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AIBU?

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AIBU- Neighbour repeatedly complaining about rats near our chickens despite pest control

81 replies

Becnextdoor · 19/05/2026 22:51

Do not have many neighbours, only 4 on our street. I live next to this lady, detached houses but our garden is seperated with a hedge if that makes sense. She has lived in that house for 4 years and we used to get along in a good neighbour way - as she lived alone I would often do garden work for her and she came round for a family barbecue once a year, normal neighbour stuff.
We (me and my wife) have had pet chickens for about 7 years now, they are located near the connecting hedge, out of her sight, and she’s never had a problem with them, however the chickens have randomly just now started getting rats, and as a result some of them have gone in her garden, she has messaged to complain, and came round twice to complain, all in the same week, after the first complaint we told her we were dealing with it - as we were, however rat traps take time and don’t work instantly, however, she kept coming round and telling us it was our problem and we need to sort it, and getting progressively annoyed, even though we were managing with it. We payed for pest control to come today, and they even went and spoke to her about how it was getting sorted - as we were tired of her continuous complaints, I didn’t even get a ‘thank you’ or anything, and even after the pest control she is still complaining. She is about 40 years old and a lot of her money is “mummy’s money”, private school and parents brought her a nice house in a nice area, so especially with knowing that, we really think she’s just acting abit entitled now. We are probably going to fall out with our neighbour over this, are we in the wrong for being annoyed? edit: The rats only started coming the same week she got a new cat and dog, she’s also recently had an oil spill - which apparently can attract rats, I don’t know if that’s relevant but.

OP posts:
ThisChirpyFox · 19/05/2026 23:16

Id be like her - annoyed if your chickens were the cause of me now having rats.

And like others have said, why are you mentioning her age and where her money comes from?

Ponderingwindow · 19/05/2026 23:12

Oh no, not 40. How ancient. <—sarcasm.

No you can’t fix the problem overnight. Most neighbors are going to be upset by rats though.

Hiring pest control doesn’t make you some sort of hero, it’s just what was necessary. She doesn’t need to be grateful.

If pest control gave you a timeline for followup, you might get her to calm down by filling her in.

Becnextdoor · 19/05/2026 23:05

BMW58 · 19/05/2026 23:03

This is a duplicate thread!!

I have just posted this, I am new so I’m not sure how to use it properly. I think I accidentally made another post with the same text because I accidentally added a poll.

OP posts:
BMW58 · 19/05/2026 23:03

This is a duplicate thread!!

Carandache18 · 19/05/2026 23:02

Her age and finances are nothing to do with either the rats or you.
I can't imagine her cat and dog have anything to do with it either.

The rats are there because of your chickens. You can't blame her for not liking it. Rats carry disease.
Must you keep chickens adjacent to your neighbour's property?

InterestedDad37 · 19/05/2026 23:00

Where her money comes from is irrelevant 🤷 Most people would draw the line at incursion of rats onto their property from a probable cause next door. The rats, of course, don't care about human boundaries, they're just doing what rats do. It's no surprise she's up in arms, and you owe it to her and to the spirit of neighbourliness to continue to reassure her that you are taking steps.
Perhaps she is complaining more than some people would, but certainly a lot less than others might.
So YABU, and she is not BU 🐀 🐀 🐀 🐔 🐔 🐔