Neighbor threatening to "take out my roosters"

[Kathryn4629]

I really hope this this is the right section.

Ok so here is the deal. I live on 20 acres and have pretty much no restrictions on what I can do with the land as far as livestock and such.

I have recently moved my garden to the southern portion of the property along the driveway. Due to the soil being better and it not frosting so Early in the season. As soon as I started planting the neighbor next to that property line came over to chat. I have to say that I have always gotten along with all the surrounding neighbors, and had very positive experiences with this guy in the past.

The first thing out of his mouth is "don't be surprised if your roosters go missing or you find them dead"

then proceeded to ask why I moved my garden over to this property line, and said that I should move it back. This is after he watched me struggle with the rototiller for days to till under a 16x200 plot (I sell produce at a farmers market and other places)

He also went on to tell me how much my horses annoyed him and that my field looked like crap, and he moved to the country for peace and quiet "not this noise crap" This is the man that moved out here from the city built a cookie cutter house and spends hours a day mowing his field so it all looks like a golf course, the only animals they have are two cats that come over and pee on everything around my house and especially my flower beds. I have never said anything and didn't plan to.

So here is what i said: Well, actually I am planning on butchering those two roosters and I have 40 chicks in the garage and will be KEEPING a couple roosters around for flock protection and fertilizing eggs. I completely ignored the garden comment. And said that the horses are not going anywhere. And.... guess what?? I am getting 6 ewes delivered next week. HA

So since then I have been out in the garden everyday working by bum off. Every day he comes out in his yard hands on hips staring at me and shaking his head. I am thinking about offering him a dozen eggs a week as a peace offering. Maybe that would help? A lot of the surrounding neighbors buy eggs from me. I am not good with confrontation, I immediately start shaking and want to cry when someone is angry with me or yelling at me. I want to get along with the people around me. I also think he was trying to intimidate me because I am a 25 year old single woman. Maybe he thought that he could tell me what to do because he is an older gentleman (50-60ish)

What do you guys think that I should do??

 

[EsoBOFH]

His attitude is downright confrontational, and just plain out of wack in comparison to your other neighbors. If you are feeling at all threatened, I would take it to the local law enforcement immediately - even just to get their advice.

My best advice to you now? document every single interaction - if you come to them as an "emotional young lady" they will treat you like that... if you come to them with written log/journal of the interactions and what has occured between you two, they will see you as someone to be taken seriously. Be factual, state what was said.. try to leave emotion out of it.

 

[bruceh]

ok i guess i am an older gentleman 49. not really old . your neighbor is just an jackass. first don;t ever let anyone make you make you cry. i am not a confrontational person either.

i was however a pawnbroker for a long time and have had to deal all sorts. first he moved to the country because he thought that was the place to be. he probably has a decent bank account from a high powered job along with the stress that goes along with it, and feels he is entilted.

the first thing i would do is ask him if he wants to help and do some farm work. he will most definitely say no. then i would return with a comment of you know you just can't beat good clean living and you should give it a try it may be fun. he has never expirenced this kind of life being from a city. if he says ok then your good problem solved.

if he says no. then ask what he likes that you grow in your garden. he will tell you. just grow him some. he also has never tasted farm fresh anything.

when the chickens produce eggs offer him some. if he refuses tell him something like you don't know what your missing not having a fresh egg. they're the best very fresh and full of good nutrition not old like store bought.

if you raise chicken for meat offer him a fresh chicken.

see this does some things. 1. it kills him with kindness. 2. your offering a service to your neighbor 3. you are educating a ill informed person. before long he has to look in the mirror at himself.

that way if he starts with the entitlement stuff you can fire back and feel pride in your hard work.

i know people will disagree with me but i am telling you i have brought the hardest of people to their knees.

if all that fails ask him what you can do to make a peaceful solution.

if that fails. just shoot the bast^^rd. (just kidding)

however if you have done all this and he does something stupid you have all the favor on your side and the man will be in trouble with no one on his side. that makes for bad public relations.

 

[TallChickMagnet]

Someone posted this earlier, I'm passing it on to you:

 

[Kathryn4629]

*nodding*

I'm really glad to hear things have improved.

Some day when you have time (hahaha) I'd love to see photos of your farm and animals. I'd love to see your setup.

Well its a rainy windy day so I am doing house work... so I will post a couple of pictures.


Horses in the back pasture. Property makes an L kind of shape.

This one you can see the two "front pastures" this was 2 years ago, so there is still quite a few weeds in there. White horse is in the neighbors small field.

The start of the coop remodel. Stripped everything out of the shed, and started over. It was obviously dark and gloomy in there for the chickens before.

