Crows, damn crows, and chickens!

DBB

Hi all,
Having tried a few methods to keep crows away from my hen feeders, I'm wondering now is it worthwhile investing in a treadle feeder to address the problem? Anyone any experience of using them for this purpose?
Can the treadle feeders be activated by crows? I note that the manufacturers don't mention crows, only 4-legged feed-robbers!
Thanks!

Kovu

Crows are so damn smart it's hard to think that they wouldn't figure out a treadle feeder watching the hens. They pretty much have an inbuilt 'anything you can do, I can do too' part of their brain

Have you tried removing the food source i.e. standing with chickens while feeding, removing when they're done?

DBB

Kovu wrote: »

Crows are so damn smart it's hard to think that they wouldn't figure out a treadle feeder watching the hens. They pretty much have an inbuilt 'anything you can do, I can do too' part of their brain

Have you tried removing the food source i.e. standing with chickens while feeding, removing when they're done?

Oh I know how smart the feckers are, you've got to admire them really.
But I was thinking more in terms of, are they actually heavy enough to operate a treadle feeder? I need to by-pass their brains and use physics against them!
Hens are fed ad-lib, so staying with them is a non-runner. Also, the younger birds will not go into their shed during the day, so I'm loathe to keep their feeders inside!

aonb

Crows wont be heavy enough to open your treadle feeder. They are pretty expensive though. I solved my crow problem by putting a rain covered hopper up on a cement block. The crows beaks are too long to get up and over the lip of the hopper when its on a few bricks genius solution I thought - my neighbours have used it too - cheaper by far than the treatle option!

So I took my hoppers like this one:

oinltd.com/poultry-equipment/poultry-chicken-feeders/outdoor-poultry-feeders/25-kg-plastic-outdoor-poultry-tube-feeder-with-hat/

and just stood it on top of two or three bricks or a concrete block. The hens can reach over the rim of the hopper, but the crows cant. (I put the hoppers into a shed at night (I fill them with pellets a couple times/week) to keep rats/mice out of them.

I also got a pond net and put it over the hens run as a 'roof' - keeps all of the wild birds away from the run, so I can scatter scraps etc around the run again too. My hens are out free ranging during the day.

DBB

Thanks aonb, really appreciate your input! I have done the raising-the-hopper, and covering the feeding area with windbreak netting (both ideas I got from you The hen run is wayyyy too big to cover totally), which has cut down the pillaging quite a bit... But guess what? At least one of the shorter-billed jackdaws uses his beak in a sideways swoop to scoop the pellets out of the hopper, littering the block it sits on and the ground around it All his mates come down to feed on the scattered food. Clever bugger.
I've ordered a treadle feeder, just for the hell of it. The supplier said it'll cut down the crow problem a lot, though two crows working together might operate it
I think, between raising the feeder, covering the feed area, and the treadle feeder, we'll have done all we can!

aonb

I dont mind feeding the crows/jackdaws/magpies - they are hungry too - I scatter the damp/wet/uneaten hens food out to them. But its the pests that they bring to my hens that pee me off!! How about HANGING your hoppers? See what the clever wild ones make of that?

Let us know how you get on with the treadle feeders - I was very tempted, but was worried that the crows would figure out how to get them open - given how expensive those feeders used to be (cheaper now)

DBB

I wouldn't mind them taking some of the food aonb... But they are eating tons of it, probably more than half of it. So, I have to draw a line somewhere!
Actually, we had a mad thing happen yesterday. One of my older hens attacked and damn near killed a rook. She would certainly have killed it had I not come on the scene. Even after I had broken it up, the hen was still throwing shapes at the rook!
And it all happened at one of the feeders. It seems the hens are as annoyed about the crows as I am!

aonb

The crows/hens/magpies really pee-off the hens sometimes - noise/preventing them from getting at their hoppers etc etc. Then when the wild birds 'know' about the source of food, they really never leave the place until all the food is gone. How big is your run? If you are rural at all, you could ask a local farmer for the net wraps of their hay/straw bales (the big round ones) - I sewed together with twine, many lengths of this net together to make a complete 'roof' for our run... it wasnt pretty but it kept the wild birds out, and was free...

Ive had several hens gang up on a crow and once they get it on the ground, its like gang warfare!! Its funny to see your fat little hens attitude after the massacre is over - swinging handbags and flashing their eyelashes like a good one!!!

DBB

aonb wrote: »

How big is your run? If you are rural at all, you could ask a local farmer for the net wraps of their hay/straw bales

We're very rural, and the hen run is the guts of quarter of an acre... Really big and really not possible to cover!

Its funny to see your fat little hens attitude after the massacre is over - swinging handbags and flashing their eyelashes like a good one!!!

This made me laugh so much, it's so true!