Ain't Nobody Here Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Maybe silkie feathers are different, but in my experience, feathers don't "blow" about . I'd ask him to collect the feathers in his garden (you could pretend that you need to identify the "culprit") and see how many he actually gets. I'd suspect none, or so few that he doesn't have a case. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Maybe silkie feathers are different, but in my experience, feathers don't "blow" about . I'd ask him to collect the feathers in his garden (you could pretend that you need to identify the "culprit") and see how many he actually gets. I'd suspect none, or so few that he doesn't have a case. Actually yesterday evening I was in the outhouse getting some pliers and I noticed a couple of stray silkie feathers in there, they're very light like down, and very easily drift about, so I would assume it was the silkies feathers that would be in his garden - they're also nearest his fence, and they shed them all the time whereas I've not seen a single hybrid feather other than those we clipped from their wings. That being said, she's asthmatic apparently and half her household smoke - from the list he reeled off 'dog, cat, all feathers, asthma' - is she going to ask me to remove my cat now too? Pop an antihistamine and leave other people alone Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken shack Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 My DD rents her home from DH and his brother she has:- 3 kids, 3 cats 2 ducks and a dog. I wouldn't want to live next door to her but it is her home, her garden to do as she pleases. She has 2 yappy dog next door and they make more noise than my DD ramble. I sure they are none to pleased with her life style but she has a good heart and takes everything in. We would back her all the way Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I wouldn't want to live next door to her but it is her home, her garden to do as she pleases. We would back her all the way Yes my dad says I can 'do what I want' - but he'll want this house back if and when he comes back from Singapore and I'll need to make other arrangements - so even though he wants me to think of it as 'my house' I am treating it just like I would any other rented situation, transient, semi permanent and subject to terms and conditions. I got a bit more adventurous lately, my brother said it's looking more like my dad will stay out there permanently once his contract is up (but we're only 6 months into a 2 year contract so it's very very early days) and I took out a whole massive flowerbed in the middle of the lawn it felt liberating! and I even painted some testers on the walls in my bedroom with the intention of making it more my room, but I still have the niggling feeling that I will have to pack up and move on in the next year or so Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfer_chicken Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 My OH has asthma and it is affected by feathers- but only if he spends a whole night with his head in a feather down pillow! I don't know what your neighbours are after, but I think we all know that the feathers won't be causing any real problem. Maybe swap the silkies and the hybrids around so that the hybrids are closer to them and explain that it was the silkies feathers that were drifting about? I saw in your pictures that the eglus were next to each other, so it wouldn't be too much hassle, but it might shut them up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Even if a few feathers are floating over to her garden, unless she's on her hands and knees sniffing them, I can't really see how they reckon they're causing her problems . It's not like you're holding your girls over the fence and giving them a good shake . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Henergy Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Even if a few feathers are floating over to her garden, unless she's on her hands and knees sniffing them, I can't really see how they reckon they're causing her problems . It's not like you're holding your girls over the fence and giving them a good shake . got a great image in my head of that now !!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Even if a few feathers are floating over to her garden, unless she's on her hands and knees sniffing them, I can't really see how they reckon they're causing her problems . It's not like you're holding your girls over the fence and giving them a good shake . Exactly - I guess what's getting my goat is the nerve and the fact that they think it's acceptable for them to dictate what I do and don't do in my garden when it's my private business. I don't moan when they wake me up on my weekends off having loud obnoxious foul mouthed workmen in their garden spooking the chickens banging around and hammering things - how could I? it's their garden, their property and they can do what they like. I also am quarantining the silkies right now as I only got them on Sunday - so I don't really want to put the existing chickens in the silkie run and vice versa until the quarantine period is up. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Even if a few feathers are floating over to her garden, unless she's on her hands and knees sniffing them, I can't really see how they reckon they're causing her problems . It's not like you're holding your girls over the fence and giving them a good shake . got a great image in my head of that now !!! Reminds me of peter pan using tinkerbell to sprinkle pixie dust *patpatpat* Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Oh and the other thing is that he sits on his patio clipping his toe nails of an evening - which makes me want to hurl - perhaps I'll complain that some of his clippings have blown over into my garden, when I open my conservatory doors they blow in, and I'm allergic to them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum-2-olly Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 ahh squiffs poor you, as you have seen from my prev posts i can empathize with you! just out of interest what did you say to the neighbour when he asked you?? from my own experience i really wouldnt even bother addressing it! i rang the british allergy association about my neighbour's "allergy!" they said chicken allergies were uncommon which is why lots of people can keep birds/poultry over other animals. they also said that to be affected by the feathers you would have to be in direct contact with them for a period of time. they said that being a smoker or living with smokers increases ur risk of allergens by more than 50%. sooooo....what i did was tell my neighbour this, but said that if he was really suffering that i would use dust extracted straw in their bedding. which i havent!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no more complaints!! