Like good old fashioned mousetraps, the Tin Cat - which is just a metal box with entries for mice which they can get into, but can't get out of - works well at first. I once caught 8 mice in it in one night. HOWEVER, if you wish to be humane, you MUST check it every day and dispo the mice somehow. And it seems that they do catch on to it at some point and it no longer works as well. I have to say, a good barn cat has proven to be our best solution. I haven't seen a live mouse in our barn for years, ever since our old Lizzy took up residence there. She also keeps the young rabbits and voles thinned out, or we wouldn't have much of a garden. I can't let her in the chicken coop/yard when I have baby chicks, of course, and I do see occasionally see evidence of mice there for that reason, but not otherwise. She's 12 or 13 now, still going strong. PS: chickens will also kill mice if they catch them in the open, and seem to find them delicious, but of course the mice generally come out at night when no chickens are on patrol. In my broody area, I pick up the feed at night to discourage them and alway store feed in mouseproof containers.
