Grow Your Own Magazine

lynda66 · #1 (**permalink**) 06-10-2008, 07:28 PM

i just went to put some stuff in the compost heap and came face to face with 2 litlle wood mice that seem to have made it their home, they just kinda looked at me sniffed and carried on wandering round ...... lets hope they don't do that when faced with the cats.

i do have a bit of a dilemma though, i was going to move my compost heap at weekend, so i can put the chicken house where the heap is, but i don't want to make them homeless now,they looked very happy. i'm wondering if i can catch them, move the heap then put them back in the new heap with an old bird box as a nest?? and just hope they don't have any babies??

digthatchick · #2 (**permalink**) 06-10-2008, 07:50 PM

Move your compost heap as planned, they will find a new home nearby. Just be careful when you dig it out. If they are outside there should not be any babies at this time of year.

lynda66 · #3 (**permalink**) 06-10-2008, 07:58 PM

i'm most worried that they won't find somewhere safe before the cats find them though, they will not be impressed if i keep them locked up all day ....... they just looked so happy in there, it's still lovely and warm...... i feel mean ...... ok maybe i'm too soft, but i love mice. ....... if they were rats i wouldn't think twice though lol.

Bephlam · #4 (**permalink**) 06-10-2008, 11:33 PM

I love mice too Lynda...they are sooooooo cute, especially the little tiny babies!! My cats also love mice, they bring in at least one each every other night!! We have three cats, so that's a whole lotta mice in the house..ALIVE! For some reason, our cats like to bring them in alive, drop them in the middle of the lounge, then go outside and start cleaning themselves on top of the garden furniture!!! Leaving their Mummy to run around like a headless chicken trying to catch the little darlings!

Sounds fun...but it's not!!!

Anyway, I wouldn't want to make them homeless either. Although, I'm thinking I may have to take some drastic measures as they've found their way in to my shed and they are having a gay old time eating everything and anything they can. (including a big, sealed box of my childhood toys!!!)

Oh the joys!

Bephlam · #5 (**permalink**) 06-10-2008, 11:34 PM

Thankfully I have the growers & layers pellets in mouse proof bins!!

lynda66 · #6 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 02:08 AM

son and i used to breed and exhibit mice, they are just so lovely ....... one of the problems with evicting them, is last year i had mice in my shed, and they ate all the chair cushions, thankfully they were old, but as theres no cushions in there now, they may start eating something more vital.... and if they decide to move next door he will kill them .... and i'm so worried about the cats getting them whilst they are homeless

thankfully 99 % of the time the cats come to the front window with live creatures, if they have got them through the cat window at the back , they are usually dead

Headfry · #7 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 09:54 AM

Hi lynda66, I am a mouse lover to (wild ones) I also say move the heap, but with care - and don't forget to keep the cats away while you are doing it, just in case the mice scamper out and into the sight ranges of a CAT!
I seem to end up with this sort of dilemma - nature V my plans to do a job!
For us nature lovers it's a real hard job to make the choice!

Stacey Steve · #8 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 09:54 AM

I think I'm missing something here, aren't they vermin?

lynda66 · #9 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 11:14 AM

they are wood mice, not house mice, and they have a right to live too, if they came in the house, i'd release them, if you'd pulled back the lid, and seen their little twitchy noses and beautiful shiny dark eyes and and ..... oh they are cute, and it's nice to have a bit of wildlife.

Woodmouse

Joe · #10 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 11:16 AM

I'm with the mice lovers. They are kinda of cute and so long as they are outside of the house that's fine. Are they a pest in the garden? I know they will take grain from the bird feeders and from our guinea pigs bowl. Obviously the guinea pigs hutch's wire front won't exclude mice so they could be a problem there. I haven't seen our mice for a while; mind you we have a cat that wanders through our garden regularly. He's the real pest, although I don't mind him, just the parcels he leaves. Why can't he do something useful like eating slugs?

lynda66 · #11 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 11:39 AM

i've been reading about them, apparently they eat small slugs and snails, though they are probably the reason i got no sweetcorn growing this year, they will dig up seeds, but as i plant most of my seeds indoors now, it's not really a problem.

you can prevent them getting through the guinea pigs wire, by making the holes less than a pencil width ....... they can get through very tiny holes.

to be honest i try to let nature live as it wants in my garden, except slugs and snails, i even rescue caterpillars and just remove them from the plants if they hatch, though i do squish the eggs lol.

