Compost bringing in the mice

[llnmaw]

Eeekkk, I loathe mice. There is tons of evidence that our home had mice before we moved in (poop in between the walls, traps everywhere, dead mouse in a trap behind the dishwasher ) and I want to nip this in the bud (no fresh evidence of mice since we've lived here) . And now I've invited them to move it.

I'm a lousy composter. It's full of fruit flies, stinks and now I'm pretty sure there are mice running around the garden. We live in the burbs. We saw a mouse in the garden today. Egads...I want to move.

Instead of moving, how do I get my pile cooking to keep away the mice?

On hand I have a chicken wire full of semi composted stuff, loads of food scraps, non composted - but rotting in a feed bag - chicken poop, a few leaves and a small amount of wood ash.

I don't have much room to spread it all out, but I was thinking that dumping it, throwing in a some brown (assuming my leaves and chicken manure and ash are brown?) stuff and getting it all raked back into a pile might get it going.

Why does it always seem like composting is simple simon and all I ever get is a pile of stink??!

Also, assuming I get the pile under control, a normal hot pile should not be hospitable for rodents right?
~L.

[root*children]

Well by the sound of those ingredients you first need many more browns - leaves, shredded cardboard or paper (newspaper, egg cartons, pizza boxes all go in ours in these months without many leaves to rake up).

Can you get some cats? For real - they are such a practical pet - we don't have any, but have an awesome neighborhood cat patrol that loves hanging around the compost pile

Other tricks are buying stuff called hardware cloth. It's like chicken wire, but much smaller holes. You can use it to line your pile and also dig it about 6" into the ground (they won't dig any lower than that).

You want your pile to be out in the open - if it's on a fence line or next to woods or shrubbery or something, you are giving the mice a perfect hiding place.

Mice don't like mint. And although of course it won't totally rid you of them, it's not a bad idea to have mint planted around your pile to at least make it unpleasant for them

best of luck!

[mattemma04]

I have open composts too,but have not noticed the mice.I have read they like the warmth of the pile. I do however have mice in my car,crawl space,and garage.I have resorted to old fashioned mouse traps and have caught quite a few mice. Just cover the compost material good to avoid the fruit flies.I have to do that with my indoor worm bin.

[choli]

Originally Posted by llnmaw

Why does it always seem like composting is simple simon and all I ever get is a pile of stink??!

Your ratio of browns to greens is off. As a PP said, you need more leaves, sawdust, straw or hay, or even just shredded newspapers.
Mix it up well every couple of weeks.

[llnmaw]

More brown stuff! I've got it then....

Can we just rip up our newspaper or other bags and such? I'll never get it done if it truly needs to be "shredded".

Also, what would chicken poop/bedding be classified as? Brown or green? If it should not go in my icky pile (too much green?), can I spread/work into my soil this fall and it will compost over winter and early spring?

I dumped the chicken wire bin compost out and spread the whole pile around and gathered it back up into a loose pile. The fresh food has been covered so the fruit flies are gone.

We have some traps set in the house and detached garage to see if we catch anything. Maybe...just maybe (as if...) he was a lost little mouse just passing though??! Hopefully a neighborhood cat will redirect him!

~L.

[root*children]

yes, i just rip up the paper and cardboard stuff and it composts just fine No need to actually "shred" it.

[wemoon]

From what I understand, a compost pile should not attract rodents and other animals and that a cause for those animals showing up is throwing in meat and dairy products. It doesn't seem like you are using meat and dairy, but maybe something got in by accident... I know my kids think they are being helpful and then I have to pick out stuff they try to compost!

[root*children]

No, mice like to eat veggies and fruit and bread and such. Meat can attract things like raccoons and larger scavengers.