2024 December 30 Crow Friends

Crows are friends if you treat them well. Our crows get in-the-shell peanuts and hard boiled eggs as treats. When I hear them cawing, I’ll go out with a handful. Sometimes they caw when I go out to feed the chickens. Am I imagining things, or do they know who I am? Oh they are smart and they know. Studies have proven they can even remember a hostile face for over two years at least. You never want to cross a crow. 

Crows snacking on peanuts by the chicken coop. 

But why would I want crows to stick around? Aren’t they loud and annoying? Crows are great protectors. They are also enemies of hawks. Have you ever seen crows dive bombing hawks in the sky? It’s fascinating. Since crows won’t eat our chickens, but hawks will, having crows around keeps the hawks out. They basically protect our chickens. There are lots of fun articles on the ongoing hostilities between these birds.

While the red-tailed hawk will make chicken dinner from a free ranging hen, they do provide EXCELLENT rodent control. I would never poison rodents, since hawks will eat them. This guy just had neighborhood rodent snack.

Why else do you want a murder of crows on your team? They sometimes bring you gifts. Many crow enthusiasts have found trinkets, especially of the colorful or shiny sort near where they feed crows. They have even been trained to pick up trash for a treat. One Swedish study is described here. Carli and I once found an envelope of money in our back yard. We wonder if it may have been a gift from a feathered friend.

We will continue to encourage our quirky crow friends for bot practical and entertainment value.