After: Elevated roosts, ramp to get up there. Nest boxes on the right, you can get eggs without having to go in. Feeder that I made on the left, holds 50lbs of feed. Door separates the front of the shed/barn, for feed storage and right now it holds all my fencing stuff and other tools.

Inside the chicken area. Young birds are in there right now. They are ages 3 weeks- 5 weeks. Big girls are divided between two small mobile coops for now. Dont ask how many chickens I have right now, lol. The answer is way to many!!

The sheep!! These are the twins that are bedded down in there shed that is attatched to their night time corral.



My first coop. still works great.

Ok ok I am done now. It was nice to think about nicer things for a moment.

 

[NYREDS]

His attitude is downright confrontational, and just plain out of wack in comparison to your other neighbors. If you are feeling at all threatened, I would take it to the local law enforcement immediately - even just to get their advice.

My best advice to you now? document every single interaction - if you come to them as an "emotional young lady" they will treat you like that... if you come to them with written log/journal of the interactions and what has occured between you two, they will see you as someone to be taken seriously. Be factual, state what was said.. try to leave emotion out of it.

Exactly right. His behavior is threatening & he has in fact threatened to kill your roosters. In many jurisdictions killing someone else's livestock constitutes animal cruelty which is a crime. I'm a local court judge & I'd grant you an order of protection based on what you've reported here.

 

[speckledhen]

ignatz, please, let's not stay on this tangent. If you want to debate the guinea/tick thing, the Guinea forum is the best place for it. Let's not take Kathryn's thread off course again.

 

[Beekissed]

I would find some scrap lumber..doesn't really matter what it looks like...and build a very tall, very ugly fence on that side of your garden~stain it something pretty on your side. That way you won't have to look at him looking at you and he won't have to "see" all that you are doing on your land. I'd also invest in some electric fencing between the property and get a nice, big GP or Anatolian LGD to guard your sheep and your roosters.

Your land, your stuff, your life. It doesn't sound like this is a person who cares about "nice" and you really can't deal with those kind except ignore them as best you can and keep the moments of direct exposure to a minimum.

 

[Renegade Rescue]

He is trying to make you cry and trying to treat the sticks like some home owners association. If he moved to pasture land he should have expected to see planting horses and livestock.

We had one neighbor complain once about our dog rescue and made the threat of dogs coming up dead to my wife. Then he proceeded to fire his pistols off into the tree line I heard one ricochet and was nice enough to tell him the next shell that flew across my property would be considered an act of aggression. needless to say he came over knocked on the door discovered I am by far no little guy , and wanted to debate the conversation he let it go till thanksgiving and again started the gun fire on the edge of our property line he and his kids were asked to stop they promptly told my wife to f off they would do it and she could not stop them I promptly explained that Florida law states you cannot discharge a firearm for target practice on less than Ten acres and you must have a stop or backdrop, they argued and continued. Rather than let it bother me the evil light went off, I am a dj and have an 8000 watt event pa, I then connected to YouTube through my laptop connected to my mixer found a video of a gentleman firing an AK 47 until it caught fire looped the video set the audio for 5k watts and let it play for ten minutes. The gun fire stopped and now they avoid me. None of my animals get harmed and life is good again.

 

[gg706]

I would NOT offer him ANY farm food! He may say it made him sick and file a lawsuit and shut down your farm! I would tell him in a very matter of fact way that unfortunatly for HIM, HE has moved to the country and if he doesn't like the animals around he should move back to the city. I would tell him it is YOUR property and you will do as you please. Inform him he is not welcome on your property for ANY reason and that you will press criminal trespassing charges if he comes on your property. Put up several no trespassing signs. NEVER call your animals "PETS" THEY ARE LIVESTOCK!!!!!!!!! Laws are different for livestock. You make all or some of your living from your farm and animals. Don't cower in the corner and don't be overly aggressive....be matter of fact and straight to the point and document everything. I would also get the sheriff involved at some point. I would also let him know that his cats visit your property and that he needs to keep them on his property as they could kill some of your chickens which is your livestock and that could REALLY cause problems for him! Just my 2 cents... BTW we have some problem neighbors so we planted Thuja Arborviteas evergreen trees they have grown probabaly 3 feet in one year and that was their first year, so this year I expect even more growth. However I would not recommend putting them right by your garden as they will put roots into your garden and take the water and etc. from your garden plants. But if you have room I think I would put up a partial fence to block his view and harassment for now and plant a whole row of trees between your property lines if possible. Make sure you leave room for the trees to grow to be fully on your property or he can cut whatever growth that crosses onto his property and destroy your beautiful trees. Just my 2 cents.....