners. She's raised them from a few days old and whilst I disapprove of this method it's also not a massive issue. The first issue came when one of her chicks turned out to be a cockerel. She was terrified of it and was chasing it around with a bat. Cocky came to live with me for everyone's safety.
After that she seems to have totally lost interest in the hens. She doesn't shut the coop door at night so they refuse to put themselves in the coop. You see them in the night sat on top of it in the dark. While she was on holiday I trained them to go to bed at night. Only I was closing the coop door, not just the run door.
Her run isn't fox proof so I gently suggested that she should make it fox proof and pointed out that a fox could be in within 20 minutes or less and she really should close the door. She's ignored me. She went on holiday having not arranged for anyone to look after the hens. It was the hottest day of the year and I finally went round at about midday to see if they were there to find the hens with no food or water. I ended up shipping food and water to them from my house. The day they came back I locked the hens up as she was busy. I closed the coop door without even thinking about it. She let them out of the coop at 4 PM! She only let them out then because I manufactured an excuse to tell her the door was closed.
I feel bad because her hens are gorgeous and I know that they are going to become the prettiest fox food in the county. Do you have any suggestions about how on earth I can get through to her? Because I'm at my wits end quite frankly. I have kittens every time I see these poor birds sat on the roof.
. Great to have you here. Really sorry to hear about your less than responsible neighbor. It's such a predicament. You want to do what's right for the chickens but fear alienating your neighbor who might in turn become a pain in the rear toward you. I like the idea of the face to face talk where she might be persuaded to turn over her hens to you, the responsible chicken owner. I sure hope it works out.. Keep us posted!
@redsoxs I'd love to. They're absolutely gorgeous and far more friendly than any of mine. Unless you have treats mine couldn't care less about whether you're alive or dead, hers run up and greet you like a long lost friend and climb all over you. However at my last foray out to the hen rescue (I wasn't supposed to be getting any chickens, they just sort of fell into my car) my hen at the bottom of the pecking order, Hannibal (she has a friend called Lecter, obviously) tried to leave home twice
You could adopt them as the limit for hens in your garden etc is 49. Once you get to 50 hens thats when you have to declare them to defra ~ 
