It's baaacckk. >:|

[Bex]

It's old, ornery, nosy, my own dang family member and the reason we had to get rid of our chickens last year!

Last year we had chickens - a few roos and approx 15 hens. My cousins own the house next to us and had people living there whom were renting from them. My chickens were free ranged during the day and when the new tenants moved in we had the conversation where I asked them not to feed them, as they would eventually be on her porch begging for food - same with my cats.

She started feeding them, and sure enough, they would be on her porch. She said she LOVED them and didn't mind them being there at all. Okay, whatever. I dragged them back home whenever I saw them over there anyway.

One day, on OUR property I saw the ladies son CHASING one of the roos. My mom told him not to do it anymore, as we couldn't guarantee he wouldn't turn around and peck him, and we didn't want him hurt, that and it wasn't "right" to chase an animal.

A few weeks later, they moved out. My cousin, Linda said it was OUR fault because of our animals and that we YELLED at the boy and that she would be sueing us for loss of rent. We talked to the lady before she moved out and she assured us that it was not our fault, that my cousins had screwed them over on the bills. We got scared of losing EVERYTHING here and decided to give our chooks to a family friend who has a huge farm.

We've had new neighbors since early summer and the girlfriend who lives there yells at our hound/beagle for barking.. Okay, fine, she IS loud.. But this is the country.. and I'm sorry but howling back at her isn't going to get her to shut up.. She's also yelled at the ducks to be quiet...

So tonight, my GRANDPARENTS got a phone call from Linda. She wanted to talk to my Grandpa - um, no. My grandpa will simply get upset and have another heart attack. So my grandma didn't allow her to. Linda says that our dogs carry on constantly (not true, they do sleep sometimes..and I'm not sure how they hear them even when they are indoors, I can understand outside.

), we "never go to the dump" (we were just there today...), and we are "always getting something else".. She'd be fuming mad if she knew we were back into chickens.

She told my Grandma that ALL of the neighbors were complaining - so we called them. Two that we talked to said nope, we couldn't' get ahold of the lady behind us but are pretty sure if it did, that she'd let us know. From what I've heard that, the neighbor that is renting from linda has complained about the dog to another neighbor - even though he knows he can come to us any time he likes.

I do not want to give up any of my critters. I hate all the drama, especially when it comes to family; its ridiculous. I do not know why people move into an area zoned for agricultural and then complain about the noise/smell/whatever.

Any suggestions before I go off my rocker?

 

[chiknwhisperer]

Um ,, maybe get a copy of your zoning law and highlight the part about what your allowed to have out there and that it is an agricultural area. Other then proving that you can have them to her I don't know what else to do. Maybe actually seeing what the zoning thing states might help but from the way she sounds she might take it a way that it shouldn't be. I don't know, I wish I could be of more help. Right now I'm just lucky that none of my neighbors are saying anything about my rooster. My kids can here him all the way down the street at their bus stop and they brought friends over one day that live at the FAR end of our street and they were suprised to have finally found where the crowing was coming from.

 

[nicodemuschickenfan]

I got a suggestion. Might not be helpful though. Might be illegle where you are too. But it involves boots and cement if you'd like to know more.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I second that option!!!!

 

[Bex]

Where do I find something that states directly what I can/cannot have in my area?

Nico, lemme in on your idea.. It may prove to be useful, ahah.

 

[mrsengeseth]

i had to train the bugle outta my beagle. My wierdo neighbor was a snot about it and where as he dog barks too, mine was the one that got ticketed. I might not be popular in saying this, but maybe you could retrain your dog...to keep peace. I personally think dogs should bark. They ARE dogs! that's what they do, but to keep the peace, it might help. Now, when my dog barks it means a person or animal is in the yard. It used to be she barked to alert me a fly farted or some other nonsense reason. Just my rambling two cents.

 

[beautifulbirds]

Ignore it ALL (because it's nonsense), lie low - in other words don't get involved, and go about your business. This Linda person sounds like a pain the proverbial, we have one also that we just don't talk to anymore. There is nothing you can do about the fuss but there is an old fashioned saying which is that a person can't argue with themselves, so if you don't argue (get involved) then eventually she should just putter out of steam... until the next time of course .
It is important to remember that these types LOVE the DRAMA - they FEED of it. So the more attention you pay (or give) to the drama, the more she will go on. So don't go on, and we are back to lie low, go about your business etc.
Just absolutely ignore her.

 

[chiknwhisperer]

I think you you might be able to find out maybe at the court house,,,, not really sure though. You could research your county codes or something.

 

[Bex]

Quote:
1.) How did you train your dog to not bark at every little thing? Cheyenne is so stubborn.. She's 10 months old and still has issues with sit.

2.) Cheyenne is just like that.. Sometimes I think she is barking at the air.. Or better yet a fly 50 miles away that no one can see...

Beautifulbirds, perfect idea! Even last time when we "complied" a little (by giving our friend our chooks) she has now found something else to complain about (she does not know about the chickens, yet)

 

[nicodemuschickenfan]

You should ignor her and forgive her weaknesses. It's the christan thing to do. Course, those boots could still be put to use....