Neighbor threatening to trap birds

[ksbkeys]

This one's a long one folks, but

TLDR; nosy neighbor is pissed we won't turn our horses out where she can see/watch them and has started baiting our chickens across the road, calling animal control, and is now threatening to trap and sell/remove/give them away. We are in a rural ag zoned area, no ordinances exist about chickens because we are unincorporated. What can we do?

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I live in a zoned "Ag/Rural Residential" area in extreme North East Indiana on 12 acres. I have birds that free range during the day and go up at night in a barn set back atop a hill over 400ft from the road. My closest neighbor is directly across the street. Keep in mind, we are all acreages separated by tracts of land punctuated with state land and 3 large lakes. The neighbor in question has the smallest piece of land at 6 acres. I'm second smallest with 12. Everyone else is 30+

"Someone" had been coaxing my birds across the street and from there they have began foraging for grubs and beetles etc in the pine litter at the edge of her property. Every time we see them over there, we run them back across and have done everything we can to encourage them to explore the back acreage rather than go across the street. Their food and water sources are all back that way. All of their enrichment items are back that way.

The neighbor across the street has been brought eggs and baked goods and we've done the good neighbor thing as best we can. We managed to keep them happily back there for MONTHS, trained with all kinds of goodies and clickers etc (smart birds, aren't they?)

Que the drama that started this month. Recently, she came across the road to announce her displeasure in the fact she "knows we have babies (foals)" and we don't turn our horses out in our front paddock so she can "watch and enjoy them" as we prefer to turn them out behind the barns where the summer grazing is better. We explained that to her. She didn't like it. We more or less nicely stated that the horses aren't on public display and that the front paddock was being used as a riding arena so horses won't be back out there for any length of time.

A week later she's called Animal Control saying we've abandoned the horses and locked them in a hot shed and she "knows its true because they're not turned out up front anymore where she can watch them" verbatim on the report. ACC said that we, of course, are under no obligation to turn them out where we don't want to.

Two days ago we caught "someone" throwing bread out on the edge of their property... again... and a handful of the birds now forage over in the pine litter again. We made it known we knew it was her when she came over yelling that she had to chase the birds off her property while we were out in town and politely asked her not to undo all the hard work we put in to keeping them on our side of the road. We also explained that the largest fence we can legally build in front of the property is 4' and chickens can easily scale a 6' fence without much drama and WILL do it if she's feeding the little feathered cuisinarts. She didn't like that.

Yesterday we came home from the county fair to a letter from the Sheriff's Department where they crossed out "Dog Owner" and wrote in "Chicken Owner" in the "Dear Dog Owner" portion of their canned letter regarding at large dangerous and barking dogs... How that applies to chickens, your guess is as good as mine and because we got home after the deputy got off shift, we're now waiting for him to come back on shift today so we can talk to him. I have combed through our county and state ordinances - nothing exists about chickens having to be fenced in. Most of our neighbors have free range non-fenced chickens and when they cross a road, or stand in the road, we slow down and/or encourage them to go back across the street.

Anyway... Neighbor this morning called at 6am to wake everyone up and announce that she is going to begin trapping our birds and giving them away/bringing them to the humane society if we don't rehome them or permanently lock them up. We have informed her that she has announced her intention to steal our animals and we will not be tolerating that, nor will we be tolerating her on our land as we have video evidence of her in our barn and walking our property. She was pretty irate to hear that we have cameras and tried saying it wasn't legal - we all know it is, and none of them point at her property in any capacity. They monitor our porch (Ring doorbell), the barn doors, the horses' stalls, the tack/supply area, and then down the drive from the barns so we can see what vehicles pull up the driveway.

What can I do here? This woman is just miserable.

She sounds like she may be mentally ill. As much as is possible, I would consider locking them up temporarily for a few weeks and putting up a fence. Hopefully your neighbor will become bored and move on to a new issue with something other than you and your chickens, etc. My question is why now? Has she suffered a recent loss or recently retired? She may be jealous of your situation??? Maybe ask her why she is picking on you and your chickens. Ask her what is the matter. I would also let the local authorities know of her threats and that she came on your property. Definitely keep the cameras and footage.

We have a difficult neighbor who has made our life difficult at times with other issues but thankfully she is just a seasonal person.

 

[McChooky]

Camera's and fences are mandatory for peace of mind if you have bad neighbors. When she can't physically come onto your property anymore without breaching your fence on camera it will take the fun out of harassing you because she knows she'll go to jail.

 

[tlcmurphy]

I believe Robert Frost coined the phrase “Good fences make good neighbors.”
Sorry you have to put up with this
.

 

[McChooky]

It's not in your best interest to keep retrieving your chickens from her property after being warned. You could be trespassed if you don't ask permission first (dumb as that sounds)

 

[SourRoses]

I wouldn't worry much about the chickens jumping the fence when their needs are met and there's plenty of space on your side. They're flock animals so if most of the members are stopped by the fence, any who do get up / over are going to end up fretting that their buddies aren't with them.

Temporarily, you could run the no-climb wire itself with t-posts for $600-$800 based on prices I've seen on Amzn. Then have them utilize the wire when your permanent, attractive fence is installed.

One thing I would be observing, is the behavior of your rooster(s). Once they've got it in mind that a place is promising feeding ground, they can be the instigator on your flock returning. Breaking his habit can change the behavior of the whole flock. If necessary, penning him up temporarily will keep the hens nearby, or even replacing him with a new roo are some options if this can't be solved..
When people garden or just have different property conditions, the ground can be damper and foster more bugs. So, making a regularly watered, even muddy, area where they can forage is a good encouragement.

