If there is no ordinance restricting farm animals, then you really don't have any recourse there...unless he is putting the manure on your property; then there is probably vandalism or something you could do but that would be a police matter, not a code officer.

As to the pile of junk--if there is a code regarding that, then turn them in again. And, take pictures. If you have proof the pile is growing, then that is what the CEO needs to see. He can get fined, and fined some more, etc. If, in the end he doesn't do anything, the city/county/state--whoever has the code to enforce--can probably clean it up for him and send him a bill. But, that is not done often as it might be considered trespassing and if they guy doesn't pay his fines, he isn't likely to pay to have his junk cleaned up either...

I feel for you. Maybe take his manure and put it on your garden? It is great fertilizer and all the organic farms use it.

Put up a privacy fence, then you won't be able to see the neighbor's junk pile, his chickens can't get into your yard and it gives you separation from his property. It is true that good fences make good neighbors.

It sounds like you are more agricultural/residential than suburban 1/4 acre lots where there are many rules. We have 3 acres and although zoned residential, we are also zoned for agricultural/farm use for the land. I could literally have a cow or horse or pigs and be within the law.

My boys deicided to do 4H with rabbits but I spoke with our neighbor, who also has 3 acres. They thought the rabbits were great, the husband did 4h with rabbits when he was growing up so it has worked out so far and the rabbits are kept clean, and the used straw/droppings go into the garden. Our rabbits will not breed but that is another story. We thought about chickens but the neighbor mentioned smell so we did not although we do eat alot of eggs and I'd love a few heritage type breed chickens.

No neighbor is perfect, although I love my neighbors, they do some annoying things, like put their dogs (3) out unattended for 30 plus minutes multiple times a day/evening. They come to my yard to potty and my toddlers step in it.I was also warned her dogs do not like other dogs (we have a friendly lab) so when her dogs are out, I can not take our dog out because her one dog has already tried to attack her so I work around it. Her one dog has also bitten multiple people so I have to be very careful when the kids are out.

I don't say anything because we will be putting up a fence this spring between the property under the guise of keeping the toddlers safe and within the yard, we are already fenced on 3 sides.

If he is allowed to have chickens, I don't know that you can do anything about it. I buy organic eggs from a neighbor a 1/2 mile away. I prefer to get along with neighbors so I would probably try to make friends, ask about what breed of chickens, ask if he sells the eggs so when we are outside it is pleasant with no conflict, maybe he will bring a few eggs over once a week or sell a dozen to you cheap. Free range chicken eggs are much healthier. Also, I think if you have a somewhat neighborly relationship, that many times people will try to make an effort to not upset their neighbors.

I hate to say it but you may just have to move. There is a mentality that goes along with people who keeps their home and yard disarray. I lived next door to hoarders and had to move. Nice as pie until I said something. Then they just got worse on spite. I had to move. I went to the town building inspector and health dept. The answer I got was they can live however they want. The other neighbors wouldn't back me as they were afraid to speak up so it was me against this neighbor and I had to move. In the end, sometimes the town just doesn't care either, and you will become the nuisance for complaining.

If he is shooting a gun close to your house you have to call the police. The police will make sure he has a pistol permit, and explain to him the laws regarding how close he can shoot to your house. If they are hunters shooting within 500' of your house, you call the DEC game warden who will deal with them ie: closeness to your house, and hunting season.

I would follow up and follow up and follow up with code enforcement regarding the trash/illegal dump. He will get fined and they will clean it up if he ignores them. Pictures will help.

To screen his property out, arborvita or a fence.

Sameboat - I was thinking this myself - moving and that we will become the nuisance for complaining. Ugh. You know, I just don't understand the world anymore. I cannot understand how people can be so inconsiderate and filthy. I wish they would just move. It was much better before their filth. I don't know what to do and I am afraid of starting a war and risking our safety (who knows what people will do) and I find it very ridiculous that we should put up with it.

We have thought of a fence. The way the property line is it would be impossible to put up a fence and not see them unless it was 15 foot tall or more. Reason being is that there is a hill that slopes down to the lower lawns and the garbage is on the hill. The chickens are at the top of the hill and we have thought about a fence here but there are pine trees splitting the property line (at least some blockage there) and at this point I do not know whose trees they are. I don't know if that would start another war. If we put the fence on his side of the trees I could see him complaining that we were too far on his line - if we put the fence on our side of the trees we would be basically saying he could have the trees. I just don't know. Honestly, it makes me sick. I cannot understand this.

