Neighbor hates my chickens- will she do them harm?

[lalaland]

have you looked to see if the town ordinance or statute has any provisions for "waivers"? Are you presenting signatures from as many neighbors as possible? And personally I wouldn't discuss all the things you didn't do because.....if they remove the rooster I would let loose and do those things you want to do. It might be good also to find out if the board has ever done anything EXCEPT enforce the ordinance. They may have no choice, but if they have ever made exceptions....thats your ticket.
good luck!

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

I couldn't sleep last night. I kept have the dreams about someone letting my chickens out. This was combined with someone letting my cat out of the house. Not sure why those two would be related. But I am tired today. I realized that I don't want to see Crazy Lady. The thought of going to that meeting and seeing her and then LOSING again. I just can't sit there and listen her say that she is dying of cancer and why can't the little old lady be allowed to sit in her yard in peace? I might throw up. It's how I feel now. She cut more of her trees...I can see the side of her garage now.

So when I saw DH this morning I told him I wanted to put the anti-crow collars on Spock and Warren Harding and hope for the best. But that it wasn't the end of it. I am done doing nothing but lose sleep. He asked me to please not give up. He is going to talk to the zoning officer on Monday. I just can't handle the stress. But I agreed, one more chance and gave DH a list of items. He agreed to ask the Zoning Officer about the list and if these items ARE allowed in our zoning.

1. How close can I put my bee hive to the property line?
2. Can I pasture my hobby pigs for my breeding business anywhere as long as the building they sleep in is 200 ft from any neighboring house?
3. Are there any restrictions on building flight cages for peacocks and pheasants?
4. Is there any special permit needed for a small farm pond that I will dig for my ducks and geese? How close can this farm pond be to the property line or neighboring residence?

I think it's important that the Zoning Officer understands what Crazy lady will be complaining about in the near future so he can be ready to deal with her. And I want to make sure that I don't make any mistakes.

So DH understands now...yes we have kept our "hands clean". But to what avail? I just want to be left alone. Guy coming next week to plant my two new trees which will cover up her stupid blue tarp tent. I will happy about that. But I'm kind of done....DH has much more patience than I do.

 

[Peeps61]

He's right. Don't give up now - Spock is worth a lot to you, we can tell. Not saying you should seek revenge, but the best revenge is to live well - not sure who said that, but it's an apt quote. If she thinks that regardless of what she's done, you are living well, then you have won. It's hard not to worry, but try to have some confidence in the effort that your husband is going to on Spock's behalf. I have a great husband too, one who would do this for me if I were in the same situation. Look at the positives too . Take a nap!

 

[aart]

 

[Turkeytruff]

X2 hang in there!

 

[poodlechicks]

X3! Best of luck!

 

[SixChickFlock]

I just don't know what's wrong with some of you mostly rural folks (no one here, of course!). Here in the city... Chicago... We have no rules prohibiting chickens or roosters. Neighbors stop by to "meet the fella that wakes me up every morning" and say "don't ever get rid of him or I'll have to by an alarm clock!" A couple say it reminds them of home... Texas... Mexico. Others bring their kids by on walks to look at the birds. An elderly neighbor lady loves to hold a hen for a while and reminisce of her younger days. I even had a group of teens come by and pet the girls... They'd never seen such a thing. Two more neighbors like my flock so much they are thinking of starting their own flocks. I have three other flocks within blocks of me. I have bonded with more neighbors this past chicken year than I have in 30 years of living in the same home. They are a constant source of joy and conversation to the entire neighborhood.

I'm thinking rural folks just aren't tolerant enough. I'd have not thought that before this tale began.

TheSitcomGirls... Hang in there and prevail. It ain't Spock and Warren Harding your neighbor is irritated by. She is irritated by her own self and her inability to enjoy life.

My one Roo, who was formerly thought to be a pullet, is officially called Juniper Martini Martin Marty Jimbo laRue. He has become a most excellent alarm. If something different is going on in the alley or the yard when it shouldn't be, day or night, he's the first to know and never fails to let the rest of us know right away! I'm very happy to have adopted him...

