Crow attacking my chickens!

[applewoodacres]

I have 2-3month old chickens that keep getting eaten by a crow. Today I actually witnessed the whole thing and was able to scare it away. I thought for sure my chicken was a dead but noticed he was still breathing. I brought her inside and she has a hole right behind her eye. She is alert when I talk to her but keeps trying to sleep. Any suggestions on how to nurse her back to health and keep the crows away? Thank You!

 

[wvfoxhunter]

No idea on what to do for your chicken. Sorry. If you have a gun like a .410 or 20 ga shotgun though you could fix the problem very quickly and cheaply. Or a .22 or .22mag would work fine if you have any of them.

 

[applewoodacres]

Tomorrow I plan on killing the crow if I cam get a good shot. Baby chick is doing better. Hasn't eaten yet just mostly sleeping.

 

[cafarmgirl]

Keep her in a quiet place and provide warmth. Whether or not she will make it depends on the severity of the hole you mentioned. If it's mostly superficial she should recover fine.

As far as crows... they certainly are opportunistic and chicks do need to be protected from them. However, I encourage crows for one big reason: They actively chase off hawks. So, you may kill that one crow but there are a lot more of them and if they leave the area then you will have hawks after those chicks. Personally, I'd keep the youngsters in a covered run until they are older and let the crows stick around.