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Ravens?!?

We have never had this problem, but suddenly this year for the past month or so, ravens!! They are very noisy, are picking apart my barn roof insulation, dropping random crap in my paddocks (fried chicken!!!) and pooping in all the outdoor waters. Oh they also pick manure apart for the treats…

My horses don’t move them at all, they seem indifferent most of the time. Is there anything I can do to move them on? I wouldn’t mind as much if they weren’t ruining my barn and wasting the water…

We have a raven pair at my work. They went through a phase of trying to pull the windshield seals off of everything…and hopping into the beds of everyone’s pick ups to see what is them, and if the window was open…well! They also kept trying to come in the glass visitors’ door, literally walking in! We solved that problem with a stuffed coyote strategically located inside the door. The truck issue just seemed to fade away.
I’d suggest some decoys (which you will have to move around, ravens are Smart), and find out where they are getting the trash from and see if you can get that person to keep a lid on the dumpster. The water is harder, except creating their own watering spot might be helpful.
The good news is that they will help with any rodent or starling/sparrow population control, they will eat anything they can catch that is smaller than them. And the manure will have a lot fewer flies in it even if it is spread around a bit.

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A whistle will send them flying. It needs to be high-pitched like a ship’s whistle and loud. We have a few now. If they start to flock up - I’ll pucker up. On the other hand, you don’t have to worry about road-kill for long.

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Reviving this old thread because I need help! I moved to PNW from CA where I was used to crows. I used to have many hanging around and never had an issue with them. Now I’m dealing with a family of Ravens that live on my property. At first I thought it was kind of neat but now I’ve had it. I cant seem to keep them out of two things.

  1. The won’t leave my horses pasture water trough alone. Not only are they drinking out of it, it looks like they are washing food or their feet or something gross. Plus they are pooping in it which I just can’t tolerate. I’ve tried only filling it half way or 3/4 way but they are still getting into it, soiling it, dropping rocks, and just getting it gross. I tried putting out a much smaller water trough on the other side of the pasture fence for the Ravens and have seen them use it but they are still messing with the horses water.

  2. They are going into my fenced chicken yard and intimidating my hens. My chickens are Silkies so they not very big. The ravens haven’t hurt my chickens but certainly intimidate them. My rooster tried to scare them off but he’s not a tough guy to begin with and the ravens are huge.

I tried putting up scare crows and that worked for maybe a day, if that. I’ve been reading about things like wind chimes, shiney things etc…but thought I’d ask here as I can’t be the only horse person to have this issue.

Suggestions??

For your hens, buy aviary netting (looks like a soccer net, not that silly flimsy stuff for gardens) and cover your pen. We had hawks killing our chickens and blue jays eating all their food, but this has stopped any incursions.

Water troughs— no good ideas except maybe creating a place just for them. Where in the PNW are you? Maybe your county park extension office or fish and wildlife might have ideas.

Thank you - I had forgotten about the netting! I might be able to cover from their coop to fence line and feed them under that. That might do it.

I’m in Cave Junction. Actually, just a tad south of the VERY. SMALL. town. :slight_smile: