I bought this trap 3 years ago and I cant tell you what a difference its made in my townhouse complex! The first year (may-august) I trapped 47 house sparrows, last year 35 and this year only 12 so far- thats because the nasty things have almost been eliminated! Finally the bluebirds and tree swallows have been able to nest successfully without getting either their young or themselves slaughtered in nesting boxes by the sparrows. I recommend this trap to everyone that cares about our native birds. I bait with plain white millet and small pieces of white bread and usually have at least one decoy trapped within a week. There have been 0 escapes and just a chipping sparrow to release now and then. Thank you thank you for this trap!!!

I have used the repeating House Sparrow trap and removed well over a hundred House sparrows that were keeping bluebirds from successfully nesting in my yard. We have had three successful bluebird nests so far and have increased the Bluebird population by at least 12!

Excellent Product!!! Received this product today before leaving for work at 8am. I set it up and baited it with chicken feed before leaving, I came home to check the trap during my lunch hour and found 12 sparrows. I dont know if this amount is normal or if it has something to do with where I live(south texas) But im very impressed at how well it works!

It took me a few days before they started to warm up to it, but I have trapped 9 house sparrows in my first week. (not one single native bird made it’s way in, yet at least) I even ended up with a chipmunk in there. I had to get a separate trap for those guys to try and keep them at bay. Which, kind of interestingly enough, also caught a sparrow. It has been so much quieter out there as of late, not having to hear that obnoxious noise they make. There is more seed for other birds and I have actually started to hear a few songbirds come back throughout the day. It is quite lovely and refreshing to have the natives coming back.

Some notes, I’ve only caught one male this whole time, not sure why the girls like it better but they do.

One of them even laid an egg in there, kind of wild.

The male was attacking that chipmunk before I could get him out, and he did end up killing the sparrow. The little guy never did bother the female at all, she even landed on him a couple times. Which tells me the male must have been a real jerk to even get attacked in the first place.

One did get loose though, mistakes were made during the extraction. Not the trap’s fault at all. That chipmunk spiced it up a bit and introduced extra challenges.

This is a solid, well built quality trap. I am very pleased with the craftmanship and the overall design. The price is more than fair and it arrived quickly without damage. It works perfectly right out of the box. Just sit it out, add food and water and wait. I thought about trying to make my own, but after seeing this one I just abandoned the idea completely. Blaine Johnson knows his stuff, this is the best trap out there, hands down. Absolutely worth it, I would not hesitate recommending it to anyone with a house sparrow problem.

Have caught more than two dozen HOSP since I put this up, baiting with the cheap kind of bird seed (the kind with lots of millet and corn). Thanks, Uncle!

I bought your trap in 2018 and have lost count of how many house sparrows I’ve caught. When I’m catching them and keeping the local population down, the native birds are visibly happier and more comfortable. It’s amazing what a difference it makes! I had to take a break the last couple years and their population has exploded, terrorizing the other birds and hogging my feeders. I set it up a week ago and have been catching 10-15 a day! It still works like new even though it looks a little worse for wear. The front platform almost fell off thanks to a fat squirrel trying to get to the bait a couple years ago (used a couple more screws to hold it on and a couple big nails in it to block them from getting into the elevator), and the cage got dented up a bit by debris from a storm, but the elevator trap mechanism works perfectly and hasn’t needed adjusted at all.

My only small gripe is I wish the cage portion wasn’t so long. If you have shorter arms, you’ll have to put almost your entire arm in the trap to reach the birds if they try to hide against the far side. I don’t need room to hold 50 at a time, I want to be able to reach them to get rid of them without putting my face that close to where they’re flapping around.

I use cracked corn as bait and that seems to reduce the number of native birds that are interested in the trap. The last few times I’ve set it up, I’ve caught sparrows straight away. Once there’s a sparrow or two in it, no other native bird will go near it. CHECK IT OFTEN until you start catching sparrows! One of the first years I set it up, a poor chickadee must have gone in first, followed by a sparrow, and the sparrow had killed it within an hour (that’s how often I was checking). They’ll occasionally kill or injure each other, but they’re *vicious* if a native bird is in there with them.

I set my trap up on a patio table, put some extra treated lumber planks underneath it as a “floor”, a couple planks on top to shield the bait area and part of the cage from rain (don’t cover the elevator area or they won’t go in, though), and put a cage-mounted bowl with a little corn or cheap birdseed in the cage for the bait bird I leave in it overnight. Don’t bother trying to put water in there for them, they’ll just crap in it and get it disgusting overnight. If I want a break from trapping for a while, I just take a twist-tie and hook the elevator mesh to the top of the cage.

I purchased the trap and began catching sparrows in under a week. It took some time on my end to find the right location and set up, but once I caught my 1st sparrow…it never stopped. I catch anywhere from 1 to 6 sparrows per day. I mostly catch females. White bread and a pile of wild bird mix has worked fine for me. I built an auxiliary holding box onto the side. If I catch a native bird with a trap full of sparrows, the sparrows hide inside the box, and the natives do not. They naturally separate, making it easy to free the native. I use cervical dislocation to euthanize. It took some getting used to but it must be done. This trap works great, I absolutely would recommend.

I want to thank you so much for the absolute brilliance behind this trap.. I just started trapping with the elevator trap, and my gosh, within hours, I have got more than I’ve got in 2 years with the pellet gun.. Im so glad I came across your design after I picked up a different one, not knowing how they worked and watching everyone I caught get out within 3 minutes of getting trapped. I’m successfully trapping now. Thanks again.

It was about 4 hours before I had my first sparrow. Set it up last night after dark, placed it on a picnic table near my bird feeders and baited it (cracked corn and millet). Tada! Will be watching the rest of today for more. 🙂 Very happy with my purchase.

It only took 26 hours to trap my first bird. I’m hopeful that I will be able to eliminate to 50 or so that have shown up in the last few weeks before my blues start their next nest.