Ever since our neighbors' dogs killed our outside cat (we miss him), the number of mice around our hen house has rapidly increased.  We never use any poisons near the chicken coop and we don't want to use any other traps that might harm the birds so we began a search for a "no kill" mouse trap.

I was surprised to find that there were quite a few from which to choose.  But, after investigating several options I determined that we would prefer a "better mouse trap" ... one that would capture more than one live mouse at a time.  After all, if I'm going to drive a mouse to the woods to release it, I might as well bring several more, right?

Eventually, my online research led us to a "Multiple Catch No-Kill Humane Mousetrap" (pictured).  You're supposed to place it near a wall, in corners or anywhere that mice have been seen.  The advertisement said that a mouse's own curiosity works as bait and a spring-loaded wheel moves the mouse into a separate compartment.  Then the smell of one trapped mouse is supposed to lure others.  The trap was designed to hold up to 15 live mice!

Yeah ... right.

I bought one anyway.  It was reasonably priced and I thought it might be worth a try.  When it arrived, I unpacked it and put a cracker with peanut butter inside as bait.  I set it in the chicken coop at dusk and checked it the following morning to find that it had caught four mice!  I was pleasantly surprised to learn that it would work as advertised. I really worksed!

Unfortunately, when one purchases a Multiple Catch No-Kill Humane Mousetrap that works as well as this one, the result is a bunch of captured live mice!  The little critters that we caught in our chicken coop were released about halfway between my home and my office.  Hopefully, I'll be dropping of some of their little friends really soon.

Have you ever used a no-kill mouse trap?