A Raven Beheaded My Chicks

[lurky]

I am really glad you posted this subject. I have a giant black bird here too.
I was not sure if it was a crow, or a raven. But it was coming in to investigate my 12 week old bantam chicks in the yard. The chicks all run and hide and nothing has happened. I was not too worried because i did not think it would harm them. I wish you would post the link that helped you determine if it was a crow or a raven so i can be sure too.

 

[BlackBart]

Crows and Ravens don't like each other. So you either have one or the other, thats the way it is around here anyway.

Crows have a fan shaped tail and are much smaller than a Raven.
Ravens have a heavier bill and a diamond shaped tail and are about the size of a large hawk. Much lower croak.

Ravens hunt like Wolves, as part of a team. Divide and conquer. They are highly intelligent, smarter than the average dog and mate for life.

You will have to keep your chickens under wire until they are big enough.
We also have trouble with Eagles taking off with full grown chickens (cats, small dogs etc.) but if we have Ravens around the Eagles don't come.

Don't care for Eagles very much. A Eagle carried off my friend's Pomeranian, if I had a gun I would have shot it but its against the Law here.

If I had a choice I'd take a Raven problem over a Eagle problem.
The worst is Mink. A friend last week had all her flock killed in one night by a Mink. They don't eat the chickens, they just kill them, all of them.

 

[amazondoc]

In the eastern part of the country, people mostly have crows.

In the western part of the country, people mostly have ravens.

There is some overlap, but that's a simple rule of thumb.

ETA: here's a range map for ravens in the US:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/Common_Raven/lifehistory

and another page about crows:

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Crow/id

Those pages also have pics of similar species, to help you tell the difference.

 

[Lavonne]

My chicks are all covered and protected as best I can. We'll have to wait and see now. Thanks to all for your information. I really love this website!

 

[Lavonne]

Anyone who wants to read a little more on Ravens attacking chickens, go to the thread under Predators and Pests title Ravens. A lot of people there have weighed in on the subject and there are a few links for further research. Nasty birds as you will see.