Neighbour doesn't want us to get chickens because of rats

[charliesweb]

Hello we were very excitedly planning to convert our playhouse on stilts into a chicken coop with a run underneath. We told our elderly neighbour and she said fine. The next day I got summoned to her house were she was with her daughter. She said she wasn't happy about us getting chickens and nor was her son and daughter. I didn't really know what to say so I reassured her I wouldn't do anything unless she was happy and that I would do more research. She is most concerned about noise and rats. She tends to get wound up by other people's opinions. She said she would be afraid to leave her back do open in the summer! I don want her to worry, but we were all looking forward to the idea. My neighbour on the other side we should go ahead a get them, but I really don't wan her to be upset and worried. Any advice?

' Ironically she leaves bread out for the birds on her lawn!!!'

That is WAY more likely to attract rats than chickens who don't have food left around in their run.

I've keep about 100 chickens, unless you have cockerals then there won't be a noise problem.

I've had rats for the first time in years but that's because the farmer planted pheasant cover in front of the wood where I keep my chickens and they've been attracted initailly because of that. Don't leave food out, keep the feed in rat proof bins and keep the house off the ground and you should be fine. As others have said if she's feeding the birds then that will be more attractive to rats than chickens tbh - rats like to take larger bits of food (like bread) take it back to the nest - it's much more difficult to do that with pellets.

Yeah cezzy the neighbours are picky, they brighten my dad in an odd way though. So grumpy and negative and moaning about everything from parking to hens to imagined slights. They make me feel all cheery and carefree:)

We are partitioning the garden so our ladies can stay free range but not be where we want to be, how they make so much poo I don't know!

We've had ours a year now and no sign that they've attracted rats. I'm sure there are plenty around as we back on to a bridleway but they are much more likely to be under the neighbours' decking than anywhere near our hens as there aren't really any hiding places for them there. Everyone round here has food out for the birds so they haven't got a leg to stand on anyway. I didn't bother mentioning to our neighbours with the decking as frankly we have to put up with their constant noise anyway from yapping dogs etc, but the neighbours the other side were sceptical and I wouldn't want to upset them as they are really nice. The first night we had the hens I lay there in a cold sweat thinking I'd made a terrible mistake and would be upsetting everybody. Actually they've been fine and neighbours say they quite enjoy hearing them chuntering away. They even put their veg peelings over the fence for us to find. And yes, the eggs definitely help! .

We've had our chickens 6 months and we now have rats. We have an eglu cube and the chickens used to have half the garden to run around in. The rats arrived helping themselves to the chicken food. We now have a walk in run. The rat (I know there will be more than one, but only seen one at a time) still appears, but can't access the food. It runs around the run and looks a bit annoyed and goes away!

Having said that we had rats in the compost before and rats living under our decking. They don't freak me out. Our neighbour told us years ago (not long after we moved in) that she had a persistent problem with rats.

We have an eglu and DH built a run which has rat-proof (and fox proof) mesh. Think the wire was called weld-mesh. The holes in the wire are too small to allow rats in to feed, and the eglu supposedly has rat-proof feeding bowls as they are sphere-shaped and rats can't get purchase on them.
Five years on, never encountered a rat. And we have a very efficient mouser-cat who brings us a regular supply of field mice from the fields around our house, so think we'd have known if they were nearby. However, neighbours over the road had terrible rat problems with their rabbits, until neighbours got together and complained. You've just got to be careful about storing the feed securely.
It IS possible to keep chickens rat-free. And the eggs are a great bribe. You'd soon win your neighbour round.

My ex-neighbour had 20 hens and 6 ducks. He called them free range, but they were all kept in a small pen. The stink in the summer was awful.

He denied causing a rat problem, and tried hanging his feeders from the roof of the pen (the ducks would try to fly out so he had wire over the top). Trouble is, he'd lock them in a shed at night then refuse to come out if I called him when I'd see rats in the garden (I put the dog out several times a night and he'd go frantic after a rat). He still wouldn't believe me when we'd trapped one and showed him (blamed our dog!).

Then he got cockerels. Oh God. The noise was awful. The pen was under our bedroom window and would start at 4am. If it stopped after a while it wouldn't have been so bad, but it would go on all day and as we both work shifts it made us really ill with lack of sleep.

Eventually another neighbour (I assume) reported him to the council and he got rid of the whole lot. I've never been so relieved. And we've not had a rat problem since.

Before him, we had a lovely neighbour a few doors away who also kept hens (and quails). The hens would roam in the field behind our houses and come into our garden (through a hole in the hedge that I didn't want to fix as I'd get hedgehogs as well as hens visiting) when I'd sit outside with a cuppa and a few biccies after a night shift - I used to love feeding them by hand and giving them a cuddle (they make great pets for kids). He didn't keep many, never had a cockerel and interacted so they were tame. Sadly he passed away and his birds were given away. I still miss having my afternoon visits.

I would love to keep a few hens and am all for people having them (especially if they re-home ex-battery hens), but so many people go into it willy nilly and don't consider the work (like any other pet, I suppose). They get them and then can't be bothered to look after them properly and that really winds my clock.

I yearn for a perfect world where people look after their animals and consider their neighbours. It's nice to come here and see people firstly asking for advice and secondly showing consideration to others. If only everyone was like some of the posters here. I'd love both you and your hens as neighbours.

I am new to keeping chickens (just building a coop & getting my first ones in a week or so) but I have heard that mint, lavender & rosemary in the coop/nesting boxes helps to mask smells & therefore prevents rats/mice. I don't know if it is true, but I have read about it in several places.

We've had chickens and ducks for 9 years and we've never had any rats around until just this week. They look for loose food, which the birds leave on the ground. Get a sonic rat scarer. You can't hear it but they do.