Crows - I've had enough

[worldwidewebs]

For the last 2 weeks, possibly a bit longer, we've had crows (1 or 2 at a time) aggressively attacking the patio windows at around 4am every morning. They generally don't stop unless I go down and scare them off and even then they often come back once or twice more before 6am.

We bought a 'hanging dead crow' decoy but it ignored that. Last night we put up some A4 photos of owls in the windows as apparently this can scare them off (it worked for a friend), but this just seemed to have turned the level up to full on mental. When I caught it the second time I got up (5am) it was actually targeting one of the 'owls' in a frenzy!

I need help as I'm absolutely knackered - I even awake each morning sometime between 3 and 4am now, just waiting for the attack to start. Apparently they are attacking their reflection to defend their territory but it almost feels like they are doing it for fun now. Anyone got any ideas or know someone that can help - I'm in Cheshire. And knackered.

[hyphen]

external shutters? Would make the house more of a pain for burglars too. Or frosted film over the area they attack.

[Robotron-2084]

Similar issue in our garden, bloody things try to terrorise our dogs. It started off with one or two and then after a month or so there were 5 or 6.

We woke up one morning, let the dogs out for a pee and heard an almighty ruckus and found the dogs had caught one, I had to take it off them and then despatch it.

Standard Poodles 1 - 0 Crows

[hyphen]

Is it breeding season for crows? As they may calm down after

Also cling film according to this

https://community.rspb.org.uk/wildlife/f/wildlife-...

Edited by hyphen on Thursday 4th June 07:53

[Evoluzione]

Put a board up against the glass or hang a sheet down the outside, simple.

[steveo3002]

stick some paper or sheets over the glass until theyve gone elsewhere?

[Getragdogleg]

They are clever but utterly stupid.

We had a problem with them trying to nest in an out building, they would fly off and gather a beak full of twigs and return to the shed where they would try to stuff it in a rafter, fail, drop it on the car underneath and then fly off for more twigs.

They did this for ages and covered the car and floor with sticks and other crap.

If you went in the shed to sweep up they would attack.

This happened during nesting season for 3 years running and made that shed a no go zone until they were done and had laid and raised the chicks, the nest was often on the car or floor due to crap technique.

I put a door on the building and closed off all the other access points. No problems now for 2 years.

Change something outside, put a board up for a bit, move something, they seem to not like big changes and will move away. When I changed the roof on my barn they stopped sitting on the ridge which previously they would do all day, they have still not returned and won't land on it.

[Dog Star]

hyphen said:

Is it breeding season for crows? As they may calm down after

We’ve had a baby crow hopping around our garden the last few days, with mum and dad crow looking on and feeding it. It’ll be like this til it learns to fly.

The baby looks to have a slight injury (doesn’t seem to be affecting him) and I reckon my cat might have had a go at it, and it might explain why he is at present very subdued and staying in - he’s only young and quite small, and I bet he’s gone for baby crow and took a beating from mum and dad. A lesson for him.

I say baby crow - but even so it’s pretty big. I wouldn’t mind it as a pet.

[Boosted LS1]

Dog Star said:

hyphen said:

Is it breeding season for crows? As they may calm down after

We’ve had a baby crow hopping around our garden the last few days, with mum and dad crow looking on and feeding it. It’ll be like this til it learns to fly.

The baby looks to have a slight injury (doesn’t seem to be affecting him) and I reckon my cat might have had a go at it, and it might explain why he is at present very subdued and staying in - he’s only young and quite small, and I bet he’s gone for baby crow and took a beating from mum and dad. A lesson for him.

I say baby crow - but even so it’s pretty big. I wouldn’t mind it as a pet.

As a kid I found an injured one on the park. I fed it sweets so that I could catch it and take it home. After a few weeks I'd trained it to fly and land on my arm for worms and such like. It was intelligent, opened tins and boxes in the shed where it was being kept. When Dad told me it had to go I released it back on the park and went off to play. That afternoon Mum and Dad saw an elderly couple walk past the hoouse carrying a Crow. They also make tools, very clever birds.

[Dog Star]

Boosted LS1 said:

As a kid I found an injured one on the park. I fed it sweets so that I could catch it and take it home. After a few weeks I'd trained it to fly and land on my arm for worms and such like. It was intelligent, opened tins and boxes in the shed where it was being kept. When Dad told me it had to go I released it back on the park and went off to play. That afternoon Mum and Dad saw an elderly couple walk past the hoouse carrying a Crow. They also make tools, very clever birds.

