Neighbor hates my chickens- will she do them harm?

[TheSitcomGirls]

This is Spock:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/777222/this-has-to-be-a-rooster-right/10

And yes he turned out to be a Golden Campine rooster. At almost 6 months of age he is pretty loud now. My house is 100 ft from the coop and with the windows closed I can hear him when he crows, in or outside of the coop. It is not loud enough to wake me up. He crows when the sun comes up...8 times. Then again at 7:30 when I let him out, then usually two or 3 more times during the day- 8 times per event almost always. He seems to be gentle so far. Plus he makes me laugh and I'm keeping him! I lost both my parents this year to cancer and sometimes Spock is the only thing that makes me laugh.

When I decided to keep Spock I told all my surrounding neighbors to come to me if there was an issue and I would try to do something about it. I live in a rural area on 26 acres. I am zoned for Spock, actually I could have a building with 1000 Spocks if I wanted to! But I just have 23 hens and Spock. They have a coop inside a stone building with an attached pasture area about 100' by 100' that is fenced with a 6 foot fence on 3 sides then 5 foot on the horse pasture side.

Up until 2 weeks ago no one had complained. But my crazy neighbor whose house is 150 feet from Spock's coop did do various things to try to annoy me instead. I ignored her. Then she went and complained to the town. They ignored her. So then she finally complained to me in person. Told me I needed to lock my rooster in the coop because her daughter (20 year old...) was going to need to open her window at night in a couple of months and 7:30 AM was too early for her to be awakened. No please....just a demand....this after she had been purposely annoying me for the very difficult months after my father died. So I said, no. Spock's coop is 125 feet from your house. Their fence is 15 feet from your property line. Spock can be here and he goes outside at 7:30. She said, "But he is really loud." And I said, "Yes he is, bummer huh?" At first I did feel bad, but then I realized that she had tried to torture me for months and I was not going to reward her going to the town or just her bad behavior in general!

Two days after she complained to me she put up a string along her property line and then put several bird feeders as close as she could get to my coop on her side. Presumbly to draw the skunks, possums to my chickens or whatever. But their coop is like Fort Knox-nothing can get in. But I am still concerned because her crazy behavior does seem to be escalating.

Has anyone had a neighbor whose behavior escalated to the point of them harming the chickens? I bought a couple alarms that are for driveways-the kind that will chime in the house. I am going to hook them up to chime if the coop doors are opened. That should protect my chickens at night. I am a very light sleeper and the chime with wake me up but not my husband! Any other suggestions on coop security for hostile neighbors?

Spock at 4-1/2 months....

 

[TTracy]

There is nothing worse than a crazy neighbor! I will never understand people moving out to the country and then complaining about farm animals?????
Trying to think of something to help help you out has been hard. Maybe you should think about putting a camera up pointing her way from the coop. Even if you cant afford a camera, you could rig up something to make it look real, along with letting her know? example, Hey, we have had an animal running around at night trying to get in the coop so we put up a camera to see what it is. If you see anything, could you let us know? (yeah, I know she isnt going to tell you anything, but she will then know/think you have a camera) I will keep thinking and will let you know if I come up with anything! Hopefully someone else on here has some more advice!!!

 

[Whoops]

Spock has such interesting coloring! I would love to have a rooster because I want to breed Cream Legbars, but I live in the city in a residential area, and, well, they crow. I keep trying to think of strategies to manage it - at least for several weeks or a month so I could get some fertile eggs for hatching. Could I keep him inside at night to muffle the noise first thing in the morning? Maybe there is some trick to keep them quieter? Is it really that much louder than the barking dogs, screaming kids, saws, traffic and whatnot?

But, realistically, I don't think I can do it. So frustrating.

Anyway, I hope your neighbor problems work out.

 

[ChickenLegs13]

In addition to extending her & her princess the courtesy of absolute disregardment I suggest you put a fence next to her property and put a pair of braying jackasses out to pasture.

 

[BrendaJ]

Its too bad that your neighbor is giving you trouble. Have you thought about putting up video monitors ? I have had one strange neighbor but it never got out of control. Some people just need to get a life of there own. Sounds like you are in your rights. Best of luck.

