Is it illegal for others to catch chickens in the streets? (Miami-Dade County, Florida)

Ish

Hatching
Mar 7, 2025
2
2
7
Florida
Good afternoon. I live in Miami, Florida where there are a lot of chickens. (To skip the story, scroll down for the question) Ever since a neighbor died his chickens moved onto my property, so I started feeding them and giving them water every day. The front neighbors and the neighbors on the side hate the chickens even though we try to keep them quiet, and has even threatened my mother with beating her up on the street if she (the neighbor) sees her feeding them. We called the city but they didn’t do anything and defended our neighbors despite them threatening my mom. Now they have seemed to have called someone to trap them. My mother followed this guy to his house (in the neighborhood) and has caught a lot of the chickens that were out on the street into cages in his backyard and just told my mom that the city is going to arrest and giver her so many fines for this.

Based on the description I doubt they are licensed to trap chickens and did not respond to that, so is it illegal for someone to trap and take photos of us without our consent? Again, it’s important to emphasize these are not my chickens, but some random chickens from the street that come to our house.
 
I found the location of the guy who was taking the chickens and he was just rude to me and threatened to call the city and get me arrested and fined despite the fact that they aren’t my chickens, I just feed them. He caught a lot of chickens including one I saw grow up and ate from my hand despite being a street hen, and sent them away to lord knows where. I will try contacting my city officials but I doubt anything will happen.
 
Feeding a stray often amounts to owning it, according to many zoning laws in the US. As mentioned above, contacting a lawyer is a good first step.

For $50 (very cheap in terms of lawyers) Miami had a lawyer referral service. I'm not from that area, so my advice may not be precise. However with most such services you get a chunk of time with a lawyer who *should* be at least passingly familiar with the type of issue you're seeking assistance with.

They do NOT actually do anything for that $50 except provide you with basic understanding of the law, what could possibly be done, and maybe a ballpark price of the cost.

Miami Lawyer Referral

Please understand that *I* don't get a cut off this money! Generally some part of it (50% of the referral fee in my state) goes to the lawyer, and part to the service. That means you've got a probably young, hungry lawyer whose getting? $25 for probably a 15 or 30 minute consult.

If you like what he's saying, you can try to hire him. If you don't, another $50 will get your a second opinion.

On the other hand, if you just want to vent, you can do that here for free. Just don't interpret anything I day as a recommendation for action.
 
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Chickens can eat a garden down to the ground when allowed to free range. Can you build them a coop and contain them so they can't get in your neighbors yard??
 

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