Menacing Crows

[AliciaM]

Anyone have any ideas how to deter menacing crows?

Weve had crows out here before and they have been no problem.. ate the chicken/duck food, chased hawks, etc... Then they disapeared.. I "think" they went down the road... a guy started pasture raising pigs and leaves tons of fruit/veggy scraps out so I see tons of crows out there now instead of here... THEN.. starting yesterday, after I put out a new doghouse (hoping the ducks would use it as a nesting area) there have been 3 large crows in the duck pen.. Then I noticed that eggs have disapeared.. I probably would never have noticed except for the egg shells in the driveway... No duck or chicken could have gotten there to lay them...

So, any ideas on how to deter them??? Ive got a couple fake owls im going to put out on the fence near the nesting area.. (hopefully the ducks dont get freaked out)....

Last year I had ducks laying eggs out in the open and no problem.. The only problem I had was occasionaly finding baby chick carcasses in the duck pools that I had in a certain area... I moved them over about 20 feet and no problem afterwards..

Weird, huh????

 

[bingrancher]

Some people hang CDs for hawks so it might work for crows. Wouldn't hurt to try that.

 

[gdplum]

I stretched nylon strings across my large chicken yard...criss-crossed - in irregular patterns - just a little more than head high.. At the junction where the strings crossed, I hung a CD by a short string....have not had a crow, hawk, etc., since.

 

[Pinky]

If the crows are stealing your eggs, you could try to blow out an egg and fill it with salt. Someone here tried it but I don't remember if it worked.

 

[mstricer]

Better crows then hawks. Maybe a fake dog statue to guard your duck house.

 

[patman75]

Crows are very very smart. A few close calls with a shot gun and they will stay away. States have crow hunting seasons and if you find your state's hunting-online-forum you might find someone to knock a few down. If I lived close I would help.

 

[Nambroth]

Crows, as mentioned, are very smart. They also recognize individual people. If they are really determined to steal your eggs, they will, unless you either make the eggs too hard to steal or scare the crows into not stealing them.. I love crows so I am loathe to suggest it, but getting shot at (IF!!! you can do so safely and legally within your state) or otherwise harassed will absolutely teach them (unlike other animals). If you can legally live trap one, make a big fuss about it being in the trap, and then let it go. Even better if some other crows see it happening. That crow will 'teach' the others not to trust you or your yard. They will even teach new generations what is 'scary' and what isn't-- for real. There have been scientific studies done on this and I can tell you from observation that it's true as well.

Of course, the downside to keeping crows away is that they will no longer be hawk deterrents. If you like them as a warning system for hawks, making the eggs very hard to get to would be your best bet. It all depends on how you want to go about it. For a crow to get at my chicken eggs, they'd have to go in through a small door in the run, through the entire run, up into the small pop door, through the coop and into the nesting boxes. Since they can't do this quickly, they don't bother-- they are smart and they love eggs, but they seem to recognize a dangerous situation that they can't get out of quickly!

 

[harveyhorses]

I have a ton of both crows and hawks, and I have NEVER found the crows drive them off or deter the hawks in any way. I have a
fully covered run. Everyone says this, but within 2 minutes of crows flying in, landing and leaving again, a hawk will be right there.
Well flying over anyway. Oh well, just frustrating.

 

[7L Farm]

Crows will fight the hawks I've seen them numerous times chasing them off. There's always an isolated chance that a hawk will not get chased off.

 

[harveyhorses]

Crows will fight the hawks I've seen them numerous times chasing them off. There's always an isolated chance that a hawk will not get chased off.

ISOLATED CHANCE??? You are kidding right?? Maybe the crows have given up around here. I just got back from my morning
walk with a neighbor and were talking bout just that. We walked about a mile, saw 4 hawks and 8-10 crows. One of the hawks was
sitting in a tree, and the crows flew over. That was it. Oh there was some trash talk, but they never looked twice.
So if the crows are not even going to try to chase them off, I'd rather have hawks. They don't try to destroy my garden,
are much quieter and are prettier to look at.
I swear I think some pro-crow person started this urban legend.