Crows Friend or Foe?

[hmmcc123]

I have also learned to like our local crows. One day I heard crowing and ran outside because my girls were free ranging in the yard and I looked up to find about 7-9 crows dive bombing and chasing away a hawk. YAY CROWS!!!

 

[Dogfish]

If you have chicks or poults out free ranging, they are foe. If you keep only adult birds, they are friend, or kind of friend, as they will steal eggs. We whack them regulary from spring through early fall. After that, they earn their keep with what they take, usually.

 

[Ole rooster]

Well now I'm confused. I've never like crows. I even have been running them off to protect my hawks. Now the tables are turning. I'm gonna need the crows to look after the hens. What a confused world "I" live in.

 

[BirdMan32]

There has been a crow eyeballing by run for the last few days, flying low, etc. This morning when I let them out the coop, the crow flew low then comes back attempting to get it. The rooster had been on to him & sounded the alarm. I also waved a stick around at it to fend him off.

Foe.

 

[ozark_chickies]

Quote:
I have had the same thing happen many times. The nasty things, hop down the row pulling the seedlings to eat the seed corn off the bottom. Then last spring a crow, took one of my young RIRs. Foe! Foe! Foe! I don't want them around.

 

[Mattemma]

The calls or kaws annoy me, but they are friends since they harrass the hawk.Wish they would drive it completely away!

So far only squirrels attack my crops,but if the crows do I will get rid of them too.

 

[CluckyJay]

I protect my crows. So far they have not tried to kill our young birds. They have and always do, chase off the hawks. They hate them so much. They both nest on our property and so far the crows keep the hawks in line. I love me some corvidae!

 

[gryeyes]

Crows are friends to me. They harass the hawks and their Kaw! Kaw! calls alert the chickens (if they weren't already in alert mode from having seen the same hawk).

But, yes, they can take eggs and young chicks - if the flock is not vigilant.

 

[Wisher1000]

I leave eggs out for the crows (near the house, not the coop.) The chickens have gotten used to them and the guineas follow them when they are around. One day, I saw the crows harrassing a hawk in the air and the guineas were on the ground below kicking up the biggest racket! As the hawk flew this way and that to dodge the crows, the tightly packed flock of guineas ran back and forth under them screaming their heads off. It was funny. I've never seen the crows in the run (where the egg boxes are) and they seem to completely ignore the chickens.

Friend

 

[jfaith51]

There was a time when I didn't like crows. They pulled up all of the small corn plants. Then we got chickens. I love watching the crows torment the hawks!! I would love to be able to tame one, but to stay outside, not in the house. We have lots of crows where we are and I have never seen them come close to the chickens or our pigeons. They seem very shy. So for me they are a Friend.