Have Crows or Ravens Ever Killed Your Chickens?

[DogAndCat36]

This happened 2 years ago, before I found BYC, I had not knowlege about chickens at that time. One thing that I did know for real is that some of my chickens were killed by crows. They were young just a few weeks in the coop and were fully feathered out. They were free-ranged and had no adult chickens nearby. I am still so confused as to why crows would do this. They are not birds of prey, are they?

One time I was actually able to catch two crows in the act of killing a chick. They were tossing and pecking the poor thing just behind the coop. It was an EE (I think) that I named Saphier, I loved her very very much, she had big doe eyes with black "eyeliner" around them. Well I chased them off and she was still alive, had a bit of blood, maybe I could have saved her, I put her down because I thought that her suffering was not fixable. I really wished that I found BYC at that time... (If any of you know, please please tell me! Could I have saved her? She was weakly breathing and cheeping, had blood on her face, and was limp. I think that she was missing patch s of skin? She was on the gorund and did not try to lift herself up at all. Even when I nudged her and rolled her to look at her injuries, she just layed limp. Chould it have been shock?)

Even as they grew older, the crows would still get them. I remember running at one at it flew off with a australorp that was the size of a young adult bantom. Maybe it was a raven, maybe it was a black bird of prey. I don't know, maybe this one time, it might not have been a crow, it was 2 years ago, so my memory sucks. I keep on writing crow but they might have been ravens. I can only tell them apart side by side, ravens are way bigger.

So last thing, has this happened to you? Also I don't know if this should go on Predators and Pest or Random Ramblings because this is not a current emergency.

 

[FuzzyCritters]

I've had a raven relentlessly chase a full-grown easter egger hen. It ripped out so many of her feathers a left a big gash on her back, and the raven wouldn't stop chasing the poor hen until I came and chased it off. I'm certain it could have killed her when she became too exhausted to keep running if I hadn't intervened.

I have no idea why the raven was chasing my hen. Maybe a territory thing? The hen had escaped her pen and didn't have the protection of a rooster and flockmates.

(If any of you know, please please tell me! Could I have saved her? She was weakly breathing and cheeping, had blood on her face, and was limp. I think that she was missing patch s of skin? She was on the gorund and did not try to lift herself up at all. Even when I nudged her and rolled her to look at her injuries, she just layed limp. Chould it have been shock?)

It sounds like she would have died soon anyway. You did the right thing ending her suffering sooner

 

[DogAndCat36]

I've had a raven relentlessly chase a full-grown easter egger hen. It ripped out so many of her feathers a left a big gash on her back, and the raven wouldn't stop chasing the poor hen until I came and chased it off. I'm certain it could have killed her when she became too exhausted to keep running if I hadn't intervened.

I have no idea why the raven was chasing my hen. Maybe a territory thing? The hen had escaped her pen and didn't have the protection of a rooster and flockmates.


It sounds like she would have died soon anyway. You did the right thing ending her suffering sooner

Ravens are crazy.

Thank you.

 

[50-45-1]

Yes, they are a danger to the smaller and younger chickens.
My guiness raise quite a racket when one comes in to close.
I dont think it's common that they take interest in chickens tho.
Crows and ravens are our friends because they harass the hawks. Sometimes that is my clue a hawk is near.

 

[KingD]

This happened 2 years ago, before I found BYC, I had not knowlege about chickens at that time. One thing that I did know for real is that some of my chickens were killed by crows. They were young just a few weeks in the coop and were fully feathered out. They were free-ranged and had no adult chickens nearby. I am still so confused as to why crows would do this. They are not birds of prey, are they?

One time I was actually able to catch two crows in the act of killing a chick. They were tossing and pecking the poor thing just behind the coop. It was an EE (I think) that I named Saphier, I loved her very very much, she had big doe eyes with black "eyeliner" around them. Well I chased them off and she was still alive, had a bit of blood, maybe I could have saved her, I put her down because I thought that her suffering was not fixable. I really wished that I found BYC at that time... (If any of you know, please please tell me! Could I have saved her? She was weakly breathing and cheeping, had blood on her face, and was limp. I think that she was missing patch s of skin? She was on the gorund and did not try to lift herself up at all. Even when I nudged her and rolled her to look at her injuries, she just layed limp. Chould it have been shock?)

Even as they grew older, the crows would still get them. I remember running at one at it flew off with a australorp that was the size of a young adult bantom. Maybe it was a raven, maybe it was a black bird of prey. I don't know, maybe this one time, it might not have been a crow, it was 2 years ago, so my memory sucks. I keep on writing crow but they might have been ravens. I can only tell them apart side by side, ravens are way bigger.

So last thing, has this happened to you? Also I don't know if this should go on Predators and Pest or Random Ramblings because this is not a current emergency.

Corvids will not actively hunt down prey but if given the chance, e.g. a small defenceless chick then they will happily take it.
It would be incredibly rare for them to attack a larger bird though.
Ravens are the most likely to take live prey and eggs.
Are you sure it wasn't a hawk? They can sometimes look blackish against the bright sky.

 

[DogAndCat36]

Corvids will not actively hunt down prey but if given the chance, e.g. a small defenceless chick then they will happily take it.
It would be incredibly rare for them to attack a larger bird though.
Ravens are the most likely to take live prey and eggs.
Are you sure it wasn't a hawk? They can sometimes look blackish against the bright sky.

They did not look like hawks. The birds were definitely crows or ravens. The other time, with the bantam sized one, maybe could have been a very very dark hawk? I never saw very dark hawks around here before and ever since.

 

[PopoMyers]

My street has raven in it's name, and we have 2-4 resident ravens that cruise the area. I had never heard of them attacking chickens, until this post. Other poultry keepers in our area have most problems with hawks, coyotes, owls, and also raccoons and possums. For safe keeping, I put aviary netting over the girls whole run (approx 300 sq.)

 

[McChooky]

I've had a raven relentlessly chase a full-grown easter egger hen. It ripped out so many of her feathers a left a big gash on her back, and the raven wouldn't stop chasing the poor hen until I came and chased it off. I'm certain it could have killed her when she became too exhausted to keep running if I hadn't intervened.

I have no idea why the raven was chasing my hen. Maybe a territory thing? The hen had escaped her pen and didn't have the protection of a rooster and flockmates.


It sounds like she would have died soon anyway. You did the right thing ending her suffering sooner

1/2" hardware cloth around my pens has prevented any crows or ravens from attacking my birds .They're still jittery when they see one landing nearby.One did try to attack mine once.