Hi all,
I’m after some opinions because I might be biased and I’d like to know if I’m being ridiculous.
Long story short, we live in suburbia, we have 8-10 small bantams that we’ve made a run for but mostly free range. The coop is secure (mostly) and the feed is locked up at night, and the girls are then also locked inside the coop inside the run (2 x separate doors) keeping them safe at night.
The issue is rats, they aren’t in our house, but at night we can find them in the chicken run, but not in the coop when they’re locked inside.
Our neighbours are also on a small house block and not exactly clean people, they’re shed is where the rats live and the coop in our yard is back onto the shed, which backs onto our property.
We’ve dug trenches and wired it etc but they continue to dig in to get into the coop.
My argument with my partner is that the rats were there long before we ever got chickens, and that yes, the chickens are a contributing factor to the rats but I don’t think they’re the only reason they are around.
My partner is stressed about upsetting the neighbours because my partner has been baiting the rats with non-secondary killing baits, and the neighbour has found some dead rats in his shed and they’d chewed his camping gear. I said, so what, the place is a pigsty and it’s unreasonable to say it’s entirely because of our chickens, we keep the coop and run so clean and it’s secure.
It’s to the point where I want to downsize my chickens to avoid these arguments but I’m really annoyed about it, I love my little chickens and it irritates me that it’s on us.
Am I being unreasonable? Please be honest, I can take it. Maybe I’m just blinded by it because I adore having my chickens so much.
I’m after some opinions because I might be biased and I’d like to know if I’m being ridiculous.
Long story short, we live in suburbia, we have 8-10 small bantams that we’ve made a run for but mostly free range. The coop is secure (mostly) and the feed is locked up at night, and the girls are then also locked inside the coop inside the run (2 x separate doors) keeping them safe at night.
The issue is rats, they aren’t in our house, but at night we can find them in the chicken run, but not in the coop when they’re locked inside.
Our neighbours are also on a small house block and not exactly clean people, they’re shed is where the rats live and the coop in our yard is back onto the shed, which backs onto our property.
We’ve dug trenches and wired it etc but they continue to dig in to get into the coop.
My argument with my partner is that the rats were there long before we ever got chickens, and that yes, the chickens are a contributing factor to the rats but I don’t think they’re the only reason they are around.
My partner is stressed about upsetting the neighbours because my partner has been baiting the rats with non-secondary killing baits, and the neighbour has found some dead rats in his shed and they’d chewed his camping gear. I said, so what, the place is a pigsty and it’s unreasonable to say it’s entirely because of our chickens, we keep the coop and run so clean and it’s secure.
It’s to the point where I want to downsize my chickens to avoid these arguments but I’m really annoyed about it, I love my little chickens and it irritates me that it’s on us.
Am I being unreasonable? Please be honest, I can take it. Maybe I’m just blinded by it because I adore having my chickens so much.