I really have thought about killing them with kindness but I feel that if we get too involved as in requesting eggs and paying for them it is like we are saying to him that we accept what he is doing. I really don't mind him having chickens but he seldom cleans them and the number of chickens he has just seems ridiculous. It seemed like all last summer there were baby chickens after baby chickens. This is not a farm - why 30 or more chickens??? On top of this we are pretty sure his gun incident was him shooting the roosters although he claimed he was shooting snakes. He had made a comment to us that he had too many roosters and wanted to get rid of them but couldn't find anyone to take them. He said he didn't want to just shoot them and throw them in the woods. I thought WHAAAAAA? Cruelty and no consideration! Yeah, let's just throw them in the woods so the neighbors can smell the rotting carcasses. Yeah, that won't bring in any other animals that are probably eating your chickens in the first place! Ugh, the mentality! In May he started out with meat chickens and he killed half of them or more because he had them in his garage and had the wood stove on and killed them with the heat. Wonder where those carcasses went? Sigh. He complained how expensive the feed was but went and bought more chickens. Sigh.

I really am not a confrontational person. I don't want this. I just want to go outside and breathe a big deep fresh of air and not smell chicken crap or pig crap or heaven forbid both!

xamsx - I wish now that we had called the police on him regarding the gun incident. Although he hasn't done it since I just think IF you have a pistol permit or own a rifle/shotgun/etc you are responsible to know the laws and one of those laws is no shooting within 500'. We didn't want to cause major issues even though he was the one brandishing the gun. We didn't want to start a war. I have no idea if it would be of any use for my BF to go over and express our views in an appropriate manner. The neighbor only heard it from me and honestly sometimes a woman talking to a man does nothing - no offense men. However, in this case I feel as if a man to man convo isn't going to work either.

Call the health department about the raw poop that has been placed on the ground. In most municipalities, this is against the rules, regardless if it's from a chicken. they can be allowed the have chickens but can't have the poop piled on the ground. Same goes if they did this with dog doo.

It's a health hazard. dead chickens fall into the same category but save that for another day.

Code enforcement from the health deparment will come out quickly and check for the poop. They will give him X days to clean it up and come back to check.

As far as the junk pile, the county or city should be threatening to fine him if that junk is not cleaned up. then it if's still not cleaning up they should fine him and he doens't pay the fine it keeps growing and eventually becomes a lien. this is how the counties enforced their rules. Someone at the county is being lazy and letting the jump pile slide for too long. They sometimes do that. If you keep pressing them they are likely to enforce it more. Keep calling and logging complaints. they have to act on the complaints. Eventually it will be easier to enforce the rule about the junk pile versus deal with your constant complaints.

They only legal source of a complaint is the trash and the firearms discharge. You can't report him for the latter now, and you've already reported him once for the former. If codes doesn't have the initiative to follow up to see if he's completed a cleanup, then they will most likely not respond that well to additional complaints. While complaining to codes again is will within your rights as citizens, it will most likely make you the "nuisance neighbor" than it will the trashpile guy.

I'd suggest learning how to compost and requesting the chicken manure for your compost pile. It's good stuff for a garden if it rots down some. That gets his pen cleaned out more regularly and when mixed with the browns of the leaves and paper, the smell will basically go away. A properly balanced compost pile doesn't smell. That gives you a win/win situation for the chickens.

For the trash pile, plant some leyland cypress to screen it. If the codes people won't really make him clean it up, then you are apparently the only one bothered by it. So, change your view.

It might also be helpful if you chose to not be bothered by these issues. It IS a choice how you react to anything, and you can choose to just let go of the anger.

My guess is that it'll take about a year before the town cleans up the lot- I know that was the case for our neighbor's house. They visit, tell them to clean it up, give them some amount of time (three months isn't uncommon), send another letter with a fine, give them another two or three months, fine them again, that cycle happens a few times, and after a year they finally came and cleaned it up. The guy had moved out at some point before, so I don't know if that sped the process up or not. I can also see CEO being more lenient in winter than if they started the process in spring.

The chickens make no sense to me at all- why would you have any of them, much less shoot them, if you weren't going to eat them (and more importantly, why would you shoot meat chickens?! You cut their heads off or snap their necks, because shooting them in the head is hard and very likely to ruin the meat if you miss!). I would actually call Animal Control over the Health Department- even if it's meat, you still have to take care of them, and Animal Control might also notify the Health Department for you.

