Raven in my yard

[glorianel5]

My girls are free ranging in our large unfenced yard. So far so good. Lost one to a mushroom, she ate it and died pretty quick.
Hawks can be an issue here but today I have a raven in the yard. He is taking scratch by the mouthful making a lot of noise and scaring
away the quail. The quail seem to be friends with the chickens.
Question is, is the raven a threat to the birds? 4 chickens 2 wyandottes 1 light sussex and 1 red, all under a year.
Thanks for any information
glo

 

[mom'sfolly]

I don't think a raven is a threat to your birds. You might want to encourage him to stay. They, like crows, will mob hawks and are very fierce protectors of their territory. They might take a chick, but I think adult birds would be safe.

 

[Pinky]

mom'sfolly :

I don't think a raven is a threat to your birds. You might want to encourage him to stay. They, like crows, will mob hawks and are very fierce protectors of their territory. They might take a chick, but I think adult birds would be safe.

I would encourage him to stay too for the above reasons. I don't think it would hurt adult chickens, or anything that it can't fit in it's beak.​

 

[johny]

Yeah, ravens are really smart but will only kill smaller critters. They normally prefer to scavenge for food.
In our part of the world, they eat side by side with Bald Eagles. I figure that is a sign that they are strong, aggressive birds.

But what about the mushroom thing????
That really intertests me.
In northern Ontario, ruffed grouse eat loads of Amanita muscaria mushrooms in the fall season. I have eaten grouse whose crops are full of Amanita bites.
These mushrooms are super toxic to humans but evidently not to the wild forest chicken (grouse). And clearly the toxins are not transfered to the meat. Or I would not be writing this today.

How do you know your chicken died from mushrom poisoning?