Neighbour’s chickens in our garden

[Iturnedmyfaceaway]

Our neighbours have a licence to cross our back yard in their car so there is a gap in the wall between the properties.
as restrictions on cooping up chickens have now eased they are letting the chickens roam free including in our garden.
the chickens are cute but:
1 in summer they peck your ankles
2 we don’t get any courtesy eggs or anything like that
3.we’ve had trouble with said neighbours using our yard for their own benefit before - had to write a letter to stop them parking there, etc.

wibu to ask them to contain their chickens to their own property? They have a big garden….

Are you able to put a gate in the gap?

That would be a pretty dramatic move and cost us a great deal of money.

I’m in two minds.

1. Chickens!! Fat, cuddly friends!
2. Roast chicken is delicious.

Get a dog

Or a cat

We aren’t close and there is a history of said neighbours overstaying their welcome. The worst thing is that once their chicken is there you never know when neighbour will be staring at you as you garden, etc, so he can enjoy seeing his chickens have fun then walk in to get them if that is what he decides to do. All without acknowledging this is someone else’s garden.

Again I think getting a dog is a bit extreme!

Bump

Can you threaten to get a gate? And point out it will be presumably will be more painful for them to open (they probably won't shut it!) The gate every time they pass along?

I suppose the real question is AIBU not to want to play host to their chickens? Especially as they will presumably be trespassing into our garden to get them at night?
totally understand them escaping from time to time but surely they can’t just decide to use our yard/garden for their birds as if they were cats?

We have garden chickens. They poo everywhere, dig up plants and lawn. We clean up after ours and they’re great pets. However, don’t you find doing that in your own garden after their chickens is frustrating?

I’d just get a roll of chicken wire and put it across the gap. Super easy to install, cheap and can be rolled back as and when needed.

we have chickens and they destroy the garden when they get a taste for it so definitely block access.

YANBU they need to fence in their pets. I'd contact the council in case it constitutes some kind of neighbour nuisance or anti-social behaviour (or is that one the police?). Failing that, I'd put something down that's poisonous to chickens, tell the neighbours you've done so, then they'll have to stop the chickens going onto your property unless they want dead ones.

I don't think that putting up a gate is a dramatic move at all. I think it's a very normal thing to do.

It's not normal to allow someone else to graze their livestock on your property.

make your neighbours aware that you have planted plants that may be harmful to the chickens if they eat them
I keep chickens and I’m surprised that your neighbour isn’t worried about them escaping

I keep poultry and I wouldn't dream of letting them wander into my neighbours' gardens...

you might try the poisonous plants idea above (several lists on the web, and some of them look really nice so you'd not be planting anything that looks ugly!) and if they're not willing to contain the chickens themselves then maybe look at eglu fencing inside your garden boundary. It's a lot cheaper than a gate, and is easily moved and put back for when they need access.

Thank you. The woman is a normal person but has a blind-spot about her house I think. She has the breezy middle class voice thing down to a tee so sometimes it feels like we’re gong crazy.
dh went today to let her know one had escaped but she said “not to worry she’s just foraging” as if that was a normal response.

I’m off to draw a diagram, back in a moment

….and I’m not going to poison the chickens!

YANBU

They are being completely unreasonable letting their livestock roam in your garden.

I feel mortified when mine manage to escape (they are in a 6.5ft high enclosure) and wander to next door. And much the same when my dog escapes.

Tell them you're going to be looking after a friend's dog for a few weeks while they're on holiday. So they might want to make arrangements for some sort of barrier to keep the chickens safe in their own garden. Then when they've done it, the "friend" can decide to take his dog with him on holiday after all.

People recommend a motion sensitive water sprinkler.

Does your garden have another exit (e.g. into the street)? If so, open it.

What is the actual wording of their right of access in your deeds? Without knowing that, no-one can give you any real advice about your legal position.
If it is only vehicular then nothing on legs is legally allowed there without your permission. Neither they nor the chickens are allowed to walk, skip, run or forage on your land otherwise it is trespass.
However if they actually have a general right of access that's a bit trickier although they are usually caveated with what's actually allowed (often it's only for bin emptying but people take the piss).

so the yellow chicken image is where chicken home is.
the red line is the permissive vehicular route across our yard.
blue is where I think they need to put up a chicken fence/gate, that’s reasonable to ask surely?