What does one feed crows?

[kalanamak]

My old place had possums, fox, coyotes, owls, herons, ducks, raccoons, hummers, and birds of all sorts. My new place has a pair of crows that pick through my lawn. I miss nature, and I find crows very interesting.

 

Does one feed them? Is this a terrible error? What do they like?

TIA

[RoughCollie]

http://www.allaboutbirds.org/guide/American_Crow/id

 

http://www.crows.net/food.html

 

http://www.wild-bird-watching.com/crow.html

[joannqn]

I originally read "What do cows eat?"

 

I was going to reply, "Umm...grass?"

 

Here's an interesting link about crows.

 

Being that they are scavengers and also eat insects and bugs, they would probably like a protein source. You might try putting out some suet. (Home Depot sells suet and suet baskets.) I know we have some little birds that love the homemade suet we are putting out; the whole basket is gone in a couple of days.

Edited April 7, 2010 by joannqn

[Crissy]

What do they like?

 

Anything. Everything.

Our crows (we have many) eat everything from spilled bird food to forgotten dog food. They clean up after the squirrels and they'll pick open an exposed bag from an over-filled trash bin.

[Needleroozer]

Well, the ones in my back yard eat chicken feed, and kitchen scraps. It is pretty funny to watch them descend upon the chicken yard just after feeding time. The hens strut their stuff a bit, and tell the crows to go find their own food. The crows fly out of the chicken yard, and sit up on the fence, or on the clothesline posts, waiting a few minutes, then they fly down and feast on whatever the hens had for breakfast. They really do eat anything,as they are a scavenger by nature.

[Guest Virginia Dawn]

Hmm. Here we don't feed the crows intentionally. We chase them off so the little birds will come to the feeder.

[JulieJ]

Hmm. Here we don't feed the crows intentionally. We chase them off so the little birds will come to the feeder.

 

 

 

Same here!

[atozmom]

No feeding the crows here, at least not intentionally any way. I learned this the hard way. I set a bag of trash outside our door for 5 minutes while emptying the smaller wastebaskets throughout the house in another bag. 10 minutes later I walk out the door to find the bag ripped open and trash all over the ground. There were several crows having themselves a good ole time. They also peck at my roof!! So we shoo the crows off around here.

[asta]

Tippi Hedren.

 

 

a

[emubird]

Road kill? It's all I see them eating.

 

In our neighborhood they follow the cats around when the cats are hunting. They know the cats will just leave their prey behind once it's dead.

[katemary63]

Tippi Hedren.

 

 

a

:lol:

[Renthead Mommy]

Tippi Hedren.

 

 

a

 

:lol::lol::lol:

 

That's too funny I was just thinking that!

 

I used to toss all the pancake bits, crusts and little kid leftovers out into our front yard and they'd come clean it up. I'd save up the breakfast bits and then do it after lunch almost every day in TX.

[Lizzie in Ma]

My old place had possums, fox, coyotes, owls, herons, ducks, raccoons, hummers, and birds of all sorts. My new place has a pair of crows that pick through my lawn. I miss nature, and I find crows very interesting.

 

Does one feed them? Is this a terrible error? What do they like?

TIA

 

I adore crows and put all our scraps out for them on a "crow stand". It is simply a trash can lid with holes punched in it for drainage. Then my dh put it up on a post for me. We have a family group that has come for many years and they fascinate me. :) They will eat anything but they love grapes and eggs and meat scraps.

 

When I was a wildlife rehabilitator back in the day, it was the hardest thing to not tame and keep a baby crow because I wanted to so badly, but that would have been unfair, wild creatures need to stay wild. sigh

 

The worst thing that happens when you feed them, is that they may start coming early in the morning and informing you it is time to feed them. lol

So feed them at scattered and unpredictable times. The fun thing about doing that is that they send a sentry over to see if you have fed them yet.

[ereks mom]

Anything. Everything.

Our crows (we have many) eat everything from spilled bird food to forgotten dog food. They clean up after the squirrels and they'll pick open an exposed bag from an over-filled trash bin.

 

:iagree:

[Nicole M]

Our neighborhood was a large orchard a hundred years ago, and I was once told that this is why we have such a large population of crows. I don't know if that's true, (the crows; it was an orchard), but I like to imagine the landscape before the housing developments went in.

 

We toss out hard bread crusts and other meal leftovers. I once saw a crow swoop into the garden, snatch up the rock solid end of an old loaf of French bread and then drop it into the bird bath. Smart!

 

What really cracks me up is that last Halloween some company (Martha Stewart?) started selling fake black birds that you could set out as spooky decorations. I guess the very conscientious home decorators could not get the living crows to land exactly where they wanted them and sit there for hours. Goodness.