Meet the Other Phone. Only the apps you allow.

Meet the Other Phone.
Only the apps you allow.

Buy now

Please or to access all these features

AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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:
123dawn · 21/05/2026 09:42

I should add, it took the chickens quite a while to get used to the treadle feeder - we had to wedge it open with a brick for the first few weeks, and gradually reduce the size of the brick! They were initially very scared of the lid opening and closing, but are now totally fine with it.

Ihatelittlefriendsusan · 21/05/2026 09:44

Sorry but I am on your neighbour's side.

My parents have horrific issues with rats from their neighbour's house, he refuses to deal with it and they have spent a fortune having to lay poison, additional protection for their house etc.

You should always have had precautions in place not just when you started to see them.

She doesn't owe you thanks for dealing with an infestation problem that you created!

MeetMeOnTheCorner · 21/05/2026 09:44

@beigetriangle No. Rats are not living amongst most of us! However they are not stupid. They love chicken food. It’s an easy scavenge for them.

Chicken owners are the pests here. They don’t realise their lack of animal husbandry attracts rats. We had similar with our stupid neighbours in the chicken owning trend of a few years ago. Rats move in to get easy food. As for putting the chickens next to her property was asking for trouble. Move the chickens! Don’t have grains on the floor and tidy up every day! Pest control is pointless. The next lot of rats will find the food. Chickens in gardens are the pests!

FaceIt · 21/05/2026 10:07

When you have chickens, you’ll always get rats sooner or later, because of the grain (and other foods), you feed them.

Pest control’s might work for a little while, but they’ll always come back.

You do know that surely?

FaceIt · 21/05/2026 10:09

Are you always this deliberately obtuse is what you’ve got to ask yourself?

YourWinter · 21/05/2026 13:34

OP you mentioned your neighbour’s age, are you older or younger? Your age is obviously as relevant as hers.

I live in a former farm cottage with a very large rural garden, surrounded by farmland, my neighbours and I had 30 or so chickens each for many years. Neither of us have had hens for 10 years or so, and we’re too old to start battling foxes again, but there are still occasional rats in the gardens, around the bird feeders, compost bins and log piles. My cats and dogs aren’t interested so I use poison or traps depending where I’ve seen one. I’d hate to have them inside or too near the house. Ditto squirrels.

New posts on this thread. Refresh page
Swipe left for the next trending thread