:( Ravens :(

[akcountrygrrl]

Ravens are revenue killers to our pastured poultry operation. They love to fly off with chickens eggs in their mouth. The only thing that keeps them away is the Great Pyrenees LGD.

Oh, yeah, I forgot to add... They fly into the coops and steal the eggs. Not having as much trouble this year though as I have in the past thanks to my LGD.

 

[Contrary]

As for the ravens here, my Pyrenees goes after them. It rather amazes me that he differentiates between the ground birds, the peacocks, the small birds and the ravens, but he does. Or perhaps he has seen ravens beginning to harass chickens and has remembered.

What I have observed with my GP LGD is that she is very much in tune with the sounds a chicken makes. When she hears sounds of distress, she will immediately run and bark in the general direction that she heard the sound come from. For example, if I pick up a chicken and the bird complains, my pyr will run towards me barking all the way. She won't stop until she realizes that it is just me holding an unhappy chicken.

 

[angelavl]

Funny you should mention Ravens today... this morning there were at least 2 perched outside in my yard making a big racket. I think they were scoping out my chicken ark. I let my pullets (9 weeks) out for about 15 mins yesterday while I was hanging out in the yard, and then shoo-ed them back inside before I went to the house. Now, of course, I'm thinking that I shouldn't risk it. They were probably watching from the woods behind our house.

 

[Reality101]

Reality is Ravens are protected. Some native people believe when they die their spirit goes into the bird. That being said Ravens are opportunist and because of their protected status (Agree or disagree) They have become quite the nuisance. From getting into any possible garbage, scratching your vehicle if you ever make the mistake of delaying your trip to the dump with some trash.
You can get a permit to kill them defending your livestock in wich case you are on the radar. Better not leave a bag of trash out or anything that could be construed as making it tempting for them.
I was once taught by a wise man when coyotes killed three of our calves. We dressed up in camo after running the coyotes off the carcasses. Then waited. About dusk the coyotes started yelp around us. When they where close enough we both shot one. We hung the bodies over the fence. The coyotes never came back that year. Once he saw a raven land and started pecking at one of his hens. He shot it with a 17 HMR (best pest gun along with a long barrel 410) I told him that could have been someone's relative. He said "he wasn't a smart one. " "Uncle Larry or whoever it was should have been smart enough not to try to kill my hen." He hung the birds carcass in a discreet place. The Ravens didn't come back that year. I'm not saying which way is right I'm just saying what I saw work. Ravens are awesome smart birds. Killing them isn't a good thing. But if you can kill one and be done cause they are smart enough to heed uncle Larry's mistake which caused him to be stuck on display upside down. it might be worth it??..
Good luck

 

[RedJungleFowl]

It's kinda hard to picture Ravens taking down a fully grown hen or rooster but I guess maybe it does happens.. Sorry for those who has lost their chicks or chickens to them.

 

[lottay26]

We have the same problem with ravens every year, normally the worst time is around May and June when the ravens are raising their nestlings, but even sometimes in the winter too. The adult pair would sit up in trees and then swoop down and attack the hens, often eating them alive from the anus. Lovely. We lost 6 hens this spring/summer. The remaining hens have gotten a little smarter and jammed themselves inside our log stack to hide, but then the ravens started raiding the nestboxes for eggs! Even if we went inside for 5 minutes the ravens would know and be back instantly so we started shutting the hens away in our quonset when we couldn't watch them. We even tried keeping our dogs (big retrievers who love barking at and chasing the ravens) in their kennel which is right next to the little paddock where our hens can roam and once the ravens realised the dogs couldn't escape and chase them they were pointless. We eventually managed to shoot 2 ravens (we think they were the young adults) and hung them up on the fence (I know it's kind of morbid) to deter the others. Since then, we haven't had an issue at all! Whether that's because the shooting deterred them or because the parents are no longer looking for food for their hungry babies (or a combination of both), I don't know.

 

[Lindamayeux]

HI Am Linda in South Louisiana, Jefferson Parish !
Something is eating the heads and taking bits out of my Road Island hens. I had 11 now only 3 And I have them in a cage. The three I have left area month & half old. I believe it is Black birds. May be Ravens . They do there dirt work at night.
Linda Chicken lover

 

[maysgma]

We keep loosing our chickens…We bought an animal cam, didn't catch anything on it.…Finally, I walked up one day and there was the Raven with my chicken cornered near a rock and pecking it's hind end….Seems that is what they do, eat them alive, their intestines. Luckily this chicken made it….And I finally caught it on our camera. YEP, ravens…They don't eat the whole chicken, the vultures take care of that. We have tried to shoot, but only winged one. You can't sit there all day waiting. We don't know what to do either. We were back and forth near the barn all day. We've lost a duck, and goose…We have lambs, cows and a llama. We are trying to figure out how to net them, but let the other bird animals in, they need the pond. hum? Good luck to both of us.