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 ahh squiffs poor you, as you have seen from my prev posts i can empathize with you! just out of interest what did you say to the neighbour when he asked you?? from my own experience i really wouldnt even bother addressing it! i rang the british allergy association about my neighbour's "allergy!" they said chicken allergies were uncommon which is why lots of people can keep birds/poultry over other animals. they also said that to be affected by the feathers you would have to be in direct contact with them for a period of time. they said that being a smoker or living with smokers increases ur risk of allergens by more than 50%. sooooo....what i did was tell my neighbour this, but said that if he was really suffering that i would use dust extracted straw in their bedding. which i havent!!!!!!!!!!!!!! no more complaints!! I said I'd see what I could do as there's not too much room on my patio to have the coop in another place (the spot where the table is gets sun for about 14 hours a day in summer which is slightly relentless for the poor chickens I would say all this stuff about bedding - but it's not the bedding they're taking issue with - it's the chickens themselves and the feathers blowing into their garden Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dolly Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 You poor thing Squiffs, they sound like a nightmare to live next door to. The fact that your neighbour says she's allergic to feathers would mean, I would guess, that she can't ever set foot outside, what with all those sparrows, blackbirds, pigeons etc etc flying about, dropping feathers and dander all over her garden and house As someone said earlier, she would have to be picking the feathers up and inhaling them to get a reaction. Seriously, if she's really that sensitive, she really would have problems being outside at all. I'm allergic to feathers myself (no feather pillows or duvets for me) but I manage quite happily to handle and clean out my girls, I'm also allergic to animal fur so I suppose I should march round to our neighbours who between them have 3 cats and a great dane and ask them to get rid of them!! My suggestion would be just ignore them, if you look after the garden and your hens well, they're clean, not smelling and clouds of feathers aren't continually wafting over the fence, they've nothing to complain about so don't do anything. Some people haven't got anything better to moan about! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mum-2-olly Posted August 4, 2011 Author Share Posted August 4, 2011 i agree with dolly, what about putting some netting so they cant blow over so easily?? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 i agree with dolly, what about putting some netting so they cant blow over so easily?? I'm not sure where I'd put that, and it will just get ripped to shreds by visiting foxes, so I wouldn't be prepared to KEEP buying it for my neighbours' sake - he was very rude about my package too - saying it had been clogging up his hallway for a day - it isn't my fault citylink didn't put a card through my door saying he had it. And using the fact he'd 'looked after' my package as leverage for telling me what to do with my garden is ridiculous so I'm inclined to just say I'm doing something and then do nothing. So rude. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I think I would just do and say nothing, and every time your paths cross just smile brightly and say "must dash"! avoid getting drawn into anything if you can. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chicken shack Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I think I would just do and say nothing, and every time your paths cross just smile brightly and say "must dash"! avoid getting drawn into anything if you can. Sound advice Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Of course I'd rather say nothing, but when he's got me cornered on my front porch and is saying 'Can you move your chickens to the other side of the patio where the others are' I'm sort of expected to give an answer. So I had to say something, and I sort of felt flustered and just ended up saying I'll try and see what I can do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 If my OH would buy me a then I could keep all my chooks on the same side of the patio Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
surfer_chicken Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 You better tell him that's the only possible solution Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
beach chick Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Of course I'd rather say nothing, but when he's got me cornered on my front porch and is saying 'Can you move your chickens to the other side of the patio where the others are' I'm sort of expected to give an answer. So I had to say something, and I sort of felt flustered and just ended up saying I'll try and see what I can do. ah, then you need to tell a whopping great lie very quickly! how about "mr squiffs is tied to the bed upstairs and I must get back to him immediately before something dreadful happens"... might need a bit of aplomb to carry it off, but you can be sure he will never darken your door again sorry, not helpful I know, but sometimes people like this neighbour have so much front that you need to be just as 'pushy' as they are in return. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 Of course I'd rather say nothing, but when he's got me cornered on my front porch and is saying 'Can you move your chickens to the other side of the patio where the others are' I'm sort of expected to give an answer. So I had to say something, and I sort of felt flustered and just ended up saying I'll try and see what I can do. ah, then you need to tell a whopping great lie very quickly! how about "mr squiffs is tied to the bed upstairs and I must get back to him immediately before something dreadful happens"... might need a bit of aplomb to carry it off, but you can be sure he will never darken your door again sorry, not helpful I know, but sometimes people like this neighbour have so much front that you need to be just as 'pushy' as they are in return. that's when this house being my dad's causes problems - I would be bolshy with the neighbours if it was only me that had to deal with them! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
squiffs Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 You better tell him that's the only possible solution I actually don't think I need to - I sent him some videos of the chooks playing yesterday and he was all 'I want more chickens!' - so I think we'll get one eventually! (but I'd quite like one now). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
fluffy chick Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I think you might struggle to introduce your little silkies to the hybrids for them to all live together in a to be honest. Just my opinion based on my experience. I think if your neighbour corners you again you should clutch yourself and run away shouting 'sorry WOMEN'S TROUBLES of the worse nature!' that should be enough to scare him off Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ain't Nobody Here Posted August 4, 2011 Share Posted August 4, 2011 I still think you should ask for actual evidence of the feathers that have been piling up in his garden. You need to discipline the guilty hen, after all, and how can you do that if you don't know which one is the main culprit . Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