Stacey Steve · #12 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 11:44 AM

It's like "weeds" really, a weed is just a plant that is not in the correct place for an individuals purpose.

The same with slugs, they are part of our wildlife and form part of a food chain. In fact I have no problem with slugs or mice in my compost heap as an instance, as they do convert the waste into compost.

Slugs in my veg beds? I kill them.

Mice in my shed? I kill them.

But yes they are cute, I must admit.

We were having a problem with a rats under our garden shed, I shot some and I also laid traps. I got quite upset when I found a yellow throated mouse dead in one of the traps, especially when I found they are an endangered species (that one surely was).

However I thought all types of rodent were a no no around chickens.

lynda66 · #13 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 11:52 AM

thing is if they were rats i'd have dug the heap up yesterday .... if they were in my shed i'd really hope they ate the spiders in there, ..... when i kept mice, they loved getting insect treats, so they do keep insects down, caterpillars etc.

if you have chickens, you will almost certainly have rodent visitors, and as wood mice are nocturnal, you will probably never know.

Stacey Steve · #14 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 12:05 PM

I know of several wood mice burrows on my plots and they eat quite a lot of the windfall pears etc, I did object however when they ate all my cherry buds and the few cherries that did make it to fruit, the netting proved no obsticle to them.

I do disturb them hoping they will clear off elsewhere, laying traps for them even under netting, has caught a few but I stopped when a wren found it's way through to a trap.

I know I cannot beat nature's legions attacking my plots but I will kill or try and rid myself of as many slugs, snails, mice, rats, pigeons and magpies as possible. If that makes me a monster in some people's eyes, then I am sorry.

Joe · #15 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 12:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lynda66

you can prevent them getting through the guinea pigs wire, by making the holes less than a pencil width ....... they can get through very tiny holes.

That won't help with our guinea pigs as they have the full run of the garden. The hutch is permanently open.

Here's one of them. This is Badger

lynda66 · #16 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 12:15 PM

it doesn't make you a monster at all, i wish someone would shoot our magpies flipping things, but i tend to leave things unless they cause a problem, i'm just a softie, why i think i could possibly have meat chickens and kill them myself is beyond me lol, personally i would try humane traps with peanut butter, if they were a problem, and let them loose in the woods, but right now they are just cute

lynda66 · #17 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 12:17 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Joe

That won't help with our guinea pigs as they have the full run of the garden. The hutch is permanently open.

Here's one of them. This is Badger

awwwww he's cute i've never had guinea pigs, i always had rabbits

Joe · #18 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 12:17 PM

I'd rats in my compost bin. My missus solved that problem she and my daughter took the contents of my bin to the council tip. Shame it was coming along nicely.

I've got two bins on the go now. Gonna start a wormery too!

lynda66 · #19 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 12:20 PM

i hate rats

been attacked a few times, and one killed my favourite rabbit when i was young, though she killed it in return, she was a huge rabbit, and it was the biggest rat i've ever seen ..... horrible disgusting vermin.

lynda66 · #20 (**permalink**) 07-10-2008, 06:04 PM

i built the new compost bin today, went to town to get some paint for that and the chicken house, came out of wilkies and it was piddling down

that means it's gonna take much longer to get the compost in it and rehome the mice

Stacey Steve · #21 (**permalink**) 08-10-2008, 06:26 AM

I've often wondered about humane mouse traps,

If you catch a squirrel or rat in a trap, it's illegal to release them, don't know if it's the same for mice, although I would have thought so.

Two_Sheds · #22 (**permalink**) 08-10-2008, 06:36 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by lynda66

i hate rats ...one killed my favourite rabbit...though she killed it in return

how does that work?

btw. guinea pigs are much nicer than wabbits. But I don't think they kill rats.