Do crows pose a threat?

[seminolewind]

I noticed real quick last year that I had a small hawk or two before I got chickens. When I got chickens, I got crows, and haven't seen a hawk in 18 months.
I would give the crows what they want to keep them around.
When I go out in the evening to feed the horses, and throw the girls some scratch, I collect eggs. I get the one silkie egg, put it on a chair arm, then go get the rest in the big coop. One day on the way back to the house, I go to collect my silkie egg. It's gone. I look all over. I figure I must have taken it in or imagined that I had one. The next day, I put the silkie egg on the chair arm, I walk to the big coop, and out of the corner of my eye I see a crow over by the chair. And wouldn't ya know, the egg was gone!!! So I'm not crazy afterall!

 

[Skip]

I wouldn't worry about full-grown birds, but chicks are a different story. I wouldn't put it past a bird that big. Crows are opportunists.

 

[invalidsession]

I lived for many years in rural England. In the UK we have many different varieties of the "Corvid family". I must say that I was surprised by the lack of some of them when I came to the USA.
The Crow is by far the most prolific but we also have Rooks, Ravens, Jackdaws, Magpies and Jays and several other members of the family.
It is my experience (as has been shared here) that these birds are all opportunistic predators. Each member of the species will attack smaller defenceless animals of almost any type. Even a sick calf or foal will be targeted and fed on alive if these birds aren't kept at bay by herd members.
Having said that, they are mostly cowardly. Sure, they will take a young chick or a sick grown chicken but i've never seen one take a grown bird.
For the most part they are not dissimilar in eating habits to that of sharks.
They prefer easy targets like dead or wounded prey, natures vacuums if you like. They will cheerfully root around for free food with your chickens and cause no harm but if mama chicken takes her eye off of her babies a crow might just take it.
Back in England we would shoot them or keep them away via crow scarers at birthing time for the lambs but the rest of the year they were quite welcome to scavenge around.
I know some folks who have reared young Corvids, they are very clever birds and have an intelligence that easily rivals that of some the smarter Parrots.
Hope that helps,

Chris.

 

[horsejody]

Quote:
You may have been right about the egg, but that doesn't mean you're not crazy.

 

[seminolewind]

Quote:
You may have been right about the egg, but that doesn't mean you're not crazy.

 

[O.C.Chick]

What a great post!!! I am about to get some silkies and ameraucana bantams and was concerned about what I used to think were ravens, but now am hoping are crows...I'm still a bit confused because, based on the photo and sound links in this post, they LOOK just like ravens, but they definitely SOUND just like crows. Whatever they are, we have a TON of them here.

What I DO know is that they actually protect my yard and pond from huge herons and egrets!!! Like a scene for Hitchcock's 'The Birds', they go nuts when the herons or egrets fly over or try to land on my roof! So even though they do sound awful, my Koi and I have learned to appreciate them!

 

[Laura78]

Ok, after reading some of this I now what crows and/or ravens living here all the time. How do I do this? It there some place I can buy young crows/ravens and raise them even with my adult birds and keep them in my yard? I'd be willing to loose a few eggs to them if only to protect my birds from hawks. I've even seen them fighting off bald eagles, which we have lots of.

 

[O.C.Chick]

I just read more about telling the difference between crows and ravens....Crows live together in large social groups, and ravens are not social and only live together as mating couples, territorial towards other ravens. Ravens are also larger at 22" to 27" with a wingspan of up to 4 feet. Crows average 16" to 21" with a wingspan of 33" to 39"...

THAT MEANS I HAVE CROWS! YEAH, I THINK!

 

[O.C.Chick]

PS: (From the Cornell University link that PortageGirl provided on page 2 of this post)

"Despite being a common exploiter of roadkill, the American Crow is not specialized to be a scavenger, and carrion is only a very small part of its diet. Its stout bill is not strong enough to break through the skin of even a gray squirrel. It must wait for something else to open a carcass or for the carcass to decompose and become tender enough to eat."


SO OUR CHICKENS (AND SQUIRRELS) SEEM TO BE SAFE AROUND CROWS. IT'S THE RAVENS THAT WE HAVE TO WORRY ABOUT!

 

[PigeonLady]

I am just wondering how young they would have to be, for the crows to attack them?? I have 3 and 4 week old Silkie chicks out in an uncovered pen with their mothers, and there are crows around - Should I be worried?
I am a new chicken mom so I didn't know.