AIBU to feel annoyed by my neighbour's complaints about rats?

[Becnextdoor]

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.

Oh, and poisoning any wildlife, including rats because they have been attracted by your poor husbandry is pretty crappy in my book. Sharpen up to stop it happening again.

Three rats is a worrying sign! They breed at an alarming rate.

We have an anti social neighbour who keeps chickens. The chickens stink especially in the summer and attract flies to our homes. They have also encouraged a massive rat problem that has caused our Housing Association thousands of pounds. The rats have entered the drains, burrowed under our houses and nested in the roof spaces where they have chewed through wiring and ventilation ducts.

You need to change your attitude. You sound like you're doing her a favour by calling in pest control and moving the run. I bet they told you the rats are caused by your chickens. It's anti social to keep poultry when you have neighbours close by.

YABU and I don’t think rat traps are going to fix the issue, as long as you have chickens you will have rats.. You’ll kill some in traps but they’ll be more the next day. I wouldn’t want rats in my garden either. Who paid for her house or what you’ve done to be friendly/neighbourly in the past is irrelevant.

I used to keep chickens in a couple of Eglu’s and cleaned them out daily. We had them for about 10 years. Luckily, we live very rurally surrounded by fields with no nearby neighbours.

We very occasionally got rats (about 4 times in 10 yrs) and I used strong poison in bait boxes underneath the metal skirt so that my cats, dogs and chickens couldn’t accidentally eat it and it got rid of the rat infestations very quickly.

However, I think only cleaning them once a week isn’t enough and is likely to exacerbate the Rats issue.

I hope the private school she went to taught her to use paragraph's.

How old your neighbour is and her background are completely irrelevant. Many people are phobic about rats and no one wants them in their garden. You need to be more careful with how you keep your chickens. Her cat and dog have nothing to do with it either. This forum isn’t as confidential as you might think so the photos of them were a bad move. I hope her cat doesn’t get poisoned. YABU

You sound really up yourself, the way you talk about her. You're really rude and frankly you're dirty. Who cleans out a chicken coop once a week? It should be cleaned every day!

Your inadequate hygiene is attracting vermin and she's more than reasonable to be annoyed with you over it.

You are out of order on two counts. First of all, rats are vile things and they get established and out of control very very quickly.....so I understand her agitation and also her urgency while you were faffing about setting traps etc. And secondly your sneering comments about mummys money, private school etc - where she gets her loot is absolutely none of your business. You sound extremely unpleasant.

What you mean is that you’ve never seen one. They are everywhere.

I am fairly phobic about rats. They carry zoonotic diseases - weil's disease as well as Hantavirus. I hope her new pets are vaccinated for leptospirosis.
If she has seen 3 during daylight hours, there are dozens of them about.
I live in a rural area and we probably get rats once or twice a year. My neighbour shoots them, we trap or poison them. I don't like removing dead rats from traps. Once, I was saved the problem because the dead rat was eaten by its comrades.

We have never kept chickens or ducks because they would attract rats. This is a conscious decision. If we ever see signs of rats I automatically stop feeding the wild birds because I know it attracts rats.
One neighbour happily sunbathes in the garden with the rats scurrying around. She sees no issue. Sorry. That's not for me.
The only way to get rid of the rats is to get rid of the chickens. I don't think they have a long lifespan. OK you don't want to get rid of them. However, you need to up your pest control and not replace your chickens when they die of peaceful old age and go to that big chicken coop in the sky.
(p.s. I believe most people wring their necks when they stop laying)

Originally we got the food that makes the rats infertile, so they can finish living their life happily, but just without reproduction, so when they're gone, they're gone. However NDN needed faster action -which I get, but it wouldn't have been how I would do it.

@Becnextdoorhow many times has she complained and over what time period?

I get it’s annoying for you and you’re taking action to remedy, but if I’m understanding correctly it was brought to your attention less than a week ago and she’s messaged or spoken with you a few times? Have you proactively updated her about your actions or have you waited for her to ask before letting her know what you’ve done?

Unless garden or house is attracting rats it's not your fault as long as you are doing something about it with poison, traps etc, I've lived in flat 21 yrs and seen mice running about a few times and got either poison that looked like seeds or blocks that looked like blue blocks of cheese and within days I was seeing dead mice or no mice at all and I was OK for quite a while before they came back, the last time they came back I realised they were coming up through a gap that was created when gas meter pipe was changed after I saw groceries I left downstairs chewed through, I put down hole what poison I could find, covered hole with a food tin, left it a few days, smell that was created from the dead mice lasted a few days, took tin off hole and filled hole with wire wool to stop any other mice in future coming up, had no trouble for probably 5, 6 yrs or so

Rats are vermin. You don’t get to decide that they live out their normal lifespan in peace and tranquillity whilst they’re invading your neighbour’s garden.
What is wrong with you?

Your problem. I would be furious and nagging too. Doesn't matter where her money comes from.

Yep this. Theres no more to it.

You would have allowed it more? Wow.

Well hes admitted that he didn't do anything until the 2nd time she complained and then only put out contraceptive bait and only called pest control after she kept complaining so clearly hes not pro active nor a good communicator

Your school didn't teach you punctuation

touché

If she came from a poor family and had achieved what she has by hard work (which you assume she hasn't) then would you be more amenable to her complaints about smelly chickens and rats in her garden?

Yes YABU

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.

Those were thoughts that should have stayed firmly in your head, OP.

YABU - the rats are there because of your chickens. You need to own this.

Rats are attracted by the water. You need to hang the drinkers so the rats can’t reach them. Also treadle feeders that the chickens can use because of their weight, but rats can’t. We never had an issue. Also don’t throw random food scraps on the floor. You shouldn’t throw kitchen scraps anyway because of potential contamination of the food chain.