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

Thank you for so many kind words and I did need a hug. For sure that's the funniest chicken name I every heard! I guess with June coming I'm already having a sad time. When I went to lock up my chickens Spock was on the roost and he had his head tucked up under his wing. He never does that. I thought it was strange. And then of course I started having thoughts that maybe something is wrong with him. But it must be just be the sad raining on my cloud of hope today.

After I put my goats and chickens away I drove the 3/4 mile down the road to put my friend's chickens away for her. She has 3 guinea hens and a flock of chickens. The guineas yell bloody murder as soon as I enter her yard. I'm sorry to all you guinea-lovers but they make the most horrible noises! I just could not deal with that every day! But while I am not going to take my friend up on her offer to "borrow" her guinea hens I am going to record them... might be a useful recording to have! I also called a farmer friend today. He had a bunch of old bee hives in his corn shed. He said he thinks that he can put together a few for me. They may not be good enough to hold bees anymore... but they will look like they do! Hopefully we can pick them up Sunday... I hope....if he can find enough parts! And he is going to find a good sized piece of rusty farm equipment for me. I'm going to place it so I no longer have to look at Crazy Lady's sign. My new "farm lawn ornament" won't grow and be another bush that will get too tall and obstruct her "site view". It will stay exactly the right zoned height for always.Then the bee hives will go along the new fence. It's not much, but it makes me feel like I'm doing something! DH is OK with it. He understands I just have to do something. Maybe then I will sleep again.

Driving back from my friend's, Crazy Lady's house in on my left just before my house. For some reason tonight all the lights were on in her basement and all the shades were open. NEVER have I seen that. It was so weird. They put an addition on the house about 10 years ago. They took a raised ranch and added a long rectangular box on the left. The house is now quite large, but skinny. The couple of times that I saw the hallway upstairs it reminded me of a bowling alley. And now I know why she never took me downstairs-it is completely filled with stuff. I could see many chairs sticking up in the air and the back wall was filled with boxes and shadows of garbage bags. This is a big area! Tons of stuff! As I have never seen even one garage sale outside her house, apparently Crazy Lady is a hoarder.

 

[Bill Matthews]

Your post is a good read....CAUTION: Don't take much of this thread to be reflective of how most rural folks act and treat their neighbors.......

 

[TheSitcomGirls]

One of these days I will learn to appreciate my DH. This past weekend my puppy came down with Lyme Disease...and so did I for the 3rd time. So both of us are feeling icky....didn't quite make it to pick up our beehives yesterday. But we will this week! And actually the puppy looks much better this AM...I'm still pretty tired. But nothing like when I had Lyme last time and it turned "neuro". That was a horrific time.

Awesome was DH's meeting with the head Zoning Officer this AM. It turns out telling the truth about the roosters was perhaps the best thing we could have done. The meeting started with the Head Zoning Officer telling DH, "Now here's what WE'RE going to do". After he suggested that we might win if we plead our case before the Zoning Board of Appeals the Head Zoning Officer recognized that the "sympathy" factor would actually keep us from winning. Also in play was the fact that two members of the Zoning Board of Appeals appeared to be on Crazy Lady's side and would make us appealing the ruling from his office a waste of time. Then something funny happened, the Zoning Officer asked DH what the lifespan of a rooster was. DH said he wasn't sure, maybe three years. He then asked how old Spock and Warren Harding were. He knew their names! DH said Spock is two and Warren is one.

Then the Zoning Officer told DH that he was having a meeting with the town attorney. He was going to ask him if the town could get a consent decree which would allow us to keep our rooster Spock until he died, but no more roosters after that! (DH wasn't sure of we would get to keep Warren or not....but Spock for sure). DH also asked if the town had discretion regarding the amount of the fine they could assess. While normally the fine would be $99 a day (which we could not afford)... but if it were 99 cents perhaps we could!

DH also said we wanted to get some bees and the head Zoning Officer told him to go right ahead! We should do things we want to do with our property and not refrain from doing them just because of Crazy Lady.

This meeting would have never went this way if my DH hadn't kept our "hands clean". Sometimes cool heads prevail...now I'm going to cross my fingers while I wait to see what happens. The Head Zoning Officer told DH, "Give me a few days to figure this out." Maybe, just maybe, this can all end.... Spock says....I like that idea!