Money Moral Dilemma: Should they pay for the chicken?

Surfer

Solution is to chop a chicken every time it come sthrough and have it for supper. Free range chicken is the best and very tasty..

Surfer

wsheena wrote: »

point it out one more time, then borrow someones dog for a few days.
they'll sort themselves out sharpish then!!

Very bad idea as once a dog gets the taste of fresh blood, it will always go for chickens. Only way out is to put the dog down.

rwgray

You shouldn't need to ask - as good neighbours, they should be offering!

Sharoony

Wouldn't it be a shame if the Fox killed the ckicken?

Littlemissteapot

I think that it depends on who owns the fence between your property and theirs and hence who has the responsibility to keep them off your garden. If it is your responsibility to ensure that the fencing is secure you might not have much re-course on compensation. If they are responsible for the fence that divides the two properties and they are not complying then you could be entitled to compensation. (i'm not a lawyer, this is just my opinion:0)

There are a few things you could do.
1. As you pay for the eggs already you could ask if they could 'pay' for the damage in giving free eggs for a period of time. After all, you are paying for their chicken feed and should get some benefit from it.
2. You could decide what the damage has cost you and is your friendship worth more than that and everytime in the future because this will happen again- so don't ask for money and grin and bear it each time. (Not my favourite one)
3. Ask them to pay for the damage and make the fence more secure that you are entitled too.

Good luck.

littledevillisa

I'd agree with most people who've already posted and say yes they should definately pay.

There are ways to go about approaching the subject with them though and I'm sure as long as you don't go in like a bull in a china shop, all guns blazing and the compensation request is a reasonable one, then if as you say they are nice people then hopefully they should agree to pay up. I'm surprised if they are as nice as you state they haven't already offered or at least come round and appologised profusely, if it was me and an animal of mine had wrecked my neighbours garden I would be mortified. However if it was me after the first occassion of them getting out into your garden I would have done something about it.

If they don't pay up I know you want to keep good relations, but I'd consider finding out exactly what your rights were in relation to the cost of compensation and also the aspect of the chickens getting loose into your garden. I'm not sure how accurate I am with this but I think your home insurance if you have legal cover may be able to give you some advice as I know they cover rights of access and tresspassing so it may just be worth a phone call to see where you stand. Citizens advice is also a shot. I know it sounds petty, but if it's an ongoing problem and something more serious happens later down the line i.e. if anything happened to one of the chickens while it was in your garden such as it was attacked, then the chances are things are going to be awkward anyway.

I know you said you get your eggs from them too but the big point of this is you PAY for them, they don't give you them for free so it isn't as though you owe them any favours either, you are actually helping towards their income.

I know a lot of people have mentioned about you helping them to put together an enclosure which is all well and good but as long as you have made all reasonable attempts on your side to make sure they can't get in, it also isn't your responsibility to make sure the animals don't come into your garden, it's theirs.

I suppose it's only like if you had a dog and it went in and ate their chickens or destroyed their garden I'm sure they would be round straight away with a complaint.

I don't want to burst any bubbles of contentment you have but you say they are lovely people, but it sounds to me like they don't know how to be lovely neighbours!

Good luck anyway and hope you get some resolution!

fatal1955

It all depends on your assessment of their character. If the request is going to turn them into the neighbours from hell and spoil the next 10 years of your life then I would say no, the veg aren't worth the price.

pineapple

It's a nonsense to say the vegetable plot owner may be responsible for the boundary fence and therefore responsible for chicken proofing it.
Boundary fences and stock proofing are 2 different things.
If you have stock on your land, it's your responsibility to make it stock proof and you are responsible for any damage caused by the stock if they escape - simples.
With chickens, you should have a hen house and a fox proof run. In fact digging down to install fox proofing is the hard part. To make the run properly predator proof and stop the chickens migrating to next door, you simply put chicken wire across the top. If you can afford to do the former, you can afford to do the latter.

radio_hack

Are you sure the chickens are the culprits? I keep chickens and geese and although they have been known to escape, they've never come anywhere close to ingesting an entire vegetable patch.

Rabbits, on the other hand, are the Spawn Of The Devil and can demolish weeks of investment in our vegetable plot in the blink of an eye. Is it possible that rabbits are using the chickens as a cover?

Either way, I wouldn't sour things by asking for compensation. Good neighbours are ALWAYS of more value than vegetables, however lovingly tended. Tell your neighbours that it's because you value their friendship that you want to follow the old adage 'Good fences make good neighbours'. Discuss with them a chicken proof barrier that is acceptable to both parties and suggest you share the cost and the work. A weekend toiling together on the project with the promise of a barbecue and a couple of drinks at the end might just help heal the wounds anyway. Since the barrier will have to be quite high to stop the chickens hopping over, you might also suggest that you use it for growing climbing vegetables (peas etc) and exchange the produce for the eggs.

A side issue is that solid fences (in the right position) will often add value to a home.

Gizmo-macca

hmmm...it sounds like a chicken and egg problem, macca.