OH NOOOooooOoOooo... now what? - neighbor hates chickens!!

[HathawayHens]

So, before getting our chickens (we are zoned rural residential) we spoke with our neighbor next door, and his response was basically "what do I care? the guy before you had some, they never bothered us at all". Cool, right? Well... I did not speak to the folks across the street... admittedly because they are neurotic, jump to conclusions, and are VERY hung up on status symbols. Well, today the chicks were out in their ex pen on some fresh grass (the coop is not quite done, but it is way in the back of our property and is going to be super cute, white and red, with a huge enclosed run...). I was outside and heard the neighbors across the street screaming and the husband said "she's in the front yard why don't you just ask her?!!!" and then there was more screaming, and the door flew open and he yelled "are we zoned rural residential???!!" and I said yes, he yelled "thank you!" and slammed the door, and then there was more yelling.

SoooOOoOooo... I made my husband call. (he thought I was over reacting) Turns out, the wife across the street says chickens are smelly and dirty and attract flies... none of which is true for a small flock... i mean, how long would a maggot survive in there???? So my hubby said we understand your concerns, the chickens will be in the back yard, and if there are any problems please tell us. They ended the conversation with her still not liking the idea, but I was not in the room to offer advice (still hiding)

SoooOoooOooo... now our neighbors are mad, but they would feel the same way whether we talked first or not (i actually did mention this a few years ago, and they were all concerned about diseases, so I tried to explain it then... I tried to tell them that dogs and cats and raccoons, etc are far more dangerous than chickens from a human health perspective ( I am a VETERINARIAN, you'd think they would trust me to know what I am talking about!!!!!), but they were still all negative. We live on almost one acre on a dead end street with only 5 houses. It stinks that they won't listen to fact or reason, but I don't know what else to do or say. If you Google back yard chickens, you can dispel all the myths... or you can sit in your house and freak out over nothing, I guess. The funny thing is that they buy all organic foods for their family. ??????????

Not sure if I should take them over some more info, or just invite them over to see the chickens, or what... we figured since the guy whose yard was right next door had never had a problem with the other chickens, there was no way that someone all the way across the street would be bothered by them.

Sorry for the stream of consciousness... I am kind of upset right now.

Legally, were are allowed to have them, but I just worry that these folks will use their money and influence to try to get us into trouble.

Has anyone else ever had a situation like this??

It sounds like they will hate the chickens whether or not the chickens are actually doing anything bad. BTW, we will not be having a rooster.

 

[HennyJenny]

Ms. Organic across the street is probably paying $4 a dozen for "cage free eggs" at the organic market. When the girls are laying in a few months - take her a few eggs and see if that doesn't calm her down. I live on an acre zoned rural residential and half the people on the street have some kind of menagerie. But I'm the only one with chickens. We don't have anyone like that (that I know of) on our street but I have bought a few crabby people at work off with a few eggs that were buying the spendy ones at whole foods. Doesn't sound like you want to much of anything but cordial with them anyway. I'd ignore them until the above mentioned peace offering is available. Then if it works - you can get turn her into a "customer" and make her pay you $4 a dozen for convenience

 

[Boo-Boo's Mama]

Been there, done that...not with chickens but other things. I feel sorry for people who are so uptight.

 

[sonjab314]

If you are within your legal rights, they should not be able to get you in trouble. There is just NO pleasing some people (retired police officer, I assure you this is true) and you should just let them be. They will settle down in a bit and all things will work out for you. I wish more poeple in the world would just relax and take one breath at a time. There are more important things going on than to worry about someone else's chickens. Good luck to you.

 

[georgialee]

ehhhh.... who cares about what they think? If you're allowed to have chickens there is no reason to go ask them if they're ok with it or not. They're just going to have to be. I could understand if y'all were friends with them, but you're not and they're crazy so I wouldn't worry about it. We have 19 (+8 chicks) on 1/3 acre in the middle of a subdivison... can't get much more residential than that!

 

[they'reHISchickens]

WHere does this woman think her organic eggs come from?

Sounds like her hubby has problem reasoning with her too. I'd keep a copy of your vet degree handy to flash in her face if she questions anything about their health or care. Any legal trouble they might instigate should also be met with a flash of the vet degree.
You might also mention avian flu the next time she starts feeding the wild birds. That should send her into panic mode. Or maybe not- that would be mean.;/

 

[noodleroo]

When people are upset, they mostly want to see that somebody cares. You have 2 choices as I see it: do nothing and hope she gets over it or try to make it better.

If you want to show her that you do care, I would go talk to her and tell her that you are sorry that she got upset. Tell her that you do care how she feels and that your relationship as neighbors is important to you. Then let her know that you have experience with raising chickens and that you would not have decided to do it if you thought it would inconvenience anyone else in the neighborhood. Ask her to trust your experience and if she sees a problem once you have your flock, to please let you know. If she wants to continue to complain, I like to use the term "Bless your heart, I'm so sorry you're upset". Notice that you don't appologize for anything...ever...you just let her know that you care.

 

[drunkdog]

consesus is ignore her, it sounds like her husband tries

(yes I am the DH, though my wife says D is not for Dear

)....a peace offering may the the answer long term indeed but for now unless she approaches you it doesnt seem as if she is interested listening yet.

 

[nittanyxi]

I wouldn't say another thing to her. She is choosing to be upset over it and isn't really listening to what you have already told her. Trying to talk to her again is just going to start getting her upset all over again. She has already made up her mind. If she initiates a conversation go for it. Otherwise I would not say another thing about it to her.

 

[HathawayHens]

Quote:
This is pretty much what my husband did. He told her that we are concerned about the same things, and obviously will not let there be sanitation or other issues. He is a very good person to talk to... I tend to get upset too easily. I hope that they come around when they see it is not a problem.