Hi everyone!
We live on a house a bit off the road... not a far-flung farm, but we have a lovely large area all around - plenty of space for chickens to roam (we have no fences) without straying into other people's property.
So, we never experienced problems with wandering chickens/annoyed neighbours until recently, when someone who lives close to us got 4 cochin chicks. One of my ex-bats started going over there on a regular basis, and it must be to hang around with the chicks, because with all due respect, our feed and free range are much better! It's really quite a long-distance walk for a chicken, but she's very purposeful, because she just goes right back there if brought home. Sometimes she doesn't return for the night.
My neighbour is very kind, but she still told me it's unacceptable because the chicken gets into her house and poops LOL. I told her the chicks will soon be doing the same thing if she keeps the front door open, but after all, this isn't any of my business... my job is to restrict my birds.
I tried keeping my hen in confinement for a few days, a week, hoping she would forget her way there. Didn't help - as soon as she was free, she went right back to my neighbour's place. Right now she's caged, which I'm truly sorry for, being that she's an ex-bat and was brought here with the purpose of "freeing" her! I can't even keep her in the nice big coop, because I don't know how I'd be able to let all the others out in the morning and only keep her inside, they're always in such a scramble to get out!
So... what should I do? Is there a possible solution, or is it better just to give her away?
We live on a house a bit off the road... not a far-flung farm, but we have a lovely large area all around - plenty of space for chickens to roam (we have no fences) without straying into other people's property.
So, we never experienced problems with wandering chickens/annoyed neighbours until recently, when someone who lives close to us got 4 cochin chicks. One of my ex-bats started going over there on a regular basis, and it must be to hang around with the chicks, because with all due respect, our feed and free range are much better! It's really quite a long-distance walk for a chicken, but she's very purposeful, because she just goes right back there if brought home. Sometimes she doesn't return for the night.
My neighbour is very kind, but she still told me it's unacceptable because the chicken gets into her house and poops LOL. I told her the chicks will soon be doing the same thing if she keeps the front door open, but after all, this isn't any of my business... my job is to restrict my birds.
I tried keeping my hen in confinement for a few days, a week, hoping she would forget her way there. Didn't help - as soon as she was free, she went right back to my neighbour's place. Right now she's caged, which I'm truly sorry for, being that she's an ex-bat and was brought here with the purpose of "freeing" her! I can't even keep her in the nice big coop, because I don't know how I'd be able to let all the others out in the morning and only keep her inside, they're always in such a scramble to get out!
So... what should I do? Is there a possible solution, or is it better just to give her away?