I do compost our own kitchen waste - eggshells, vegetable waste, etc. However, I can't even begin to touch the amount of chicken manure he has over there. Our pile of compost is nothing compared to that manure pile. I couldn't imagine trying to manage it. Also, I don't know if getting involved on that level - like purchasing eggs - is wise because I don't want him thinking that we are agreeing to his behavior. I really don't think that the chicken coop would get cleaned out more regularly if I were requesting the manure UNLESS I did it myself - I am being serious. You have to understand - he does not work - he has plenty of time to take care of this pen but simply chooses not to. He put up a chicken coop on one side of his garage this last summer. It was a number of 2x4s either attached to or butted up against his garage. I would say it was probably 30 feet long and 10 feet wide. He put chicken wire around it and over the top. Think he threw a tarp over it somewhere - he has an obsession with tarps it seems. Well, apparently he didn't build it very sound because it all collapsed this winter. So now it looks like he is using the other side of the garage for his chickens to run because he isn't making any effort to fix this last job. No surprise there. I won't be surprised if all of that wire and wood ends up as an extension of the already large trash pile.

I understand that feeling the way we do is our choice. Believe me, I have struggled with this and struggled with whether or not to let it go. My thought on the matter is - the huge junk pile is illegal - that is a fact. Just as an example, if someone were driving past my house at 75mph every day I would call the police - that is illegal. If the neighbor continued to shoot a gun in this residential area I would call the police - that is illegal. If someone repeatedly kept coming over on our property without our knowledge or permission - that is illegal. I feel that IF we are the only people bothered by the dump it doesn't make it any less illegal. Throw on the fact that that dump 50 yards from our house makes out property value decrease. But I do know what you are saying here and I really have thought about just letting it go.

Apparently, he had mentioned shooting just his extra roosters. I cant say with 100% certainty whether he was actually stupid enough to shoot grass snakes with a pistol or if he was actually shooting the roosters. All I know is it seemed like an odd coincidence. I do know the man lies. He lied to the CEO about cleaning up the junk. Some of the other things he has said to us seem like more trash talk.

I figured it would take about a year to possibly get the garbage cleaned up. I knew it wouldn't be a quick fix. We did realize too that the CEO wouldn't expect much in the winter - I understand that. BF is going to try to talk to the CEO today and get some more info. I am going to take pictures today.

Did you ask the CEO if a building permit is needed to build a large chicken coop? If so, it doesn't sound like he got one. Perhaps they will come out to inspect the coop.

And call Animal Control if you think he is being cruel to the animals.

BF talked to CEO and I talked to Dept. of Health for our County. Dept. of Health was going to call CEO. BF let CEO know about my convo with Dept. and CEO is going out to the neighbors either today or tomorrow to warn him and let him know a fine will ensue if the garbage is not picked up and also speak to him about the manure.

I honestly didn't come away with a very positive outlook after my convo with the Dept. She was very nice and I am sure just informing me of the laws but I guess in my opinion the law sucks. I mentioned to her that our drilled well is 30 yards from this manure pile he has started. I also mentioned that there is a slope from the manure pile down into our lawn where the drilled well is. She told me typically they consider it to be an issue if the distance is 100 feet or less....ok, so it is. She told me that we should get a sample of our water done for the standard e-coli test and a nitrate test. She stated that if the test comes back and there is a problem then we will proceed further. Ok, so I am hearing - if you don't have e-coli YET then there isn't anything you can do???? We have to wait until the water gets contaminated first before we address the monster manure pile that is forming??? Super! I also mentioned the aesthetic case concerning his dump and the property value decrease if we tried to sell. She said that the decrease in value is a civil matter - so I have to sue him now if we can't sell our house at a reasonable rate because of his dump??? Really??? Yes, the dump is illegal and he can face fines if not cleaned up. She seemed to imply that if it were household garbage there would be a bigger issue than just the fact that it is tarps, wood, metal and plastic. I get that. We are zoned for agricultural use - of that I am pretty sure - so because of that I was getting from her that we are basically screwed if it smells. She did state that typically there is a waiver you sign when you purchase a house that is zoned for agriculture. This is probably true and BF may have done this when he purchased the place. At that time there was no one living in the house the neighbor now occupies - not that that matters.

Sooooooooooo, bottom line for today is CEO is going over to talk to neighbor about both issues. Dept. indicated that she will call CEO which he is aware of and by the sounds of it try to get things handled through the CEO on the local level - I get that. CEO did tell BF today that when he visited the neighbor in the winter he did it on a "nice guy" approach meaning he did not document it. He said he will document it now and begin regular proceedings for this type of issue and fine him if it comes to that.

