Mice in my compost area what should i do?

[ABHanna4d]

I have saw a couple mice take off running out of my compost area when I went to turn it last time. I do not want to use poison, what are some other options?
I have chickens that I dont want eating a poisoned mouse as well as dogs, goats, & children that I dont want bumping across the poison.
I dont want my compost area becoming a breeding ground for mice!

 

[ducks4you]

IF you don't mind your neighbor's cats, start some catnip indoors, then plant it close to your pile. Honestly, ADULT cats really do love it.

 

[wifezilla]

Let the chickens loose on the compost pile. They will eat the mice AND turn the pile for you.

 

[Greenthumb18]

Oh yes i agree with wifezilla, let the chickens have a run at them. It will be a nice snack for them . And they'll keep the compost turned which is another plus.

 

[DawnSuiter]

my chickens could care less about the mice

we went with "5 gallon buckets of death"

caught several mice a night for a few nights... then they wised up or there are only a couple left at the moment.

 

[ABHanna4d]

my chickens could care less about the mice

we went with "5 gallon buckets of death"

caught several mice a night for a few nights... then they wised up or there are only a couple left at the moment.

What is the 5 galon bucekt of death?

 

[astevn816]

I think the chicken idea is your best option or use mouse traps but that could be a bit unsanitary

 

[DawnSuiter]

Sorry darlin, I don't know how I didn't see your question!

A 5 gallon bucket of death is for smaller mice... rats might require a 22 gallon trash can of death.

ANYWAY

Fill the container half full with water
Carefully spread a cup or so of sunflower seeds in the shells on the TOP of the water, covering it completely.
Then place the bucket where the mice are living and create a ramp or step up to the top of the bucket... (lay a piece of 2X4 across the top) in my case, I put it right next to the wall feeders which the mice stand on :/

The idea is they will lean in over the edge, or reach down from the board, and greedily little eaters that they are, they will fall in and drown.

We caught 8 small to medium mice our first night.. IN THE SAME ONE BUCKET!
About 5 I think the 2nd night
2 the 3rd night
then they seemed to wise up and didn't jump in the bucket anymore for a couple days... so we took a break from the bucket and a week later... got a few more.

On a side note... they are very thirsty here this time of year.. My chicken waterers are generally 2 gallon pails, a couple of mornings this week there was a mouse or two floating in them.. just cuz I guess they were thirsty.

 

[ABHanna4d]

Sorry darlin, I don't know how I didn't see your question!

A 5 gallon bucket of death is for smaller mice... rats might require a 22 gallon trash can of death.

ANYWAY

Fill the container half full with water
Carefully spread a cup or so of sunflower seeds in the shells on the TOP of the water, covering it completely.
Then place the bucket where the mice are living and create a ramp or step up to the top of the bucket... (lay a piece of 2X4 across the top) in my case, I put it right next to the wall feeders which the mice stand on :/

The idea is they will lean in over the edge, or reach down from the board, and greedily little eaters that they are, they will fall in and drown.

We caught 8 small to medium mice our first night.. IN THE SAME ONE BUCKET!
About 5 I think the 2nd night
2 the 3rd night
then they seemed to wise up and didn't jump in the bucket anymore for a couple days... so we took a break from the bucket and a week later... got a few more.

On a side note... they are very thirsty here this time of year.. My chicken waterers are generally 2 gallon pails, a couple of mornings this week there was a mouse or two floating in them.. just cuz I guess they were thirsty.

Thank you that is a fantastic idea! I will definately try that one! However, I let the chickens roam the compost area for a few days and I havent seen a mouse since then so I dont know if they ate them all or just scared them off, but for now I havent seen any...although Im very confident that they will reappear...those sneaky little critters

 

[aaron28]

That's a genius idea. Is there a way like that to catch opossums? We've had a few getting into the garage where they're ripping open our trash and spreading it all over the cars. We've had cats and dogs in the garage but it doesn't seem to help much. The cats don't really scare opossums and the dogs are a little freaked out by them too.