Help crows attacking my chicks.

[dreamgirl]

I have to agree with Chilly Billy, crows are my friends. They are very territorial and if a hawk comes near their territory they cry out to the other crws so that they can mount a joint defense--crows are one of the only bird species that work as a team. They will often kill a hawk that wanders to close. When my chicks hear certain crow calls they all run for cover! I haven't figured out which call it is yet (crows also have an extensive "vocabulary", 32 "words", I think). Anyway, they were more likely protecting their nest than thinking about killing the chicks.

As for the noise, I have that problem with all birds around nesting time. Two years ago there was this one idiot that built its nest in a tree outside my bathroom window. In the early (5-9 am) morning, b/c of the way the sun was shining on the window, the windowmust have looked like a mirroe. So, seeing another male (his reflection) so close to the nest, he insisted on screaming and dive bombing the window for hours. After a few days, when I figured out what the nut was doing, I hung a dark towel inside the window. Ah, peace at last!

 

[Yonaton]

Crows *WILL* eat anything small enough for them to catch (mice, very young chicks, other baby birds from their nests, etc). They'll eat just about anything actually, live or dead that they can catch or steal from another nest.

Nothing you *should* do about them though, they're just doing what they do, just like you and I going on about our lives doing what we do (no one would like it if we were trying to survive and someone a lot bigger than us came along shooing us away, would we?).

Once the chickens get about Guinea size, they'll usually be left alone (unless a hawk is really, really hungry). A fox hates to grab anything Guinea size or bigger (slows them down when trying to run away with it), but if it's very hungry, it might try. A good rooster though can actually scare one off, unless as I said the fox is very hungry (it's usually a mother with young ones it needs to feed when it's that way).

 

[hinkjc]

I agree with a few comments here..

crows will keep hawks away, they are very territorial

crows will eat baby birds right out of a nest

crows don't seem to bother bigger, grown chickens

Sounds like you'll have to keep an eye and protect these little ones.

Oh..and cats can be a much bigger problem than crows. Good luck with your babies.

Jody

 

[Gracefulspice]

I'm reading all this info on crows. My hens are large enough for a crow to leave them be. But if a crow is good at warding off a hawk is there a way to attract one to my property? I see them all the time fly over, hear them caw regulary, but none have nested here. It could be an extra advantage for my hens to learn a caw of danger, not to mention an extra security measure if a crow will chace a hawk off. We do have cracked corn out for deer, but I never seen a crow eating from it. Any ideas?

 

[Mulemom]

I started putting meal worms out for a the bluebirds, and suddenly I have a pair of ravens. They love the worms! I put one bowl under the tree where the bluebirds hear the bowl being set down and they come running. They other bowl is for the ravens (giant crows) and i set that out in the open part of the yard where they can see the worms wiggling and they come down and eat them up. then they hang around and eat the bird seed too. I know they can be hard on other birds, but the bluebird babies are all in the nesting boxes, and my chicks are 5 weeks now and have bird netting over thier run. So I think it's ok. They are beautful birds. The wild turkey and her 9 babies are the only things I've seen chase the ravens off.