My hunch is that this lady is throwing the bread for other wildlife. Maybe for the deer or for birding or something. So, she's getting bent out of shape that your livestock are eating it and thinks she no longer has to tolerate it because she didn't get the view she wanted. As annoying as that is, you still have to protect your chickens and other animals from her and any other human predators that come along.
With horses I would not be comfortable having people able to enter my property without an immediate response. Livestock guardian dog, maybe?

People can be so awful towards horses to get back at the owners. I once had a woman try to legally seize my horse because of a family member's unrelated financial dispute. The seizure law was meant for board / veterinary debts, but she thought she could twist it. And she dumped all the paperwork on me days before Christmas, it was awful.
As soon as we got to a lawyer after the holiday, he cracked up and set our minds at ease. He said, "That's like if I said, 'You owe me $20, I'm taking your sports car.'" and it wasn't even my supposed debt.
But there was a further complication in that the property where I was keeping my horse was in the legal care of this woman (she didn't own it or manage it directly, but some situation with multiple heirs and it being broken up from a larger parcel that used to be a zoo). I found that even without a sane case, that property laws would allow her to keep resident animals on the property. When we inquired, the police informed us they consider all such situations civil matters and would not intervene. Thus, my horse would be under her control until we'd made it to court.

Well, I wasn't going to let that happen, so we arranged transportation for him. Wouldn't you know, but somehow word got around to this influential woman, and she showed up to try to stop us. I ran with my horse onto the trailer (he was such a good boy!) and we drove off, but she had managed to block the front entry gate down the road with her golf cart. Our driver got pissed, leaped out, and pushed her aside enough that he could stomp on the carts gas pedal and pull on the wheel, then he ran beside the cart until it was on the side of the road. We weren't expecting any of that, but he jumped back in and took off. We were free of that awful woman, who my mom always referred to as "the wicked witch of the west".

This is to say, be extra careful of your horses. I've heard so many horror stories...

 

[Birdsonghill]

The neighbor sounds like a tyrant and childish ass! However, you have the responsibility to keep your animals confined to your property. Sounds like you are as stubborn as your uncooperative neighbor, to me. Try and work for peace by being a responsible animal owner and maybe your neighbor will be chagrined by their behavior eventually and peace can reign in the neighborhood. I really do wish you and your flock well and hope you can find the where with all inside you to end this feud peacefully. I live in the countryside on a small acreage and have neighbors chickens from across the road coming on to my property frequently. I try and ignore it but it worries me because they have at least hundred free range birds that are kept in squalor and may present a health hazard to my flocks. It really does not matter if the neighbors birds are a problem to me or not, it is their responsibility to keep their birds up. Therefor I must side with the "unreasonable" neighbor that seems to be a nut case. I have never harmed a bird of my neighbor but have the legal right to trap or shoot their birds on my property. Any animal that attacks or threatens my livestock is legal to shoot in Tennessee. I advise keeping your birds confined for their safety and your responsible behavior would be good for us all, as chicken flock managers. Sorry your dream of cheap and easy free ranging your flock did not work out. Best wishes.

 

[TaylorGlade]

In Florida, you have to have a no trespassing sign for this to work. If you don't already have one, get one. Then, contact an attorney.

 

[TJAnonymous]

Would love to know what part of NE Indiana you are in...

I agree with the others that you need a camera or game cam ASAP so you can record video evidence if she trespasses or baits your birds.

Next, what breeds of chicken do you have? I've discovered my heavy breeds (Orpingtons, Australorps, etc) won't fly over a fence that doesn't have a solid top bar. I use 2x4 welded wire on T-posts. They won't fly over it except at the gate where they can see a solid bar to jump to. However, I have other smaller, flighty breeds (Prairie Bluebells, Starlight Green, Blue Andalusians, etc) who will fly over just about any fence which is why I ended up putting nets over my large run to keep them in.

I also agree with the other person who mentioned that your birds are unlikely to go towards the road if they can be satisfied with what's in the area around their coop. My chickens LOVE to scratch through the horse poop in my pasture or around the barn. Same with the compost pile! Do yours have access to the horse pasture in the back? If you put up poultry netting to cut off access to the front, they might just stick to your pasture and not look for ways around the netting

 

[Brooks_]

In Florida, you have to have a no trespassing sign for this to work.

To what are you referring?

 

[Alagirl]

Nope... We just put up paddocks on the back of the property and don't turn the horses out up front and that has her all pissed off. She also doesn't like that we have 3 boys that run the property and play and have a tree house (in the backyard). She has routinely complained that they "play too loud". I'm not sure how she's hearing them from as far away as her house is, I can't hear them if I'm in the barn or standing on my porch. We've had MANY conversations with her and even gone over there to help her with things when she needed assistance after storms when there was damage etc. We've been great neighbors. No one else has an issue with us at all. She's just pissed she can't have her way.

We have priced fencing along the front 600ft of road frontage and it's going to wind up being about $6k to make it chicken-resistant and not an eyesore (3 board split rail with no climb).

In the meantime, I'm going to put up a camera on the corner of the house that will monitor the road/driveways and hopefully catch her in the act of throwing food to coax em over. She's been officially trespassed as of this AM after she called the local fire department and reported a structure fire because we were burning brush. They didn't like that. She's been warned about using emergency services as a tool for harassment.

Invite the school marching band over to have band camp.
it's good for the horses and promises to be entertaining when she loses her manure.

I am sorry to hear you are in the country and yet have a nasty piece of work neighbor still.

Electric fences are heaven send!
And cameras.

PS:
only talk with that woman when you have witnesses.
If at all.
I'd definitely turn the heat up on her, but dangit, that cuts in the farm budget!