Me, my chickens, and my NEIGHBORS chickens...Grrrrrrr!

[suebee]

My neighbor adopted 4 full grown ugly yardbirds. He kept them in the pen for almost 2 weeks then let them out. They never returned to his pen from that night on. They sleep in the trees and are over at my house at sunrise. They wait at my coop until I let my chickens out to free range. At night they go back to the trees. The problem is biosecurity. They look healthy but what if they have diseases that could be passed on to my silkies??
And it's starting to get cold. Those poor bird roosting in the trees could freeze to death. And they are starting to get aggressive. When I feed MY chickens snacks they sometimes try to fight my chickens for the food! The neighbor really is a wonderful person and he doesn't know what to do. They roost too far up in the trees to capture them and put them back in his pen. He keeps his pen open with food in it but they will not go into it.
First thing every morning they're at my coop. When they started to get aggressive I got my hose out and tried to spray them away but they just come right back. A fence between the properties is out because its over 600 feet and they'd just fly over anyway. I don't want to adopt them because they are aggressive and ugly. Besides, they wouldn't go in my coop at night anyway. The guy he got them from said they used to sleep in the trees at his house. Other than hoping an owl will carry them off, guess I'm clueless..and no I will not pick'em off with a gun while they sleep up in the trees!!

Oh the agony!!!! Any suggestions?

 

[BantyChickMom]

Maybe you could throw some kind of net over them to capture them and return them to your neighbor.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, I say try to net them or kock them out of the trees at night. Then return them and tell your neighbor not to let them out.

 

[DuckLady]

Poor things. They are aggressive becasue they are hungry. I agree. Trap them and tell your neighor to keep them penned til they know where home is.

 

[countyroad1330]

Poor things, I hate it when people neglect their own animals. I just went through the same thing with my neighbors' chickens. They asked me to sell them for them, so I did and got them all penned up. After I went through all that trouble, they decided to keep them...

Are they chickens? With the neighbors', I showed them feed in a cup, and then they followed me into the pen where I poured the feed out. They are also easy to just pick up and carry after its dark and they've been asleep a while. Good luck!

 

[suebee]

Those chickens are like a gang...they scatter when the cops come! lol Meaning they are too fast to throw a net on them!

They got them to free range...to have fun watching them in THEIR yard. His coop is really small, don't know if they'd survive in there. It's not even a coop, it's a 4x6 run with a few nest boxes. In fact, he had a flock of chickens before and a predator tore the run apart and killed them all. Do you think the new chickens sense that his run is not safe?
Out of the goodness of my heart I was thinking I'd try to lure them in my coop for the cold winter but they are aggressive towards my chickens and sometimes I don't open my 8'x8' coop until 10am.

 

[kstaven]

Wait until it is getting dark and hit them with the garden hose. It will spook them out of the trees and they can't fly with wet feathers. Round them up with the neighbor and convince him to lock them up and trim flight feathers.

 

[suebee]

Wanted to add: Neighbors chickens do eat MY food. As soon as I open the coop and run in the morning they sneak in and eat. But they are smart..only one chicken at a time in my coop so they don't all get caught! Also they eat any scratch or sunflower seeds I throw out.
The neighbor has his run filled with food but they don't go there..they go to my food. So they are not starving. Neighbor also showed me where he keeps his food so I can have it now that his birds are over here. BUT I don't WANT them here.
Also, I ONLY have Silkies....sweet and docile and they trust me. Neighbors yardbirds are aggressive and scared. I'll take a picture of them tomorrow...maybe you could identify the breeds.

 

[suebee]

Kstaven, my hose won't reach where they roost.

 

[johnnyjack]

keep them from roosting . when its dark blind them with a bright light.might take some work but i bet ya could get them then.