Share your experiences with sparrow traps!

[PheasantsFirst]

I recently got a sparrow trap and looking around on this site, I haven't found many recent threads about house sparrows. Feel free to talk about certain baits that you used and that worked well, good locations to put the traps and any other useful information.

Also, when someone says 'House Sparrow', they are referring to the English House Sparrow.

Warning: It's possible in this thread that people will be talking about killing House Sparrows and Starlings, both are invasive species and legal to kill.

To posters: If you mention how you kill the sparrows please make sure it is considered a humane way.

 

[PheasantsFirst]

I got my trap from https://www.sparrowtraps.net/ and in the first two days using it have gotten 12 sparrows. I bait it with chicken scratch and chicken crumbles. Currently, it is about 3ft off the ground between a tree they hang out in and where they go into the chicken run to get food. As suggested I'll leave on bird in to attract others, but I switch between a male and female so the 'bait' bird doesn't stay in over a day. Overall I've found these traps very effective.

 

[Kelsie2290]

I have the same traps that PheasantsFirst has. I've had them for awhile now and really like them.
I usually have two set. One is always by the barn, the other I will have various places depending on where I see sparrows. They seem to do best if at least slightly off the ground up on something, I usually use a skid with a piece of plywood on it, and put an xpen or 2x4 wire around it to keep the chickens and dogs out. Make sure the back end with the trap is a little higher than the front (there is a small piece of swinging wire that keeps the birds in the main part of the trap once they are caught, if it leans the other way they will figure out how too get under it and out.
The traps do better out in the open, but not that far away from cover so the sparrows feel safe at the trap looking for food, but can sit in the bush or whatever to look it over first. I leave one or two birds in there, usually males though some people say females work better. I use cheap birdseed as bait, and spread some around the top and outside of the trap to start with also to catch birds faster. Often catch starlings in them also, though usually have it set weight wise for sparrows. I've caught about 1 or 2% non-target birds, usually tree sparrows, they are easy enough to release unharmed.

 

[Mattemma]

I have used the repeating sparrow trap.Got it from a guy in TX.Works well.I used cheap bird seed.