 

[dandrews1971]

If she thinks its noisy, you should get some guineas. Say, maybe.... I don't know.....30 of them.....lol

 

[CAjerseychick]

I can totally relate. It sucks to have neighbor issues -- as if Life isnt enough all by itself to Have to Have a neighbor make things More difficult!
Be careful.
It sounds like she is putting feeders out to try to lure your birds -- are they contained by the fence? Do they fly over at all (we have alittle fence around the coop and feeders to keep the dogs out -- they hop over it daily to get out/ back in at night but free range all day)-- is she trying to see if she can get your chickens on her side to deal with them...
What a weirdo!
(I have a really loud Rooster too, and we are zoned for it as well, but none of my neighbors, oddly enough have any chickens and very few even have dogs-- and the ones that dont, have BEARS-- I dont understand sometimes why people live in the country on farmland, but then dont want to utilize it at all)....

 

[newbie32]

I agree that you need to be careful. I also agree that it sounds like she is trying to lure your birds to her side. Perhaps if just to call the authorities once they are there. What was she doing to annoy you prior to the altercation? I would let the sheriff know that you are worried and that way if something happens you can have it recorded. Also record all strange activity. If you live on 26 acres could you move their coop? Maybe she thinks it was rude to put the coop so close to her house when you have all that land and she thinks it was done on purpose. Just be careful

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

Thank you for all the encouragement. I needed that. I would love a donkey and some guineas...but they would actually drive me crazy as well! "Princess" you summed it up ChickenLegs13!!!! That's a perfect description. Spock is loud Whoops! And sort of piercing! But if it is dark out he doesn't crow. But I have read about some other roosters that crow all night. I am just lucky (knock on wood) that he doesn't do that. But he is also a single rooster with 23 hens and he is still young. The dominant hens beat him up just enough to keep him in line.

I never considered that she was trying to lure my chickens to her side. I guess she doesn't realize that almost all my chickens have at least one clipped wing except the fat ones who can't fly anyway! I do have a game cam in the woods. I like to see what is running on the trails when I am not there with my dogs. I will move it up to the house tonight! My coop is stone...built as part of a giant barn from the 1940s. The barn fell down I think in the 80s, but this little building remains. I think it was the milking parlor. It's not movable!

What has she done to annoy me? When Spock crowed she went outside and blew one of those air horns at him about a dozen times. Not only did he crow through it but he continued to crow for a half an hour. She never did that again. Then a few days later she walked her 6 month old GSD up and down the property line as close to the chicken fence as she could get. Of course the dog barked at the chickens. I caught the tail end of it when I went to see what all the fuss was about. Poor Spock freaked out and crowed for an hour and half. She never did that again either!

Then she also waits until I go outside and cranks up awful music as loud as she can. This went on for weeks until other neighbors complained to her about the noise. A couple years ago she began storing her trash cans and debris right on the property line. I told her it looked bad-did she have to store it there? She told me not to look at it. Sigh...so I never complained again...keep the peace. So a couple of weeks ago she parked a a two foot high trailer in the garbage spot and went out and bought four more cans. She piled all the cans on the trailer so that is the first thing I see every morning.

She had extremely bright spot lights installed on the front (second story) of her house and keeps them on from dusk until midnight or so. She has them pointed at our property. That one backfired as the lights only go as far as the chicken coop and probably help to keep predators away. However, it is blinding if you look in the direction of her house which I try not to do. She has 1/2 dozen or so other lights on outside as well. It looks like you are driving by a prison! I had Lyme disease really bad in the past and she knows that bright lights actually causes my eyes to hurt. So I have to be careful to avert my eyes and not look directly towards her property at night.

A year and a half ago a troubled child in our neighborhood set a fire and almost burned down our horse barn (among other things he did). I went to her and asked her to make sure that if the kid was in her yard to please supervise him as this was not the first fire he had set and I was concerned he might set fire to something else. "Princess" of course was friends with the fire setter. She told me she wouldn't supervise him. I would just have to deal with it. He was over there frequently, wandering around, sometimes when she wasn't even home. It caused me a lot of stress for over a year. Luckily no other fires were set and those people have since left about 6 months ago.

She attempted to enlist the help of other neighbors against me...but that backfired. Two of them (there are only 3 other houses) made a point to come and talk to me and tell me that they liked my chickens and Spock didn't bother them one bit. She is too afraid of the guy who lives across from me to talk to him. But I'm not....and we get along fine. So because they supported me (one of them is 80 year old widow) crazy lady told her husband he was no longer allowed to plow the 80 year old widows driveway. I told my neighbor not to worry...I would do it for her instead.

And the fence issue....I would love to put up a 10 foot high fence so I don't have to look at her. But I decided not to. She wants a fence, then she can pay for it. I am done being bullied!!!

 

[newbie32]

WOW she is a mean lady! I could not keep the peace like you are!

I cant say what u should do because I don't want a moderator come bust me on here but you have to do something! Save up bail bond money, give it to someone you trust, then go handle business.