Irresponsible neighbor and his roaming chickens

[chickeneighbor]

Not my flock: Our neighbor has a flock of about 30 free range chickens that are roaming the neighborhood. We already have a 4' cattle fence separating his property from ours, but it does not keep the chickens out of my yard. We do have a farm, horses, but we do not have chickens. If I wanted chickens I would get them. I want to walk outside without stepping in chicken poop. I want to not get swarmed when I go in my yard. I want to fertilize/weed kill my lawn. I'd like to go approach the neighbor with suggestions, like: we are fertilizing, keep your chickens locked up for XX days, etc. I'm afraid if the chickens or people get sick he will try suing us. Any suggestions/guidelines? History - He tried to sue us when we built our horse barn for blocking his view of our property, and blocking the sun from the solar panels on the roof of his house, built on a hill above our property, surrounded by 60' tall oak trees. I wish I was kidding. He also had chickens many years ago, including a very aggressive rooster that would "fly" at you with it's talons out. We talked to him, and called the police several times and his solution was to follow one of the chickens onto our property and kill it in from of my young daughter. The police did nothing, he was retrieving his "property" from our yard. Do I need to talk to a lawyer? HELP!

 

[bobbi-j]

“Animal control” isn’t always an option. Here it would be the local sheriff, and I’m sure he would say it would be fine to turn those chickens into soup.

Maybe you should check with your local law enforcement if you don’t have “animal control” in your area and see if that would be an option. Free range chickens are picked off all the time by predators.

Or, put up a higher fence, and when one of his chickens flies over it you can catch it, clip it’s wings so it can’t do it again, and toss it back over on his side.

 

[Gray Farms]

Putting up a higher fence shouldn't ever be the non-chicken owners responsibility. Here in MO a livestock owner is responsible for fencing to keep in their animals not the neighbor.

 

[bobbi-j]

You seem cranky, I'm sorry. Might I suggest getting some chickens? It might help!!

I own chickens, but I’d be cranky, too, if my neighbor’s chickens were in my yard.

 

[Bamabexchicks]

Presumably, when he sued you it was necessary for you to hire a lawyer. So you should already have a relationship with an attorney who is familiar with the neighbor in question. I would ask your lawyer to advise him that you are requesting the chickens be contained owing to toxic lawn treatment, that you will not be considered liable for any future harm to his livestock. I would make sure that any and all communication between you is a fact of legal public matter.

 

[wild chick]

Well, the way I look at it, there has been interesting conversation around this problem, I got a great link to state fence laws, and the OP is well spoken and writes well, so if a juvenile, she's a better writer than most adults I see online. I really don't care if it's a leg pulling thing or a real problem, all of our posts eventually die after no responses anyway. If it's too much trouble to respond just don't. I remember working 10 - 12 hour days and no "fun time" left for forums and facebook, I didn't and still don't have a smart phone to look at every 15 minutes to respond to comments. I'm recently semi-retired and work from home (on the computer) and I do have time to play now. But if I'd gotten troll threats on my first question because it was the next day when I had time to look, I'd consider this a not very friendly forum. If it's a trick question by some giggly teenagers, who cares? If it's a real concern from a non-chicken owner, it makes some of us chicken fanciers look like the neighbor she's trying to deal with. Be kind.

 

[chickeneighbor]

Hey y'all, I hate to point out that @chickeneighbor, the OP has not liked or commented on any of the replies to the original post. Leads me to think that we are all just feeding a troll.

Wow, so because I posted a query during my lunch hour and then worked all day, took care of my family and couldn't respond or read posts until late at night that makes me a troll? Thanks.

 

[bobbi-j]

Wow, so because I posted a query during my lunch hour and then worked all day, took care of my family and couldn't respond or read posts until late at night that makes me a troll? Thanks.

Don't worry - not everyone thinks that way. We understand that people have lives and don't have time to sit on the computer all day. I do hope you can find some resolution to your problem. You've gotten some good advice here, such as contacting the attorney you used when he tried to sue you previously. Also, contacting animal control if it's available where you live. Wishing you all the best.

 

[1cock2hens]

Fence laws by state https://nationalaglawcenter.org/state-compilations/fence-laws/

 

[bobbi-j]

So, OP, you started a thread & I don't see any further communication from you. Care to weigh in on what's been suggested or post an update?

I'm guessing the OP has decided that this is not a friendly place to be and has moved on to better things in life. Hopefully they got some good, useful information before the negativity started. As I stated before, there are people in the world that have more to do than sit on their phone or computers checking their emails or reading forums.