neighbor has too many chickens

[WalkingOnSunshine]

Sorry for the offense regarding this post. I just want to bring up a little thought that has not been discussed. Neighbors are inevitable. Good neighbors are hard to find. Maintaining good neighbor relationships can sometimes be a challenge. I'm not a lawyer, and have no legal back ground. BUT, I'd suggest that you do some homework re: giving a neighbor permission to use part of your property, especially when it comes to erecting fences on your property. In the muddy recesses of my mind, I'm thinking of eminent domain and right of way issues. I recall past discussions where if a neighbor uses part of your property with your permission for a certain length of time, they can claim it as their property. I may be all wet here, but, for your own protection, I'd at least do the research. I love that you're working with your neighbor to keep the chickens happy. As long as you're both happy with this arrangement, and there are no legal issues involved... you have the best of both worlds: enjoyment of chickens, fresh eggs, without bearing all of the expense and burden of care! Enjoy.

This is actually true. Long, long ago when the first public road was built between our farm and our neighbor's farm, the road was built entirely on our property, leaving only 10' of our property on the neighbor's side of the road. The neighbors built their house on that property, which means that the front 10' of their yard technically belongs to us. My father goes over once a year and mows that strip--otherwise it would be abandoned and become the neighbor's land.

Also, OP, I hope that what I wrote to you above set your mind to rest about nutrient build-up on the soil. Manures truly are very low in nutrients--nutrient problems build up with hundreds or millions of chickens, not eight in more than enough space.

I am sorry that I called you ignorant; I should not have done so. I was frustrated that you seemed to be worried about problems that didn't really have any basis in fact. Equating your neighbor's backyard chickens to Amazonian deforestation seemed, and still seems to me to be somewhat extreme. I believe that the folks on BYC were reacting to this sort of pseudo-science extremism.

When I did my Master Gardener work, we were taught to only use actual, research based sources for our information. I saw that you were offended by the God-isms people used above; I hope the research based information I provided is helpful to you. If you do value these sources, please do look at some research based soil science materials and see that no oxidation of the soil takes place when the sun hits it, etc. I think that will help you make better choices when it comes to your backyard garden, and help you feel better that the hens are not causing the environmental degradation you are concerned about.

Finally, I'm sorry you felt "flamed." BYC is actually known as a flame-free place; we have hard-working moderators that ensure our good behavior (I've been warned a few times, myself). If you want to learn more about chickens, this is absolutely the place to ask, full of well-meaning and well-informed people who love to help newcomers.

Take care,
Sunshine

 

[lazy gardener]

Re: bare soil..... As nice as it looks to see a freshly churned up piece of land, I hate to leave any soil bare in my yard... for the simple reason that WEEDS are such opportunists, and I prefer to get the soil covered as soon as possible with a green manure crop, grass seed, vegetable crop or a good layer of mulch. This helps to keep the soil life going strong, cuts back on weeds, and keeps the mud off my feet! Yesterday and today, the girls and I have been working on tearing down a raised bed and ripping out a mountain of bind weed on the old garden site... fine fertile soil, though too much clay... unfortunately it never got enough sun and was too wet. Any how, I digress... ASAP, I'll plant a cover crop of annual rye grass (Don't confuse this with winter rye!) to hold it till spring or until I get the remaining 4 beds leveled off. The girls are happy to help me with this work, and hubby will be happy to have some more lawn to mow!

 

[appps]

Thanks for the polite answer.

Actually my neighbor didn't grab any space I didn't offer -- I enjoy the chickens. (She just added more chickens.)

I'm feeling more optimistic about sustainability.

We do rotate between the two yards, although both seem to be flagging at this point.

Think growing up around my family's small flock that roamed over acreage, my sense of how things can be might be different from those who have always been around city chickens.

Yeah I can imagine an inner city run would look pretty small in comparison

If the neighbours yard is already dirt anyway I think I'd let them spend a bit more time there to let yours recover. Hers won't get better but if you don't give yours a rest and a few good watering a to bring it back before the chooks get back on it you will end up with a dirt run as well and then the chooks won't get anytime on grass.

Hers is probably already too far gone to recover by the sound of it so keeping their time on yours never long enough to really knock it about the chooks will at least get some nice grass grazing now and then.

 

[chick-neighb]

Lazy Gardener, I also vaguely recalled eminent domain & checked the law. It takes quite a long time to kick in ( over a decade) & usually requires sole use of the land by the other party. This situation seems pretty safe, but I might eventually ask her to sign something.

This summer this neighbor & I took down the fence between our yards & landscaped around the property line with espalier pears, etc. We're developing the area as one big garden with lots of berries, small fruit trees, vegetable beds -- fun & much nicer than the two separate yards. She's an avid gardener who ran out of gardening space, and I'm a lazy gardening failure, so it's a win-win.

 

[chick-neighb]

Much as I'm enjoying the neighbor hens, I don't think I'd make a good hen owner: always avoided the slaughter process as a kid & plan to continue doing so! I'd get too attached if they were mine.

 

[lazy gardener]

Sounds like you have a wonderful situation with your neighbor. I'm glad things are working out for you. You might suggest to her that she do a deep litter in her run that is stripped to the ground in her yard. that'll give the girls something to scratch around in when they're at her place, and the DL will turn into a compost situation complete with beneficial bugs, much to the chicken's delight, also it will provide you with good compost for the gardens. My coop is a 2 story hoop house with the bottom covered with grass clippings. When ever the lawn gets mowed, a new layer of clippings is put in there, and the girls love it. Will use leaves in the fall.

 

[chick-neighb]

Hoping to nudge neighbor in that direction. She's noticed how much the hens love the compost bin she put in their bare little yard.... yet she's still sending most debris from garden away in city compost pickup. If she simply did away with the bin & threw everything in that little yard, I bet the hens wouldn't spend a lot of time there & just come over to areas in my yard for green snacks.

(I'm the sort of slob who wouldn't hesitate to turn that pen into a mammoth sprawling compost heap in that yard. She's much tidier. Planning to suggest we cover that yard with a couple feet of park leaves this fall.... acceptable progress toward the deep layer of every type of plant matter.)

 

[lazy gardener]

Once you get her to put the leaves in... how innocent is that... I bet she even played in the leaves as a child... Then you can encourage her to throw some scratch in the leaves for her chickens to dig around for... then it's a little further progression to the occasional corn cob, the watermelon rind... the crushed egg shells. Hopefully by then, she'll notice how much happier the chickens are, how much less the run smells, and how much better it looks without gobs of poop laying on a mud slick or dust bowl... with flies all over the place.

 

[Jeremy128]

Yep! It's called "easement". If you if you build a fence inside of your property line that decreases the space on "your side" and increases the space on "thier side", after a certain length of time, the neighbor can make claim against you to keep your property.
Personal example.... When I lived in my old house that I now rent out, I built privacy fence around the back yard. The property line at teh rear of my property had some funky issues that I didnt want to deal with. After thinking it over and reading a bit, I decided to build the fence about 18 inches inbside the actual property line. THe property behind my house was oficially a city park. But in reality it was a double vacant lot that was nicely maintained by the city. By doing this, if the fence stayed there for 5 years, and I later decided to take the fence down and reclaim my 18", the city could legally stop my and take claim to that land.

At teh end of it all, I didnt care, and didnt want to deal with the issues surrounding that 18" along the property line.

In reality, I doubt the city would ever care, but if they wanted that land, they could take it.
Possibly the same with the neibor that you share the space with in your yard. Are you ready to legally give all of that land to your neighbor?