Pesky Neighbor!!

[Squirrelgirl88]

Since this is the predator/pest area I thought I'd post this here. Last week my Hubby caught a neighbor feeding our chickens cracked corn. Let me add to this that she used to feed the wild deer-illegally-and we turned her in to the police. They told her to stop feeding them. She doesn't know we ratted her out.

Now she tells my husband that she has a 50 pound bag of cracked corn "going to waste" since she cant feed the deer.......that was last year. So here is this idiot leaning over my fence dumping cracked corn to my goats and my chickens.

I cant electrify the fence - believe me that was my first idea! Am I asking for trouble if I post a HUGE sign that says don't feed the animals?

We already have padlocks on all gates and entrances. But I can stop her from leaning over the fence. Hubby tried explaining to her that we were very careful what they ate and that the corn was not good for them, but I'm not sure he expressed it quite as strongly as I would have.

I'm going to set up my trail cam to watch that fence line, but I thought a HUGE sign in the pasture might help. Then again, I don't want some jerk to feed them just because I told them not to!

Has any one posted signs and had success?

 

[M.L. McKnight]

You could try telling her not to feed your critters again and IF she continues to do so, toss a handful of weed seeds in her yard for every handful of corn she throws in yours. That's not the nicest approach but it wouldn't take long before she understood.

The sign or a few high strands of barbed wire would be a way of letting your actions speak louder. If she is an old lady and was just feeding the deer to have something to do because she didn't have a pet, you could put a puppy in her back yard so she has something to occupy her time and some company.

 

[Goatherd]

Since your husband doesn't have the chutzpah that you seem to possess, why don't you talk to this woman and explain, again, why you don't want your animals fed corn?
I can't help but think this would solve your problem in short order.
Putting up a sign is only going to antagonize and invite strangers to do exactly the opposite. It would be like posting a "no dumping trash" sign!
This doesn't have to be a big deal if you don't make it one.

 

[Squirrelgirl88]

You could try telling her not to feed your critters again and IF she continues to do so, toss a handful of weed seeds in her yard for every handful of corn she throws in yours. That's not the nicest approach but it wouldn't take long before she understood.

The sign or a few high strands of barbed wire would be a way of letting your actions speak louder. If she is an old lady and was just feeding the deer to have something to do because she didn't have a pet, you could put a puppy in her back yard so she has something to occupy her time and some company.

She's probably 40-50, and she lives next door to her brother - also a pest - so I don't think she's lonely. If this were a little old widow, I'd personally take the feed to her to give to the animals to make her happy. This is a well meaning woman who has no clue what damage could be done. I never seem to catch her out in the yard to get a chance to speak with her. We've lived here three years and I've seen her face to face once. She comes to the back fence during the day while we are at work.

She told my Hubby how much they love watching our goats and chickens and love hearing our rooster crow. I hate to complain about a city neighbor that loves my rooster. But if she feeds my goats again I'm afraid I'll switch into over protective mode and tell her where she can put her cracked corn.

We have a neighbor on the other side of her house with chickens also and she admitted to feeding them, but they do not have goats. Not that 50 lbs of cracked corn is good for chickens as a steady diet, but the goats are what I'm really worried about.

I'm going to watch for her this weekend and hope I can catch her outside. If not I start saving the dandelion seeds to throw back and get some barbed wire..........maybe I'll take her a kitten..............

 

[M.L. McKnight]

Put the seeds in gel caps and shoot them over the fence with a slingshot, you'll get better range that way

 

[ChickenPotPie]

40-50 yrs old, lives next to brother, feeds deer and now, your chickens? Where are her husband and children? Haven't seen her face to face but once in three years? There has to be reasons for all that.

Sounds like it's time you bake her a cake and take it over to her. Ya never know, this could be one of those opportunities to do something small that can have a big, positive effect on someone.