Crows eat robins, keep your chicks protected!

[patandchickens]

I am posting this because a crow has just, for the third time in just an hour or so (!), grabbed and eaten a robin from the cedars right outside the window by my computer. Several dozen grackles and redwings and robins have mobbed the crow each time but that doesn't do the deceased any good.

Being as robins are about the same size as part-grown chicks, I am real glad my chicks are in a totally covered run

Just a word to the wise,

Pat

 

[SunnyChic]

Whoa! Thanks for the heads up...I didn't know crows did that!

 

[xtremevermonter]

Yes! Good point! Cover those runs!

 

[greenfamilyfarms]

I thought Crows ate carion?

 

[patandchickens]

Not this one. At least two robins (and presumably also the third) were still very definitely alive when taken. Probably this was some weird "hobbyist" or "gourmet" crow, not yer typical individual, but still.

I too was surprised to see one repeatedly taking live birds, though... hence my post

Pat

 

[Imp]

Several years ago I had a friend that watched crows kill and eat a pair of lost lovebirds. She had been trying for a few days to lure them into her house.

Imp

 

[pixie74943]

Glad you told me that

I just spotted a pair of crows in my backyard gathering old Chickens feathers (hope they're not nesting too close)

Needless to say the chooks are back in the run now.. no more backyard excursions for a while.

-Pixie

 

[MysticScorpio82]

I have never heard of crows bothering chickens, even though they occasionally attack other birds. They like their young chicks

. In fact I like having crows around because they chase the hawks away

 

[Wolf-Kim]

This is completely natural and normal for crows. A large part of their diet consists raiding the nests of other birds and feasting on eggs and chicks. Crows are opportunists.

Keep your chicks and eggs protected and you won't have an issue.

-Kim

 

[RW19290]

Quote:
Same thing happens to me all the time!!! So, don't free-range chicks!! Bettah be safe than sorry!!!