Do crows go after 7 week old chicks?

[GoodLuckCharlie!]

I hurt my shoulder and haven't finished covering the coop/run or building the daytime covered area for the chicks so they've been roaming free in the 1/2 acre yard for the last 2 weeks...I left the house today and when I got home, my neighbor said she saw a crow and huge commotion with our chicks, and thought one was eaten by the crow. My husband says crows only are scavengers, but I think any bird larger than our chicks would be willing to eat one. Any experience with that?
Thanks,
Laura

 

[wingsofglory]

They find the nests of wild birds and eat the hatchlings in the nest, live.

Magpies, a crow cousin, go round here and clean out all the swallow nests of babies.

 

[pgpoultry]

Hi, Laura.

Ravens, the large black crows will certainly take live chicks to feed their own chicks by and large. The chicks are only safe from ravens when they are about pigeon size.

 

[Nicole01]

Oh, I think so! Crows swoop down and peck my cats. They are pretty brave.

 

[BoltonChicken]

If they are bantams, then I suppose it is possible. Your husband is right. Crows ARE scavengers, but like chickens will eat just about anything. Crows are not really known as
predators, but I suppose they could attack a living animal their size, although I have never seen or heard of it. They WILL steal eggs by pound though.

 

[Nicole01]

Watch out for blue jays. Someone posted a while back they lost their chick to a blue jay. I personally would keep a close eye on the chicks outside. It's not safe for baby birds of any kind to be out in the open.

 

[PetRock]

We have scrub jays and crows here. The crows usually are in the tops of the trees and I've never seen them swoop down to our yard. The flock just seems to ignore them. The scrub jays, on the other hand, do swoop over the chicks and our broody mama took off after one that came too close to her chicks. I don't know whether he would have taken a chick but they were only 2-3 weeks old at the time. I guess mama thought that he was a threat. She almost flew into a palm tree to get him! We have the biggest problem with an egg stealing jay. He is brazen and flies right into the coop to take eggs! He pecks a hole in them and carries them off!

 

[Fool]

I've seen a single crow actively chasing and attacking a small cottontail. Also, seen one carry a live sparrow off.

 

[turbodog]

A crow will snatch a tiny chick up almost a quick as a hawk. They are well known for raiding the nests of other birds and making off with the babies.
I don't think your chickens are in any real danger from a crow when they get to 7 week size. I've got a deer feeder out near where my coop is and crows come around looking for the corn in it. My chicks are about the size of yours and the crows ignore them.

 

[dianaross77]

Crows will go after hawks with a vengeance because they see them as a threat. So while they will go after animals bigger than them, I think it's more to run them off than to eat them. That might explain them swooping down on cats. Especially if they have a nest nearby.