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Chicken keepers

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Original poster

Neighbour’s chickens in our garden

61 replies

Iturnedmyfaceaway · 08/10/2023 16:43

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….

OP posts:
FrangipaniBlue · 09/10/2023 02:47

Ponderingwindow · 09/10/2023 01:31

So is there anything from stopping the chickens from crossing the road?

it looks like they could walk down the length of the drive right, presumably right into the street.

I'm sure there's a joke in here somewhere....

"Why did the chicken cross the road?"

"because @Iturnedmyfaceaway didn't want to go nuclear on her neighbour"

ChelseaGem · 09/10/2023 02:59

YABU for not posting a photo of the sweeties.

Chicken Tax for Not My Chickens, as it were.

Someoneonlyyouknow · 09/10/2023 03:45

You could put some kind of barrier to stop the chickens leaving their property, which the neighbours would need to move every time they took their car out (unless the licence prohibits this). Or you could put a barrier to keep them out of your garden, so they could only access the yard. Or you could invest in nesting boxes and some chicken food and grab eggs quickly before neighbours realise their chooks aren't laying at home

Scissor · 09/10/2023 05:30

Foxes should sort your problem out once the weather turns, maybe have a breezy conversation with your neighbour about how beautiful foxes are and you're leaving food out to make sure they're set up for the winter.

Either that or a trail of chicken feed to the road and they can forage their way off.

Poppins2016 · 09/10/2023 05:38

Malificent1 · 08/10/2023 16:49

Or a cat

Cat wont work. My cats (and the neighbours cats) have a healthy respect for my chickens... the chickens rule the roost!

Poppins2016 · 09/10/2023 05:46

SiobhanSharpe · 09/10/2023 01:43

I think the idea of a roll of chicken wire would be easy and cheap, hook it onto wooden posts at each end of the gap (or use other supports) so you can easily move it out of the way when you need to. Or wooden garden 'trellis' -- again it would need to be supported.

This is a good solution. A chicken wire "gate" or expanding trellis would be a reasonably low cost barrier. I do this in my own garden to stop them from destroying my flowerbeds. Just remember to make it high enough... otherwise they'll jump or clumsily "fly" over it if they're determined enough! I find my chickens are generally thwarted by a high of 4 ft, but occasionally breach the barrier if determined.

Lucanus · 09/10/2023 06:52

Especially as they will presumably be trespassing into our garden to get them at night?
@Iturnedmyfaceaway The chickens ought to return to their house in the evening by themselves, unlike ducks and geese that need to be herded in.
Quite wrong of the neighbours to let them wander freely in your garden though. It's their responsibility to keep them fenced in and out of your garden. A fence along the blue line looks like the most reasonable solution, but your neighbours don't sound like reasonable people. You probably need to go round and complain every single time there is a chicken in your garden.

maratara · 09/10/2023 08:42

Iturnedmyfaceaway · 08/10/2023 16:43

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….

You are me!!!
Little buggers dig up your seedlings and run in your shed and poop everywhere.
Where I live ( after a lot of asking) I found that they should keep their chickens in their own property.
Good luck

seulement · 09/10/2023 11:43

I completely get that you're wanting (entirely justifiably!) your neighbours to sort this issue out, but from your diagram it might be less stressful - and faster - for you to deal with the gap in your fencing. That eglu fencing I mentioned previously can come with fixings at either end so that it just hooks on to a wall or a post and job done...it's only lightweight, you can put it up yourself and it's easily moved when you want to get in and out, but it will stop the chickens in their tracks, immediately.

Doing this yourself takes the supercilious power away from your neighbour which would also be satisfying...

Flowersforbees · 09/10/2023 12:11

They will be back in lockdown within a month or so so you'll get 6 months of peace from November.

Original poster
Iturnedmyfaceaway · 09/10/2023 21:07

thank you all.
there is a real sense of entitlement behind it all.

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