Ha - just looking out the window as I am sitting here and noticed that strangely enough it almost looks like something has been dumped on some of the garbage...hmmmm....chicken manure? It looks an awful lot like manure. I guess that was what he meant when he told the CEO he was cleaning the garbage up!

Dekeboe - I was thinking about the permit for the outside coop thing too. This is what the town website says, "Building permits are required for any structure 120 sq. ft. and over and any structural changes on your home or buildings and for all roofing." I don't know if his ramshack coop qualifies but I do know that he did add a small enclosed shed attached to his garage that has a roof which I doubt he received a permit for. I know we built a small shed of our own two summers ago and obtained a permit for it.

Oh, and interestingly enough the website also says, "We would like to ask your help in maintaining your property free of trash and junk cars." Baha!

There are some things that I'd put up with regarding neighbors and this is not something I would. If it were me, I'd seriously consider moving if it really is bothering you and it seems like it does. People like him will stay there forever and you'll be miserable. Sorry, wish you had more options.

You may want to check and see if agricultural type buildings even need a permit. Here, in NJ, where we are highly taxed and have regulations for everything, a permit is not required for a building for livestock/agricultural purpose unless it is a fairly good sized building. A chicken coop, as you described it, would not be required to get a permit here, it would be exempt.

I think you should put in some screening trees and put your house up for sale as it isn't just the pile of metal and tarps but the smell of the chickens and their manure that bothers you. That probably won't change and since he has the legal right to have those chickens, I don't see much recourse for you.

My SIL has a neighbor who has a malfunctioning septic system, she now has ecoli in her well from her neighbor and the town, although involved, hasn't been able to get the neighbor to comply with fixing his septic system.

My sil has now spent a huge amount of money for a special filtration system that gets rid of the ecoli. I think you should really think about selling and then buying something that is only zoned residential or buying something with enough land where it doesn't matter what your neighbor does because it doesn't impact you. We owned 50 plus acres in NYS at one point and I couldn't even see any of my neighbors.

Just because there aren't ordinances doesn't mean there couldn't be. Can you get involved in petitioning the city commision to pass some ordinances? Most places don't allow livestock on less than a couple of acres. And they limit the number and type. You could check the current ordinances and see if you could get them beefed up.

Go to your Dr. see if your blood pressure is up, complain about anxiety. Get a lawyer to write him a letter about affecting your health. Are you on a well? Call the health dept and ask if he's contaminating the ground water.

Get a notebook, keep track of everything. The days you called, the days it smells, the days he dumps poop and where. Use a camera too

Honestly other than getting the ordinances changed I'm not sure much will change. But for sure nothing will unless you push. That and lawyers.

If you can't move and need a 15 foot tall barrier to block the view, I recommend planting bamboo. A lot of it. It will create a dense, evergreen screen that will hide everything and even block some sound. I was in a similar situation a long time ago, and the bamboo hedge I planted saved my sanity.

There happens to be some Oriental Bittersweet growing on the property line between the two properties. I had to cut a lot of it back bc it has been going up into our trees and I am afraid it will choke them if not kept back. Only thing I can think of is to set up some kind of posts in the ground (don't know how tall I can find them) with a type of wire running from post to post to give the vine something to climb onto to form a dense cover. I know how dense a cover it can form because it has previously choked out a pine tree (long before we were here) and it looks likes a massive vine tree now. I wanted to get rid of this bittersweet as much as possible because it really is a huge pain but in this case if I can set something up and just keep it back off the trees it might work...hmmmmm. It may help block the visual.

CEO shld have paid a visit yest or today...will find out tomorrow hopefully.

LauraNJ - I find it disgusting that the Town has not done something drastic to fix the situation your SIL is in. Wow, how can that be legal?!? I couldn't imagine being in that situation.

Marys1000 - BF and I have discussed pushing the issue with the Town however we actually have a friend who has sheep in his backyard. I cannot attest to how often he cleans his animals or if the neighbors have an issue with his sheep but I would feel bad if our petitioning actually had an ill effect on him because of our stupid neighbor. I know he shows his sheep statewide and often in other states so I wouldn't imagine he lets them stand belly high in manure. Seems like one ignorant person has to ruin things for everyone.

We are going to have to see how this year plays out - what happens after CEO gets on the neighbor's case about the issues. There may be a chance of BF getting a job in a nearby town this Fall and if that is the case we would be required to move to that town.

