Neighbor's Chickens Trying to Join My Flock

[BDutch]

Maybe the neighbours are not aware that the chickens have not enough food free ranging. A camera / filming and showing their chickens eat you’re food, might help. Talking , explaining and giving them a chance to understand what the actual problem is , is probably, the best you can do.

 

[Bigtom Turkey]

Yes atleast talk with them before you spend a arm and leg buying there feed.

 

[NatJ]

I'm having an issue with my neighbors flock storming my run and eating like they're starving whenever I let my girls out to supervise free range.

they said they only give them two cups in the morning and that's it because they want them to free range for their food.

I should also note that we have a good relationship with said neighbors, just very different approaches to chicken-keeping. They are busy and hands-off, and we work from home, are always the ones to watch them when they are (frequently) away, and otherwise are always swarmed by their chickens and the ones to discover issues.

Maybe start with a simple fact: their chickens are regularly eating from your feeders. Yes, that sort-of counts as foraging their own food, but it's probably not what the neighbors had in mind.

And, since you don't want to get animal control involved, consider keeping your own chickens (and their feeder) shut in for a few weeks. No, it won't be nice to the neighbors' starving chickens, but if you cut off that supply, maybe the neighbors will see that their chickens really do need more feed.

You say they're giving two cups of food daily. How many chickens do they have?

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Maybe the neighbours are not aware that the chickens have not enough food free ranging. A camera / filming and showing their chickens eat you’re food, might help. Talking , explaining and giving them a chance to understand what the actual problem is , is probably, the best you can do.

Yeah that's what I'm thinking. Thank you. I think they believe if they are free ranging all day they don't need feed, the thing is they are never home to really observe anything. The amount they eat in my run suggests otherwise. I am going to think about how to broach the topic in a way that is tactful. My big challenge is getting them to listen/hear it. They do always joke how their chickens sprint down the hill to our house whenever they see me... so I guess that's evidence. They know if I'm out, the run door is likely to be opened (and if not, I will sympathetically bring out some feed for them).

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Yes atleast talk with them before you spend a arm and leg buying there feed.

My husband would agree with this. We've been going through feed the fastest ever lately... and I know why

This stuff keeps me up at night because I am one of those people that gets annoyingly attached to animals. I care about them and worry about them, but also know it's not my responsibility (and we don't have endless resources). Thankful for this forum to be able to talk about it a bit.

 

[Byrd gal]

That is terrible. I hate you are in that position. It bites no matter what. Maybe table scraps over the fence? I hope something good works out for you. You sound like a big hearted kind of person not everyone would buy feed .

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

Maybe start with a simple fact: their chickens are regularly eating from your feeders. Yes, that sort-of counts as foraging their own food, but it's probably not what the neighbors had in mind.

And, since you don't want to get animal control involved, consider keeping your own chickens (and their feeder) shut in for a few weeks. No, it won't be nice to the neighbors' starving chickens, but if you cut off that supply, maybe the neighbors will see that their chickens really do need more feed.

You say they're giving two cups of food daily. How many chickens do they have?

Yes I'm thinking of phrasing it like "we've noticed that your girls who come down here have recently been eating feed like they're ravenous... they'll annihilate all the feed we have in our run in a short amount of time, etc." I want to bring up that some of them are so skinny but I worry that borders on judgmental. When I pick them up to take them out (especially the ones who haven't been "regulars"), they are ALL keel bone. The girls that had been coming down for a while feel a bit more filled out, thankfully.

My husband agrees about cutting off access. It'd honestly be very hard for me though I know it's a good, straightforward way to solve the issue. Problem is, I truly don't know if they'd notice. They're only ever home to let the birds out and close up the coop at night, and didn't even notice when some of their girls were getting near bullied to death--and then didn't believe me even when I saved one of their hens (it took pointing out the bloodbath in the coop).

They have 11 hens, about 5 or whom have started coming down (used to be 2 bullied girls, but a few more have caught on). They also have three turkeys--but we don't let them on our property because they have a habit of fighting chickens and the tom tries to attack our dog. I'm sure they're in need of resources, too, though.

 

[Byrd gal]

Have they had them long? Maybe they aren't chicken people and would let you adopt them since you are already feeding them?

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

That is terrible. I hate you are in that position. It bites no matter what. Maybe table scraps over the fence? I hope something good works out for you. You sound like a big hearted kind of person not everyone would buy feed .

Yeah I'm sorta doing a smattering of things... oats here and there; handfuls of feed; clean bowls of water in my yard, and letting them stuff their faces for an amount of time while my girls free range (they are giving back by stealthily dropping eggs in my coop). I have trouble cutting them off because even as I'm trying to grab them they are stuffing their faces as much as they can... and if they slip away, they immediately turn around and run back to the feeder. It's more than typically greedy chickens... there's an air of desperation.

Thanks for your kind words--it means a lot. I've been stupidly losing sleep over this stuff. I'm already up at night worrying about how they'll fare in the summer without ventilation, and haven't even figured out this feed business. Sigh.

Oh, and here's a photo of the OG infiltrator, a speckled who came to my run with a bad injury to her scalp and comb (she'd been attacked by their turkeys). I patched her up and she's been coming to my doorstep every day since.

 

[buffy-the-eggpile-layer]

And it will take extra-extra feed to get their body mass back up.

This explains why a few of them end up eating more food than all 8 of mine eat in a half a day--in just one sitting. Lately I'll let them go to town for ten minutes, come in, and see they've all but depleted what the rations for my entire flock's day. Needless to say my runs to TSC are becoming more frequent...