OK,help needed.Crow now on top of grill in corner of stall.Tried to remove him with broom…gently to see if he would climb on it so he could get down.Just flaps wings.Seems horse is crow broke as he went up to get a closer look then resumed eating hay…How do I get him out?They make quite a mess!
Send in the cat.
Well I just had to reply…I would like to be rid of the crows on my property…I have seen them rob the eggs and baby birds right from the bird houses around my flower beds. The darn crows go from house to house…nest to nest…I am the CRAZY looking person running around with a broom chasing them…they are RELENTLESS!!!
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Being a total animal lover, I hear what you are saying. But it is part of nature, sad, but true.
They have to eat too, no matter how sad the circumstances may be. :sadsmile:
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Cat happily sleeping on coach.Rescued by my vet(and friend)!Crow was on floor in stall with chunky wb who did not want to leave his new friend.Crow climbed on apple fork and was carried outside by vet who could touch him.No camera when needed.
Cat now out…
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West Nile?
Crows were the first to show sensitivity to West Nile. Crow numbers drop a lot from deaths due to West Nile. Elliss perhaps you have a sick crow. PatO
Already thought of that.Vet thought it was a very young crow.Also Dh said
cat had got it in the am.West Nile not prevalent in Atlantic Canada,yet…
We do innoculate.Mosquito has to bite crow then horse.Still scary !
When West Nile came through my area about four or five years ago, it wiped out my crow family that lived in my big pine tree. There were literally dead crows in the street. :no: Fortunately this year they have rebounded and come back to the tree.
This site has a drawing of tail shape so you can tell the difference between crows and ravens:
http://www.shades-of-night.com/aviary/difs.html
and ravens are much larger than crows. We have both in our yard, because we have a water source for them. The ravens bring their babies to drink and play in our yard. They pull the plant markers out of my herb pots and carry them around, slide down the hammock stand, and roll stuff down the roof. They are quite amusing. They tend to do more “talking” than cawing.
The crows, not so much. They come to drink and leave little “joints” of squirrel in my bird baths.
When I was growing up, I had a cat that would catch crows and seagulls and drag them home. She would stalk them from the tall grass at the edge of the school field across the street, then dash out and kill them. She had to walk on tip toe to drag them back across the street to our house, where she stuffed them into the crawlspace under the house. She also caught hummingbirds, but would carefully bring them to us (purring the whole time) and we would let them go. She also caught and killed garter snakes and would catch moles in their tunnels and bring them to my Mom.
My only gripe about the crows is they apparently steal golf balls from a driving range and dump them in my pasture. I am afraid a horse will step on one and get it lodged in a hoof. I am really getting tired of collecting them!
Thanks Kestrel! Apparently my big crew is ravens, not crows. Still think I can ‘train’ them?
In my experience, ravens seem to be smarter than crows, so I’d bet training should work. Of course, my ravens will sit on the side-mirrors of the cars looking at themselves, and when we go out to get in they have the attitude “I’m using this - wait until I’m finished”. They don’t just fly away because I’m standing there, I have to get close and shoo them. Ravens are picky about people and who they will be around - take their presence as a complement. They must find you interesting :lol:.
A 12 ga shot gun with size 6 or 7 load, turkey load shells are more expensive, but if it is just 8 crows, get 2 boxes. I know the bird lovers (my wife is one) think killing them is bad, but most folks don’t have crows as bad as we do in the south east. They are a nuisance pest. If your state (Ga) is like mine (AL), then you will find that there is no bag-limit in hunting them and no closed season (meaning kill anytime you see them). They destroy crops like corn, pecans, peas, they will even peck and ruin watermelons, peaches and apples. Sure they eat dead stuff, but they also kill baby rabbits and squirrel. They will destroy eggs of other birds like dove and quail. Don’t feel bad if you kill them. In this area farmers put out a bounty on them. Be warned, they are hard to kill. As noted by others they are smart and communicate which make them hard to hunt and kill and after the first one, even harder. One old trick that a pecan farmer told me is that if you kill 1 crow and hang it up where it can be seen, the others will stay away from that group of trees. Assume that would work for your situation also…
I guess you could just kill one and leave it by the arena. Crows are very intelligent and they won’t go somewhere that poses a danger to them. They might still hang around the farm, but avoid the “dangerous” areas.
A new poster makes one post on an eight year old thread about killing crows (which I’m against BTW)?
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Such an old thread but an interesting read, nevertheless. I even went back to see if I still agreed with my post way back then.
Actually, I hate the starlings more. I’ve twice had them shove out the baby swallows and have them land on the floor of my stalls. Once I laid in wait for it and chased it out of the barn with the corn broom and managed to swipe it, it flew off but did not return. The babies were returned safely to their nest, but one got shoved out again, so perhaps it was the weak one.
Crows are extremely smart and highly trainable. Rather than chase or try to remove them, try to make friends. They recognize faces and will “tell” others about us. Mine watch but don’t make noise while I’m riding and never mess with my animals. I’d suspect they’re taunting anyone here who hasn’t been nice to them, lol.
We have quite a few on our property and they’ve more than once alerted me to a bad situation. They do this by making noise outside my office window whenever there’s a problem outside. I now know to go and look when I hear them yelling all at once.
A couple of examples… Once a hawk attacked a small blind chicken that I had placed in the yard by my house (inside a fence). Some of the crows surrounded and attacked the hawk while the others squawked and made a fuss at my office window until I ran out and saved the chicken. There’s no doubt in my mind that they saved him because of me. I wouldn’t have believed it had I not seen it. They did the same thing when a fox came in and went after some hens.
I always say hello to the crows on our property and put out food in the winter. They remember me and I’m happy to see my “security crew.”
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I’m with you on the Starlings. My Ninja Death Kitty ran them out of the barn (along with the swallows), but they just moved to the front yard and evicted my woodpeckers! Little Bstrds!
I like my crows, they are excellent sentries. They will chase a hawk off, but with my cats and the neighbor’s little dogs, I don’t really mind. But I like most everyone, I still miss my gate spider, no one has taken her place, sigh…
My crows let me know if the coyotes or foxes are close to the house. They do yell at my cats if they go out by the nest tree.
I’m glad you wont be killing them.
one of their sentry duties for us is they also along with blue jays will be the first to die from West Nile
