The neighbors......

[Tala]

Today I fed the chickens and actually removed one feeder so that they would clean up the mess that they made protesting a change in feed......this particular feeder has a covered "station" about 5ft into the yard off of my back porch - which has a locked gate at the top of the stairs. I padlocked the gate before I left, and it was still locked when I came home (so no, DH didn't leave it open or anything like that)

When I was doing night chores, I noticed that there was a piece of cantelope rind laying near the feeder station. I haven't given them table scraps in over a week...... so how did it get there??

I'm guessing somebody could have thrown them scraps off my back deck - but that would mean that they came in the front deck gate (with the big no tresspassing sign on it) What kind of person thinks it's perfectly acceptable to parade around on somebody else's back porch while they aren't home???????

UGH!!!! I don't want them coming in the yard - not sure if they did or not --- but my rooster beat up two family guests this week - I don't want people going in the yard without me HENCE THE PADLOCKS!!!!!!!!!

I have a pretty good idea which neighbor might have done it. They're not "all there" in the head and they say that they loooooove chickens, so I could see them bringing over treats. They are hard to talk to though, because of being short a few marbles, and last time I asked them about something that I'm sure that someone from their house did - they just denied it.

I heard through the grapevine that they were moving out soon and I DO hope it's SOON.

 

[Mattemma]

Any way you could cover the area with some bird netting or deer fence? Atleast the neighbors are not trying to poison them,but I would get mad too if someone came in my yard.

Can you set up a game camera? Not sure that would be worth the expense just to verify your kooky neighbor is visiting. I would want to know,but the cost would be prohibitive.Maybe someone can loan a camera. TG my hens are in the middle or the yard,and we ran our fence from either side of the house so you have to climb it to get in.

 

[mikecar007]

You can easily get two wireless security cameras with the transmitter for around $100. You could watch your chickens while you're not home and see who is feeding the chickens. I had a similar incident where all kinds of table scraps were being thrown in the yard for my dog. After talking to them three times they stopped, until recently. Now I just deal with it by walking the fence line and throwing it away. They mean well but I have a rather small dog that does not need two slices of pizza as a treat.

 

[AinaWGSD]

Are you sure it wasn't a little furry, bushy-tailed pest that left the cantelope rind there? We went through a period of time where I was sure someone was for whatever reason throwing table scraps (mostly bread, but also fruit) over the fence which really upset me as I don't want my dogs eating random crap. But one day I saw a squirrel drop a piece of old bread while running from tree-tree. Turns out the neighbors were leaving large pieces of table scraps in their compost (or else throwing them out in the garden for the birds and squirrels) and the squirrels were carrying them off. I've also seen the squirrels here steal ripe tomatoes right off the vine and carry them off to someone else's yard.

 

[Mahonri]

Without a camera, there could be numerous explanations. Good luck!

 

[MIgourdgirl]

My neighbor sometimes comes over when the chickens are out in the yard and tosses them "treats". I've told him we're trying to watch the weight in our chicken yard and asked him to limit his "treats" to just bread--he used to bring over french fries, etc. He's not over often, so it's not a big deal. Sounds like some of your neighbors are quite as considerate. Not to be rude, but maybe it would send a message to toss the food back into your neighbors yard--in a neat pile of course.

 

[herfrds]

I got a brand new game camera off of e-Bay for $70.
it is not too cost prohibitive, but at least you will know who is on your property.

 

[Haulinbass02]

A little off topic but we were on vacation for the past week and had one of our neighbors taking care of our dogs. We had just bought 100 pounds of dog food the day before we left and knew that it would last us a LONG time. We got home and found that 75 pounds of food was gone as evidenced by one empty bag in the can and one that had half of the food gone. Talked to the neighbor and he said that the other neighbor's grandson's had taken to feeding our dogs when my other neighbor wasn't looking, which also meant that somehow he trashed my yard by not putting up stuff that normally would be used and put back (dog bowls). To make it worse, the grandmother knew about it and didn't stop it. He had to go through (or over) locked gates and fences to do this. Country living or not, you just don't mess with people's animals. Highly irritating........

 

[PineappleMama]

Quote:
Well, not on purpose anyways. They might think they were being real sweethearts when giving potato skins, leftover orange/grapefruit, etc. It is NEVER a good idea to assume you know what's best for someone else's pet, or kids for that matter. If ours have a friend come over I make sure I ask about allergies just in case because you never know and I'd feel horrible if I accidentally made a kid sick. I'd definitely say something... or maybe make a sign... Don't Feed The Chickens!! Attack Rooster! Whatever.