I know I should have kept it! I like birds. I used to have a pet pigeon called Walter when I was in my teens. Followed me everwhere - if we went for a walk it would follow flying from vantage point to vantage point and in between he would swoop down and brush the top of my head. He was too tame for his own good though, and was stolen.

A crow would be awesome!

[TwigtheWonderkid]

Getragdogleg said:

They are clever but utterly stupid.

We had a problem with them trying to nest in an out building, they would fly off and gather a beak full of twigs and return to the shed where they would try to stuff it in a rafter, fail, drop it on the car underneath and then fly off for more twigs.

They did this for ages and covered the car and floor with sticks and other crap.

Nest building is purely instinctive in all birds, regardless of intelligence levels. It's a set process, fly off, find twig, bring twig back to nest, poke it into place. If anything fails, they have to complete the process. If it drops the twig as it takes off to return to nest, it cannot stop and pick it up, it has to fly back to nest and poke now absent twig into place. It has no choice.

But crows are very bright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0

[mhocking]

We have exactly the same problem, they also attack our cars, pulling at the black trim, wipers etc & generally make an awful mess of the glass.

We've resorted to getting car covers until their breeding season is over as apparently they become less aggressive & are less inclined to attack shiny things.

They also attack our patio and rear glass door at stupid o'clock. Cling film as already suggested or making your windows less reflective eg soapy water etc is supposed to work.

All the decoys and window stickers are ineffective. I did think about an ultrasonic bird scarer but good ones are £££'s.

You could always hire in a hitman, I think registered pest controllers are still allowed to shoot the b@@****s!

[Boosted LS1]

TwigtheWonderkid said:

Getragdogleg said:

They are clever but utterly stupid.

We had a problem with them trying to nest in an out building, they would fly off and gather a beak full of twigs and return to the shed where they would try to stuff it in a rafter, fail, drop it on the car underneath and then fly off for more twigs.

They did this for ages and covered the car and floor with sticks and other crap.

Nest building is purely instinctive in all birds, regardless of intelligence levels. It's a set process, fly off, find twig, bring twig back to nest, poke it into place. If anything fails, they have to complete the process. If it drops the twig as it takes off to return to nest, it cannot stop and pick it up, it has to fly back to nest and poke now absent twig into place. It has no choice.

But crows are very bright.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BGPGknpq3e0

I like the video of them raising the water level in a beaker by adding pebbles in order to get the floating food to the top so they can eat it. They understand water displacement. Similar to this one:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NGaUM_OngaY

Edited by Boosted LS1 on Thursday 4th June 09:55

[motco]

We have the common problem of birds crashing into our windows and I found a Youtube video of a chap who claims to have a solution. Draw very fine vertical lines at 20mm spacing on the glass with a fine point white marker pen. The theory is that if the bird cannot see a clear passage it won't try to fly through. Whether this will work for birds attacking their reflections or not only experiment will reveal.

[Blib]

I put these cheap plastic strips up to stop birds roosting in our unfinished garage. They are working a treat.

How about sticking a set up outside the window? Will look a bit silly until they move on. But, if the crows move on to annoy someone else it's job jobbed!

[hyphen]

Op the old methods are the best.

Scarecrow build a scarecrow. Then post pics!!

Make it wave about in some way too.

Go on, you know you want one.

You can also buy them too, for not a lot.

Edited by hyphen on Thursday 4th June 10:31

Edited by hyphen on Thursday 4th June 10:32

[worldwidewebs]

Thanks for the replies guys. Seems quite a common problem 🙁

I think I’m going to go for the external covering first and see how that goes. I’ve got some black weed membrane that I can tape up each evening and remove in the morning. It’s a bit of a pain but hopefully I can break the habit and review again in a few weeks

Typically, how long does this behaviour go on for?

[hyphen]

Cling film will stick by itself to glass and cheap to replace.

Why use weed membrane...

[worldwidewebs]

hyphen said:

Cling film will stick by itself to glass and cheap to replace.

Why use weed membrane...

I tried cling film but it didn’t stick. Maybe it was cheap rubbish!

The weed membrane is just because I have a long enough length, it’s not reflective and it’s light so will stick easy and not fall down

[worldwidewebs]

Thanks for the replies guys. Seems quite a common problem 🙁

I think I’m going to go for the external covering first and see how that goes. I’ve got some black weed membrane that I can tape up each evening and remove in the morning. It’s a bit of a pain but hopefully I can break the habit and review again in a few weeks

Typically, how long does this behaviour go on for?