Any recommendations on how to get rid of garden raiding crows? Last year we planted rows of sweet corn, and a threesome of crows walked the rows and dug up each kurnel of corn. They seemed to be able to measure the distance between kurnels and precisely remove each one. When the corn germinated it made their job much easier. They ignored our plastic owl,and pie pans on poles, and didn't stand still long enough to get shot (lead poisoning). We got tired of replanting the corn over & over. They also pulled up some other germinating garden crops. Any ideas?

-- woodsbilly (coleenl@penn.com), March 10, 2001

Answers

This is a fix that I witnessed first hand. Don't know the why of how it works, just that it does. Get a dead crow (your choice of how to get it. The one in the story was dead on side of road)suspend it very high over the garden on a pole, hanging from twine so that it dangles in the breeze. That's all it took. Crows that had ravaged the garden for weeks were never seen again. They are very gregarious creatures, actually quite smart and entertaining when they aren't plotting your garden's demise, and I suspect the sight of the dead one really upsets them. Of course, the downside of this technique is that your neighbors may think you are performing some sort of weird rituals by the full moon.

-- melina b. (goatgalmjb1@hotmail.com), March 10, 2001.

Drive stakes at the end of each row. Buy a large spool of monofilament fishing line-the cheapest you can find, usually 2 or 3 dollars. String the line over each row about a foot high and maybe back and forth across the rows a time or two. No more crow prioblems. When the corn gets as tall as the line you can take it down. Another way is to conceal a steel trap in the garden and sprinkle some kernels around it. When a crow is caught the others usually kill it, then leave and don't come back that year if you leave the dead crow laying there for a few days.

-- Don (hihilldon@yahoo.com/), March 10, 2001.

dont know if this works for crows,, dont see why not. Live trap a bird,, really very easy,, and put the cage within the area,, its squack so much warning,, that the rest wont come in while its there. Also,, a neihbor goes out and shoots at them, with the same jacket and hat on,,whenever he sees them. After amonth or so,, he puts up a scare crow,, with the jacket and hat and holding a broom stick,, the birds think its him out there,, and they leave,, he has to move it a couple times a week,, but it works.

-- Stan (sopal@net-port.com), March 10, 2001.

Have seen a couple of measures use.

My neighbor is fond of a .410.

Did see one person who hung a dead crow from a cane fishing pole over the corn.

Saw another who bought some of that expanded plastic used in gutters. Just made some wire staples to hold it down. Once the corn was up, it was lifted up and rolled for use next year.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), March 11, 2001.

Shotgun.

It is illegal to shoot crows, except for depradation (destroying your garden).

-- Skip Walton (sundaycreek@gnrac.net), March 11, 2001.

I have never heard of a place where it is ILlegal to shoot crows. I'd use the shotgun. They make great little sandwiches!!!!

-- Sue Diederich (willow666@rocketmail.com), March 11, 2001.

12 ga and roll his butt!! the rest of them will get the idea and find another garden to raid works for me.

-- lee lynn (dusty29541@yahoo.com), March 11, 2001.

Sue, if I could sneak up on them with my shotgun, problem solved,but, they're too wary. If I could blast them little buggers, I don't know if I'd "crow" about eating them, even hidden between two slices of bread. All the best to you!

-- woodsbilly (coleenl@penn.com), March 12, 2001.

With my mood I will gladly come over and shoot anything! Only if it is quiet and no chidren aloud.

-- Patty {NY State} (fodfarms@slic.com), March 12, 2001.

Crows are very intelligent, and they will be deterred by seeing another crow (dead) hanging on a pole. My dad, a retired vegetable farmer, shot crows regularly to preserve his corn crops. I can remember as a child sitting in the upstairs of one of the barns while he shot at crows. It was never illegal to shoot them where I lived.

-- amy (acook@in4web.com), March 12, 2001.

Back in the old days, before the government started to take complete control of our lives to the point where the buggers (look it up!) told us which toilets we could own, there used to be a creosote based product that you coated the seed with. For an average garden, it only took 3 or 4 drops to get enough on each kernel to dissuade the crows. I got a baby-food jar full about 20 years ago, and still have over 1/2 left. Don't need it nearly so much anymore, since the crows have spread the word that I plant the nastiest tasting corn seed in North America. Of course, it's illegal now, but some seed catalogs sell a latter day "safe" version. GL!

-- Brad (homefixer@SacoRiver.net), March 13, 2001.

I'm in a progressive state and it has been illegal to shoot crows for years. Very funny!....well only the past few years in the hunting regs has the statement been added..."in the act of depradation" it's legal to shoot. I remember reading somewhere that crows were the Mexican national bird and that they had requested that states pass laws to stop this senseless killing. Well, I guess here in Washington we were the only ones dumb enough to comply....I bet Calif. did too!:) Back when it was legal...70's...we would go out after school and set up a owl decoy and call them in. They are the smartest birds out there by far and once hunted will not come within 100 yards of you. They know when you have a gun! If you can wound one and get it cawing or get them stirred up they will go nuts and abandon all fear. This doesn't happen very often. There are crows everywhere around here now and I see them flying by with baby birds etc in their mouths all the time. They are in the act of "depradation" around my place anytime I'm outside and I was only able to shoot 3 last summer. That was only because a owl was in the woods here and all the crows went nuts and didn't notice I had a shotgun. If you watch them long enough you will see a pattern in their movements, so you might try baiting them for a week or so and then hiding with the shotgun. Good luck.

-- Kent in WA (kent@premier1.net), March 13, 2001.

I rather like Kent's answer. After you plant just throw out some whole kernel field corn over the area. After they get comfortable with feeding, zap 'em.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), March 14, 2001.

its against the law to shoot crows here in maine as well. We have noticed that when a local dairy farmer scattered his treated corn seeds in the dirt road on his way by the crows didn't touch em. THe seeds even startd to grow in the road a few weeks later!!! only got a couple inches high as the traffic rolled over them after a while. We have no trouble with crows if we put up a scarecrow. Good luck!!

-- michelle (tsjheath@ainop.com), March 15, 2001.

A friend of mine had a friend who raised a baby crow, and it grew to be a pet, almost acted like a dog following him around. The crows name was Junior. While he and his friends swam at the local pool, Junior would perch on the lines for the swim lanes. One day another friend shot a crow right in front of Junior. Junior took off and was never seen again.

-- Barb (rosemontfarm1@aol.com), March 17, 2001.