My home has become 'Crow Central' Why?

[Teila]

Also .. whoever says Crows are smart; I beg to differ

As it is Sunday, the girls are out on supervised free range with Hubby set up under the gazebo, working and watching.

Anyways, Dusty is hanging around the run doing her normal whinging and whining about laying an egg [mountain out of a mole hill … just do it! etc

].

As I was flying out of the house and hubby was flying down the path due to screeches of pain coming from the coop .. Dusty had the same stupid Crow bailed up in the corner and was beating the living daylights out of him again!

Once the Crow got away, there was much nattering among those in the trees .. hopefully telling each other that it might be an idea to give this place a miss!

 

[ShrekDawg]

I kinda feel bad for the poor fella but at least it's the chicken doing it and not you hurting him! Lol besides, a predator or car could easily do the same, it's natural.

Anyhow, this may sound absolutely CRAZY but clearly the crows are there for a reason. Clearly there is something keeping them coming back despite the risks. This could be food, water, shelter, whatever. All animals have basic needs, as I'm sure you know, these are usually food, water, shelter from the elements, and a place to raise their young. You clearly have a lot of these.

SO.

My probably crazy idea is this:

Since scare tactics are not working, have you considered sort of "bribing" them away? I don't know if you have a park or a friend nearby or anything? Because what you could do, maybe, is continue the scare tactics and limiting food and water at home, and then simply putting a TON of food elsewhere, hopefully far away. Maybe some nice mealworms, corn, BOSS, whatever you do now really, and maybe a water source and if you're allowed to you could even plant some plants or put some other form of shelter. Then keep being scary, be MORE scary. And let Dusty keep being scary. That way they learn that not only is this place NOT SAFE there are OTHER places nearby that ARE. It could be that there are simply no other easy food sources. Also you could look up what crows eat so you know what to offer in the new location.

Another option is to potentially call a wildlife place or ACO and they could maybe capture and relocate them. He's injured anyways.

Also I would add some sort of a barricade and much smaller door, like the chick portals for introducing to the flock, so your chickens can go in and those pesky crows can't. But they'd probably fit through the portal too.

Good luck!

 

[scratch'n'peck]

Cheeky crows! That particular beat up crow sounds less clever than the average crow or else he is a glutton for punishment. In the mean time, some sort of white noise like a fan could help cover up their caws in the early morning so you sleep and have the energy to chase them away the rest of the day. I know... not really the advice you were looking for.

 

[pattyhen]

Send your unwanted crows to my area. We are in Southern Indiana and I would love to have some hanging out in my yard. I've heard they are a good thing to have since they will fight off hawks. We have plenty of hawks in the fall that they can fight off.

 

[Teila]

Hey there KDOGG331 .. When there was an injured Crow in the mob previously I also felt bad for him and my softer side wanted to catch him, feed him up, help him recover etc … I know, it is crazy but while I would like them gone, I also do not like to see them hurt.

They would be more than welcome if they were not so noisy and stopped stealing eggs, food and hassling the girls.

You are right, we do have trees, food they can steal and water [fish ponds] available for the Crows; a nice tropical oasis.

I thank you for your suggestions and no, they do not sound crazy.

We live close by to a wetlands reserve so there is already another source of food and water. They are ‘at their worse’ in the morning when they think I should be up and of an afternoon because they know that is when I let the girls out for a supervised free range. The wetlands reserve could be the reason their numbers are so high in this area.

As we can sometimes have 12-14 Crows here at any time, I am not sure a relocation attempt is going to work. They are not just a problem for me but the neighbourhood in general I believe. They would not only be waking me up but others as well. I have seen houses in our area that have plastic bags and CD’s etc hanging off their trees and shrubs and I am guessing the Crows could be the reason.

It is illegal for us to interfere with the Crows in any way; I have no idea why and with the numbers we have, I do not think they are endangered. I could call Council but I am thinking that they would rightly say that some of the blame for the issue is on me in that I have chickens and fish ponds which are advertising to the Crows that this is a great place to holiday.

Our runs are covered so when the girls are not free ranging, all is good. The problem arises on the weekends when they get to have supervised free range for the majority of the day and every afternoon after work. I could let the girls out and then close the run door but when they are spooked etc, they make a beeline for the safety of the run. Yep, anywhere a chicken can get in, a cheeky Crow will have no problem.

scratch’n’peck thank you. I do have ear plugs which I use on occasion. I am up early to feed the girls anyway so I guess it is not really the fact that they are waking me up but more the way they are doing it .. a cawing Crow outside your bedroom window is far worse than any alarm clock

Tee hee pattyhen .. expect a delivery any day now

I have also been told many times that Crows are Hawk deterrents. In the 6 years we have lived here I believe I may have seen one Hawk; not confirmed as it was very high and did not stay around.

Granted, the lack of Hawks could be because of the Crows and maybe if I did not have the Crows, I would have a Hawk problem.

I have pretty much resigned myself to the fact that this will be an ongoing battle as long as I have the fish ponds and chickens; getting rid of either or both is definitely not an option.

Having said that, today the Crows have not made an appearance as yet. May be, the beating yesterday and subsequent nattering from trees has caused them to leave us be for a while .. go Dusty!

 

[pattyhen]

Thank you very much and I will be looking forward to seeing your crows. We have plenty of trees and a fish pond and I have chickens and ducks so they should be right at home here. I'll trade my hawks for your crows anyday.

 

[Teila]

Hey pattyhen I might have to reneg on that delivery

While the Crows have been hanging around in the tree; following the second bashing of the determined one from Dusty, they have not touched ground in the back yard. They have been sitting in the trees, watching free range but no-one has appeared to be game enough to take on The Dustmeister

 

[Teila]

I have a flock of Princesses, especially when broody and I am having a few ‘dramas’ with squabbling broody’s at the moment but that is another story

I have one broody in the broody breaker and made sure to put her food containers in the middle of the crate so that Crows and Doves did not try to eat it through the bars.

She had not been in there 5mins when I heard her ‘appealing’ and raced outside to find a Crow trying to reach in through the bars to steal food .. second and third time, two Crows!

Even though she is in the shade, I dragged the large shade umbrella out of the shed and put it over her crate, it appears to have deterred them for now; something new and scary.

I like to try and retain a sense of humour but in all seriousness, the Crows here are a real problem and getting beyond a joke .. I have no idea why they are protected and could cheerfully dispatch them right now.

Have I mentioned I HATE CROWS!

 

[Teila]

Well, in an interesting turn of events, I have not seen a single Crow since I put up the umbrella 3 days ago!

I now have two broody’s in two separate crates with the umbrella between them, just in case the naturally produced shade moves.

May be that the addition of something new in the garden has actually deterred them but, having said that, I have not heard them either .. not a caw in days! They appear to have vacated the neighbourhood completely.

I am starting to think that maybe someone is just as peeved as I am and done something they should not have???

 

[User395221]

That's interesting. What colour's the umbrella? I have a problem with umbrellas, the wind always get them and wrecks them, or flings them about. I put one above my bunnies (temp) house and it leapt out of its holder and broke a hole in the roof.. My chooks' gazebo got completely destroyed.... You had a crow problem, I have a wind problem.