Ugg, my neighbors!

[gvntofly05]

To start I live in a rural area. Specifically a farming township. There are no laws where I live on keeping any form of livestock, unless you live in a subdivision, which has it's own rules. I have a full acre lot. The people behind me own 10+ acres and their house is over 600 feet from my coops. The neighbors to my south are about 400 feet from my coop and the neighbors to the north are about 600 feet from my coop, but no one currently lives in that house.

A friend from down the street came over a few days ago and said she had just been at the trustees office. The trustee asked her if she knew if the people at my address had chickens and she said yes. Now mind you I have had chickens for a year now and have had roosters crowing since Feb. The trustee asked her specifically about our area and if we lived in a subdivision. My friend said no. He also asked her how my chickens were kept.

She said I have a large coop, a couple of smaller breeding pens and an outdoor brooder. She said that I let them out to run in my fenced yard also. He then asked how many chickens I had and she said she wasn't sure.

What happened was a neighbor called and filed a complaint that I had over 50 chickens crammed into a tiny pen, they are not well taken care of and I have about 15 roosters crowing at all hours. I am completely out of control and something needs to be done

Well I have 51 chickens right now and 14 total roosters, 11 of which are going to freezer camp in about 3 weeks when they are big enough. Only 3 of those are actually crowing. I also have 6 hens that will be leaving at the same time to go to a friends, since I have 6 young pullets that will be laying in a month. So in three weeks time my 51 chickens will go to 34.

The trustee actually gave the name of the complainant to my friend!!!! I was shocked that it was the name of the person behind me.

I also found out that the neighbor behind me was talking with the neighbor to the south of me for a good 2 hours the day before the call was made.

A week before we had a party and the neighbors to the south were there. The husband had quite a bit to drink and had said to me I am out of control with my chickens. I explained with exact numbers of birds and roosters that it's getting a little crowded out there but a bunch would be gone in a month. I said I had to grow out the roosters before slaughter.

We have never had a problem with the people behind us,their son was in mine and DH's wedding, but the people to the south always make comments about our chickens. Even though they have chickens themselves but no roosters. So with what was said to the trustee I am thinking the wife of my neighbor to the south called and gave the other neighbors name.

The trustee told my friend that there is nothing for him to even look into because of where we live. So I am getting copies of everything I can in case this turns in to a multiple call harassment case.

Thanks for listening, I just had to vent.

 

[carrlr]

Aren't neighbors great. You can only do so much, and some will just complain for complaint sake. I'm a little surprised they freely gave out the name of the complainer. But, at least you know. The way I see it from your explaination, you have nothing to worry about. One question...is your "large coop" adequately sized for the number of chickens (51) you currently have?

 

[gvntofly05]

The 51 chickens are in 3 separate coops. The largest has 6 more in it that I would like but those are the 6 hens that are moving in a few weeks.

With that coop they are only locked in there at night. During the day they are running the whole yard.

I've said before to the neighbors that if I wanted to I could keep them all in small cages since there are no laws on how chickens are to be kept. I don't do it though because one of the whole points of having my chickens is I disagree with how the commercial farms run things.

 

[radiodog]

My neighbors complained about my crowing rooster and even wrote into the local rag (newspaper) about it. In trying to be a good neighbor, I rehomed the rooster. Now the neighbors on the other side have chickens and a crowing roo. LOL

And I think I now know who complained about my dogs (always contained in their large fenced in yard or in the house) - its the people that allow their dogs to run loose!! We do have leash laws here! People are crazy.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Not quite sure what the role of a trustee is (not a government position I've ever encountered), but it seems like if that is a position for receiving nuisance and/or zoning complaints, then he/she would have access to zoning maps which would indicate whether you are or are not in a subdivision and what if any ordinances are applicable. Asking a non-official about those basic facts doesn't make sense. Yes, asking for personal observations about such things as numbers of birds or how they are cared for might, but not the technical legalities.

If there is a concern about hte condition or welfare of the birds, I would expect that animal control or the aspca or humane society would have been the proper ones to contact.

Personally, I would probably call abd verify what you were told, and if accurate, file a complaint on invasion of privacy against the office for sharing the information with your friend, for not properly verifying that you are legal and within your rights and not replying to the complainant that their complaint has no basis. In other words, I would be angry & proactive.

I have considerably more birds than you, including considerably more crowing roosters and live on smaller property, in a subdivision, in a city, and considerably closer to neighbors. I have never had a complaint, and am well within my rights to have the birds I have.