 

[Bandera Grassland]

How did you wind up resolving this problem? I've lost eight adults in the last three days. We thought it was raccoons or ringtails somehow getting into the coop at night becaue we were finding partial remains inside the house in the mornings. We have an automatic door that opens around 8:00 a.m. and closes just before dark. We've checked the house the last two nights after the door closes and there were no predators inside. My husband set a have-a-eart trap last night incase something had found a sneaky way in. The trap was undistured this morning and all the chickens were fine at 7:30 a.m. They were all still on ther rost and the auto door had not opened. He just went back out to check and found remains of two more birds. Whatever it is is coming in in the mornings after the door opens. I can't imagina a raccooon could catch an ambulatory adult once its off its perch. However, we do have Ravens. I love their deep croak and antics in the pasture. They've been stealing eggs for the last month, presumably to feed their young. There have been eggs in the house he last two days, undesturbed after having gone an entire month of them eating every one. The remains of the dead chickens seem to be picked really clean as though parts of them have been caried away. I can't say for certain it is the Ravens that have now switched from eating eggs to eating live birds becaue I haven't seen them do it. We are going to set up a camera today to try to catch what comes and goes from the auto door. I'm running out of chickens! One would think if the Ravens were so smart, they would figure out they are destroying their food supply by killing their egg machines.

I really don't want to kill my Ravens. I don't know if I could trap them with my have-a-heart. If so, how far would I need to transport them to prevent them from returning?

 

[bobbi-j]

We keep loosing our chickens…We bought an animal cam, didn't catch anything on it.…Finally, I walked up one day and there was the Raven with my chicken cornered near a rock and pecking it's hind end….Seems that is what they do, eat them alive, their intestines. Luckily this chicken made it….And I finally caught it on our camera. YEP, ravens…They don't eat the whole chicken, the vultures take care of that. We have tried to shoot, but only winged one. You can't sit there all day waiting. We don't know what to do either. We were back and forth near the barn all day. We've lost a duck, and goose…We have lambs, cows and a llama. We are trying to figure out how to net them, but let the other bird animals in, they need the pond. hum? Good luck to both of us.

How did you wind up resolving this problem? I've lost eight adults in the last three days. We thought it was raccoons or ringtails somehow getting into the coop at night becaue we were finding partial remains inside the house in the mornings. We have an automatic door that opens around 8:00 a.m. and closes just before dark. We've checked the house the last two nights after the door closes and there were no predators inside. My husband set a have-a-eart trap last night incase something had found a sneaky way in. The trap was undistured this morning and all the chickens were fine at 7:30 a.m. They were all still on ther rost and the auto door had not opened. He just went back out to check and found remains of two more birds. Whatever it is is coming in in the mornings after the door opens. I can't imagina a raccooon could catch an ambulatory adult once its off its perch. However, we do have Ravens. I love their deep croak and antics in the pasture. They've been stealing eggs for the last month, presumably to feed their young. There have been eggs in the house he last two days, undesturbed after having gone an entire month of them eating every one. The remains of the dead chickens seem to be picked really clean as though parts of them have been caried away. I can't say for certain it is the Ravens that have now switched from eating eggs to eating live birds becaue I haven't seen them do it. We are going to set up a camera today to try to catch what comes and goes from the auto door. I'm running out of chickens! One would think if the Ravens were so smart, they would figure out they are destroying their food supply by killing their egg machines.

I really don't want to kill my Ravens. I don't know if I could trap them with my have-a-heart. If so, how far would I need to transport them to prevent them from returning?

The best thing both of you can do is secure your coop and run. Don't have a run? It might be time to attach one to your coop so your chickens can be protected. I don't know about ravens, but many predators will just go away after a couple of weeks of no access to your birds. The chickens may not be happy about it, but I can't imagine that they are dying painlessly when attacked by a predator.

BG, you might want to check your state and federal laws about catching and relocating Ravens. They are protected under the Federal Migratory Bird Act.