I am not the original poster. This is a repost.

Originally posted by u/CarlSagan4Ever 7 years ago in r/legaladvice.

Thank you so much, u/CarlSagan4Ever for allowing me to repost!

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How can I get my neighbors to get rid of their noisy chickens? [July 1 2015]

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/3brffg/ca_how_can_i_get_my_neighbors_to_get_rid_of_their/

I live in a big, urban city in California. For some reason my neighbors thought it would be a great fucking idea to build a chicken coop and have five chickens in their backyard. These chickens are the NOISIEST creatures I have ever heard. They only have chickens, not roosters, but they squawk loudly all day and as all the houses are literally right next to each other (again, big urban city), it's basically like having a farm in my backyard from 6am-10pm every day. I think the law in our city allows them to have up to 5 small farm animals, but is there any way around this considering all the noise and disruption they're making?? It literally makes it impossible to sleep in my house when the chickens are awake, and all the other neighbors on our block hate them as well. I'm also open to less-legal ways of removing the chickens (chicken pot pie, anyone?), but figured I might as well start above-board.

Relevant Comments:

• Sorry if it was unclear-- they have 5 hens, no roosters.

• I just looked it up, apparently it's legal to have four chickens but they have FIVE. I also think that their coop is not up to code because it has a mesh front. Not sure who to report this to or who the proper chicken authorities are, but I will work on that. Unfortunately the chicken ordinance for my city doesn't address noise, but we've been recording them with time stamps to show how loud they are at different times of day, so maybe they're in violation of the overall city ordinance? Still not sure what we can do with that info though.

  [UPDATE] How can I get my neighbors to get rid of their noisy chickens? [Sept 24 2018]

https://www.reddit.com/r/legaladvice/comments/9inso5/update_ca_how_can_i_get_my_neighbors_to_get_rid/

I posted this post about three years ago, and it got very little attention, but some people did help and for that I was (and am) super grateful. Plus, I figured we all like update posts, and this situation of chicken warfare is finally resolved.

To recap: my neighbors had five chickens that would squawk at ungodly hours of the morning and night. They were actually my parents neighbors; I was crashing with them over the summer and have since moved out. We did contact the city, who came and determined that they were up to code. But the neighbors assumed it was us (my parents had been pretty vocal in the neighborhood about not liking the chickens), and they decided to retaliate.

First, they claimed that a structure on my parents' property was illegal, and my parents had to deal with a city investigation, which turned up nothing, because it was not illegal. Next, they claimed that our little patch of sidewalk front yard, which is right next to theirs, was actually infringing on their property and demanded a property survey. We actually discovered that their front garden was partially on OUR land, so that was nice. My mother e-mailed the neighbors letting them know they were going to put up a little line of stones just to keep the garden property line clear so that they could plant their side, and the neighbors went batshit. Started sending long, rambling e-mails to my parents, started calling and hanging up, started throwing trash on our side of the garden and they eventually left several dead rodents still in traps on our front porch. After that, my parents got a security camera.

Things quieted down for a while, and we soon found out it was because the neighbors were trying to sell the house. Their house is pretty nice, and we live in a high COL city in a neighborhood that has really gotten popular in the past ~10 years. Basically, if all went well the neighbors would be making 2 or 3 million dollars from the sale. They hosted several open houses, and this is where my dad decided to get petty. See, my parents deck directly faced the neighbor's backyard, which still had the chicken coop and was one of the main attractions of the open house (they were actually trying to sell it as an "urban farmhouse."). As people would wander into the backyard of the open house, my dad would stand on his deck holding a very large sign that said, "NO CHICKENS IN THIS NEIGHBORHOOD." The other side said, "THEY BRING RATS AND VERMIN INTO OUR LOVELY COMMUNITY." I was half horrified, half cracking up. I told him that it would only escalate things, but he was insistent that any new neighbors not be allowed to keep the chickens. He would periodically shout down into the neighbors yard (our houses were very close), "we will NOT allow new neighbors to keep chickens!"

My parents got many furious calls and e-mails from the realtor and the neighbors. Apparently my dad was making people hesitant to buy the home (I don't blame them, he was acting like a crazy person), offers were dwindling, and they were going to have to lower the price. My dad said he would stop his chicken protest if the coop was removed; the chickens stayed, so my dad stayed on his deck for every single open house.

To make a long story of chicken subterfuge short, the neighbors sold the house. On their last night in the house, they egged my parents entire backyard and deck. I asked my dad if he wanted to report it, and he said it would be better to be rid of them. A lovely family has since moved in, and the first thing they did was dismantle the coop.

TL;DR: petty neighborhood chicken drama results in fowl play, but new neighbors are eggcellent.

Relevant comments from the BoLA post:

• Commenter: "I hate my neighbors, so I'm going to make it take longer for them to sell their house and move by making buyers uncomfortable" - LAOPs dad, probably. OOP: lol OP here, I told him this is EXACTLY what he was doing! That man is stubborn. But in defense of ol' daddio, he just wanted the realtor and homeowners to stop listing the coop as an "attraction" of the house. He talked to them privately many times before and asked if they would be willing to take down the coop before the open houses so that potential buyers wouldn't see it as part of the property. They basically told him to shove it, because they thought it would increase the property value and was a "novelty." so he took matters into his own hands; not in the most mature way I will definitely admit. They also weren't living there at the time, their house was being staged. ETA: like I mentioned, we live in a very "hot" neighborhood. Even with my dad's fuss they only had about 3 or 4 open houses in the span of two or three weeks to get it sold. It was selling for millions of dollars one way or another, no one really got dicked over (except for the poor rats).
• Hi Everyone! OP here! It seems like chickens cause quite a lot of controversy these days, which I was wholly unprepared for. I was trying to tell a lighthearted story, but I do acknowledge my dad was super petty and kind of a jerk (which, you will see I mentioned in my update telling him NOT to do what he did). However, I would really appreciate if the hate messages stopped! Please don't message me telling my family deserves to get murdered, that we should be "tarred and feathered" (actually I kinda chuckled at that one given the circumstances), that my dad is an asshole who should be sued. My dad is actually a very nice man who got pushed to the end of his rope and made a bad decision. I'm sure no one else here has ever done that. Anyway, I'm waiting to see if I can get an old recording of the noise, and I do appreciate the spirited debate below. Please just stop wishing bodily harm to internet strangers. Have a nice day!

Reminder: I am not the original poster. This is a repost.

Originally posted by u/CarlSagan4Ever 7 years ago in r/legaladvice.