Irresponsible neighbor and his roaming chickens

[DobieLover]

I would also suggest finding out if you are in a 'fence in' or 'fence out' county before dropping the money on a lawyer. 'Fence isn't he is required by law to keep his animals on his property, 'fence out' if you don't like them in your yard, it is your responsibility to figure out how to keep them out.

With 'fence in' you have all sorts of options, including legal action. With 'fence out' he may actually have the right to seek legal action against you for failing to keep his birds out of dangerous situations on your property.

Man am I glad I don't live in one of those backwards counties where I pay lots of money for my property, lots of money every year for taxes and insurance and then I'M the one responsible for keeping someone else's animals from damaging my property. Well chaulk one decent point up for New York State!

 

[Amatsuhono]

Man am I glad I don't live in one of those backwards counties where I pay lots of money for my property, lots of money every year for taxes and insurance and then I'M the one responsible for keeping someone else's animals from damaging my property. Well chaulk one decent point up for New York State!

We're 'fence in' as well, I would go crazy in a 'fence out' county.

 

[DobieLover]

We're 'fence in' as well, I would go crazy in a 'fence out' county.

I would NEVER purchase in such a county! It's outrageous.

But, back to the OP, it being Saturday and assuming she is not working today, I'm hoping to hear what her decision is going to be based on all the comments and suggestions she has received on her thread.

 

[1cock2hens]

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

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I had to read all the responses before I jumped in. I had the same (although not as dramatic) problem with my neighbor. They moved in about 6 months prior to me and inherited old chickens from the previous owners. Having just moved from a more urban town her family went all "little house on the prairie" on their 1/4 acre property in our semi-rural town. They bought more and more chickens and let them free range all over everyday, all day. Primarily across the street and in my yard. I had already planned on having chickens when I bought this place. I tried talking to this woman about respecting my property line not only for her kids but her chickens as well. She accused me of being mean and a bad neighbor, just because I didn't want her "stuff" on my property. I called animal control and they came out and had a talk with her. The next day she and her husband built a coop. I have tried to make nice with this neighbor and will continue. I know she still let's her chickens free range because she told me she had lost another chicken to some sort of predator. Anyway, long story, the animal control officer was able to help. The only time I actually see her chickens is when they are sitting in the coop and not in my yard. Good luck.

 

[Trish1974]

I have this problem every year too, but the fox usually take care of the problem. Unfortunately that leads the fox over to my house (they follow the buffet), but I keep my flock behind a Fort Knox run with hot wire. Then idiot neighbor just starts all over with a new flock in the spring. Last fall his RIR rooster kept coming over one day, and I knew the neighbor was outside so I went all white trash and was yelling and cussing like a drunken sailor while I chased off the rooster. The next day (and from there on out) I could hear his rooster crowing from one spot, and one spot only. I never saw him again. I don't think this would work for the OP, though.

 

[Wee Farmer Sarah]

I have this problem every year too, but the fox usually take care of the problem. Unfortunately that leads the fox over to my house (they follow the buffet), but I keep my flock behind a Fort Knox run with hot wire. Then idiot neighbor just starts all over with a new flock in the spring. Last fall his RIR rooster kept coming over one day, and I knew the neighbor was outside so I went all white trash and was yelling and cussing like a drunken sailor while I chased off the rooster. The next day (and from there on out) I could hear his rooster crowing from one spot, and one spot only. I never saw him again. I don't think this would work for the OP, though.

 

[Little Jerry Seinfeld]

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

That was interesting! It says in my state, n.m. that you can keep the animals until the damages are paid. And that theres fines if the animals wander loose for too long. Im glad I live a bit further out of town. We have more neighbors noe than I'd like, though all but 2 are over a mile away.. still, our cows get out at least three times a year by tearing through a fence or jumping over. The bad thing is, anytime theres a cow in a five mile area around us, the local sheriff thinks its from us and calls us to let us know, but a few distant neighbors have syarted raising a cow or two each year and its usually theirs out not ours. So we get panicked and start looking and then its not even ours. We have 3 or 4 herds depending on the time of year so it takes a while to drive around making sure its not ours. We farm other peoples lands and use them as pastures as far as 10 miles away.

oh my point was I'm glad the sheriff never fines us and is friendly!!

 

[MochaDuck]

If your local police refuse to do anything just because they don't want to, maybe reach out to the next level of higher jurisdiction of police. I'm not sure if that'll work, but it could be worth a shot.

 

[wild chick]

I'm in NM and it's mostly, if not all, Fence-out. If you don't want critters passing through, you fence them out. I think it's mainly for cattle though, like stringing up some barb-wire to keep cattle out, won't help with your neighbors chickens coming in to tear up your garden. However, right along with the fence out rule is also the rule that if any animal comes on your property and harasses your livestock you can shoot it. Since OP doesn't have livestock that the chickens are harassing, I guess this wouldn't be viable, even if it were law in his/her area. We spent several thousand dollars on fencing in our property to keep our dog from ever getting out and to keep the neighbors dogs out. Our first chicken loss was to a neighbors dogs and she had the stupidity to laugh about how the pair of dogs came home with a chicken and had "so much fun tearing it apart". That's when the fence went up. Wonder why can't the OP threaten suit for damages the chickens do? I have 17 and they tear up everything I don't have a fence around. Or the nice civil way would be to get an estimate for the fence and ask for them to pay half. UGH. Nothing worse than bad neighbors, but that's where that old saying comes to mind: Good fences make good neighbors.