City Issued a Citation and claims we aren’t allowed to have chickens due to neighbor’s complaint. What are my options?

[All4Eggz]

Some time last year the city came because of a noise complaint, demanding we get rid of almost all the flock and all the roosters. We had almost 10 roosters, had to get rid of all of them.
Had about 60 chickens, they said we can only have 15 so we brought it down to about 20 and the guy let us slide. He’s a nice guy, always is trying to help us and doing everything he can to let us keep the chickens.

That was sometime last year. We’ve had chickens for around a decade so we thought we’re off the hook. City clearly said we are allowed 15 hens because of the size of the coop and property, multiple inspections followed the complaint last year.

Some back story. Fresh eggs are huge in our family. Chickens are a big deal here. We don’t even eat store bought eggs, before they would even make some of our stomachs hurt.
So I am trying to do anything I can to keep these hens. We don’t sell eggs anymore, no profit from them. Just the fresh eggs, and occasionally, meat.

I am just needing help on how I can fight them this time…

It’s the same neighbor complaining this time.
This time there’s rats “coming from the coop and into her garage.” And i don’t deny we have rats, i’ve seen a few here and there. The chickens are close to her property line but we have double fencing to divide both sides.
The guy from the city claimed she provided “evidence” of the rats because she took photos/videos of them in her garage.
HOW is this evidence that they’re coming from our coop, and how is that enough to force us to get rid of all our chickens?

The man mentioned something about other neighbors being involved, so she must’ve got other people on board to fight against us.

I am willing to do what it takes the keep the 15 that we were allowed in the first place.

Thinking of moving the coop to the other side of the property, it would be almost an acre away from the complaining neighbor’s fencing.
I can get an exterminator for the rats if it I find it to be affordable…. I’ll do this if I need to. I’m not going to do it if I have to get rid of the chickens either way.

Please share your experiences if any, and any insight on what to do/how to do it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[All4Eggz]

Please don't do that, Ben. Do not lower yourself. Remember the Sermon on the Mount, and Whose you are. I know your standards.

Once you cross the "tit for tat" bridge, there is usually no going back unless/until one of you moves. That might be a long time.

Definitely won’t be taking it out on them.
Clearly there’s a reason they reported it and maybe to them it seems right to do it. And to be fair we were not in compliance with the ordinance so I can’t really be mad at them, they don’t understand the connection we have. And maybe it was with ill intent but that makes no difference I’m not going to start a war over that.

 

[All4Eggz]

Good news.
I spoke with a city council member today who happens to be a neighbor (a few blocks away).
He wholeheartedly agreed with me and is willing to help. He said he will talk to the member who made the proposal and see what they can do.

He also told me that we shouldn’t have let them on our property unless they had a warrant. He said the government shouldn’t dictate what we do with our land.

Overall a very great guy and I’m glad I had the opportunity to speak with him.

Even better news.

“by the end of May” sounds amazing to me.
That’s two months. If that happens you guys do not know how happy I’ll be.

I dropped off the remaining 6 hens at a friends house today.
I said goodbye but I know I’ll have them back in a little bit .

Thanks y’all for the advice. I’m really hoping and praying this works.

 

[Egghead_Jr]

Don't leave poison in the open. Use a bait box and chunx bait. You should have been doing this from the beginning.

Immediately implementing a protocol to eliminate rats on your property, two to three tamper proof bait boxes, will go a long way in your plight. It shows the authorities you are a responsible livestock owner and plan to never be in a position where others can claim you are the reason for rodents in the future. Calling an exterminator after complaints arise is not showing anything.

 

[SandyRiverChick]

We live sort of near a river, rats live near rivers so maybe that will help in defending the possibility that these rats aren’t here because of the chickens..

I live on a River. If ever I saw a rat in my coop I would not blame the River, it's my bad. It's close to impossible for some people but if you're determined to do it and do it right, start with a forum search on "Rats" and find the many threads where Al Gerhart posts Howard E.'s article about how to truly get rid of them. It's a long read but outlines the 3 necessary steps: Sanitation, exclusion, elimination. I added a 4th, "Control." Meaning, implement a control so that it doesn't happen again. My Control is Feral Cats. When you're successful Rats will not be in your coop whether they live in the woods or river bank or whatever, they don't have a reason too. I would also know the City ordinances in and out. It's not really a debate with a Neighbor when the ruling is covered by the ordinance. Good Luck! My property had a rat issue when I bought it but I won, they're gone~ !!

 

[sourland]

I would start with trying to control the rat problem. That may require the help of a professional.

 

[tlcmurphy]

Here’s my 2 cents.
When we joined this forum I recall the rules stating that some folks on here raise chickens (and other birds/animals) as food and some raise them as pets, and we should respect opinions other than our own.
Although not stated by BYC, it seems to me that some of us raise animals in farm or large area setting, and some of us raise them in our backyard should follow the same rules. I understand you don’t believe this @wkyongae but I think you could be more understanding of those of us that do.

Backyard chicken owner in metro Atlanta, 3 hens no roosters, less than an acre, and happy to be able to raise them.

 

[Lacy Duckwing]

I would start poisoning the rats right away. In my neighborhood, I have a neighbor who is getting similar complaints. Everyone, including myself, has seen rats in her woods and around her barn, and last year, our neighborhood got overtaken by rats. Our neighbors had a legit reason to complain about my neighbor with the farm, but to some of us, the blame for the rats shouldn't only be on her. We live in a trailer park, and there's a lot of people here who have overflowing dumpsters, trashed yards and houses. So as far as she getting all the blame, some of us agree that the rats are coming from all the trash- not just the chickens.

I've been raising chickens for nearly thirteen years, and only in the past couple of years, I've been dealing with rats. This I blame entirely on a nearby neighbor who often has an overflowing dumpster (this dumpster has even called in vultures). As soon as I see new rats moving in, I put out this one-bite poison screwed to a board in a fully enclosed run that's attached to my chicken coop. The rats will eat it all within a couple of nights, and because they live under the coop itself, they're having minimal access to predators who might eat them afterwards.

• Kill off the rats.
• Ensure your neighborhood is clean, and if not, move some of the blame to that.
• Know your town/city's ordinance on chicken keeping, right to farm, and possibly food sovereignty as well.

 

[nuthatched]

Move the coop away from the neighbors would, I think, lessen the immediate issue. Then get the rats under control.

 

[sourland]

Don't leave poison in the open. Use a bait box and chunx bait. You should have been doing this from the beginning.

Immediately implementing a protocol to eliminate rats on your property, two to three tamper proof bait boxes, will go a long way in your plight. It shows the authorities you are a responsible livestock owner and plan to never be in a position where others can claim you are the reason for rodents in the future. Calling an exterminator after complaints arise is not showing anything.

This ! Show that you are the solution - not the problem.