My SIL's town CEO and health dept visits the neighbor to see if he has complied and my understanding is that they have fined him but, the neighbor is on disability and does not have the funds to fix his septic. Apparently the whole system has to be replaced, my SIL did hers after moving in and it cost over $25,000. So, although the town is being proactive and trying to make him comply, there is a point where it does no good, because it is taking so long, which is why my sil just went ahead and bought a very powerful system that filters out pretty much everything.

Changing ordinances won't do anything to the current situation because towns usually grandfather things in. For instance, I have a fence in my front yard which is against current rules but it is grandfathered in.

I also wouldn't be pushing for an ordinace change since even many urban areas are allowing people to have a few chickens, but it is specified hens only and only a certain number. They eat ticks, nasty bugs, actually do alot of good. I think you would potentially have alot of people against you in your town if you started lobbying for no chickens.

What about going over to the landscape design forum and asking their opinion on how you should screen that area out? They have great ideas and may have an idea to use those vines. We have vines on a back fence and they do grow like crazy. I would also think about planting some bushes or plants that smell good. Some lavender, rosemary, honeysuckle, lilacs, etc may help to combat the smell in the summer.

If the chickens are not being cared for properly you could call the animal control person or county shelter or humane society. They actually have quite a bit of power and they will probably give him a list of things to "fix" and then come back and check that he has done it.

I really feel for you, I hope you can figure out something that makes life more enjoyable when you are outside.

Ms. Kitty I SO feel for you. I just dug up an old post of mine from 2006 and I will link to it below so you can see my original post, how devastating I know it is to live next door to a dump. And here's my post towards the end:

I am the OP and we SOLD our home and moved a couple of towns away to a beautiful spot. We sure did check out the neighbors this time around. We checked out every window. We went online and did an aerial search of the neighborhood. We found a lot of homes for sale next door to hoarders. It was pretty surprising to see so many. Anyway, I feel like a different person since moving. I drive by the house every now and then and see what I left behind. It breaks my heart to see my beautiful old home but then I look next to it - the ladders, the junk, the holes...we had to price our home to sell and listened to the Realtor's suggestions to price it according to the market. We sold in less than 30 days. Amazing Grace.

Now here's the kicker - we had spent thousands of dollars on evergeen trees to block the view the entire two years before we sold to hide the mess. It was beautiful. I just drove by the other day and the guy who purchased my home cut them all down and left the stumps. People are crazy.

So my message is, in the end you probably won't win so don't call negative attention to your neighborhood before you decide to sell. And don't worry about spending buckets of money to camouflage with trees, fence, etc. There is a buyer for everything! You deserve to be happy and live in peace. It was a PITA to move, but it was the best decision for me. I am at peace and happy. You can be too. You have to make it happen. We can support you through it.

Here is a link that might be useful: My old neighbors from H-E double L post

Sameboat - wow! I just couldn't imagine. It is very disturbing to me to see just how inconsiderate people can be. Really, inconsiderate isn't even the right word. When we moved here these people were not here and it's hard to start seeing and smelling these things. The only thing we can do right now is wait. Wait to see how far the CEO can get. In the back of my mind I keep thinking the neighbor will do something bad - I am not saying he is that type of a person - but you never know what people will do. I hate this feeling.

I do know how awful it feels. Can you afford to move? Can you afford to wait? It may not get better, and it might get worse.

Ugh I really don't want to move. There are a ton of things I'd like to change and fix about the house BUT I do love our little spot minus the neighbors of course. We've done a lot of yard work and it would be hard to see that go. It would be like dreams going down the toilet because of this.

For now we are waiting to see what happens. I do not think BF is in the mindset of moving. BF hasn't seen the CEO to get a report of what happened when he went over there and CEO will be gone for a week. I keep expecting the neighbor to catch us when we are outside and say something but he may not. I am not saying he would be rude or confrontational - I just don't know. I just hope it's when BF is here because I've talked to him before and apparently that went in one ear and out the other.

Just be careful. You don't know how people are going to react. I wouldn't hang out in the yard unless BF was around. Keep yourself safe.

My sister-in-law's neighbors have no weapons as far as I know, but the whole neighborhood had gotten into the habit of shortcutting through and down her driveway to a bit of woods where they all dumped trash. The woods aren't on my SIL's property but the neighbors all had to trespass when they did this not very savory thing. The town dump must be much farther away or less accessible.

She didn't want to be a b1tch about it, but the constant ebb and flow of junk-laden people got on her nerves after a bit. She went and found whose property the trash heap actually WAS on. It turned out to be the woodland in the back of some planned community or neighborhood or something and THEY were outraged about it. I don't know the details about how it got resolved, but resolved it got.

But the neighbors are all hostile to her now.