Damn Crows Crows Crows!!!

[Tuffwood]

Hi, to all who read this and can hopefully offer advice.

Having problems with Crows at the moment, creating a right nuisance what with fowling, noise and damage to my crops along with annoying my neigbours as well.

Just wondering what the law is with regards to shooting Crows, are you allowed to shoot them with an Air Gun on your own land. Now its not that I am in favour of shooting wild birds but just exploring the options. Have read that this is what some farmers do, once a few have been shot and hung around where the crows hang out they tend to get the warning and move on (who wouldn't!!).

All advice welcome whether it be with the shooting or preferably alternative methods of getting them to MOVE ON!!.

Many Thanks

[Potstubsdustbins]

First I am surprised crows are damaging your crops. They belong to the corvid branch of the bird family and are scavengers usually rotting meat.

As to shooting them yes you are allowed to do this on your own land as they are classed as pests.

But even when shooting pests the cruelty laws still apply and to be honest I don't think an air rifle unless in the hands of an expert would be up to the job.

Folks seem to think all air rifles are the same where as they fall into two catagories. Air rifles as most of the public know them, these are limited to 12 foot pounds muzzle energy. And the more powerful air rifles which need a full firearms certificate and all that goes with it.

There are all sorts of other restrictions and if you decide to go down the route of shooting them I would suggest some serious research before going a head other wise you may just end up in cuffs.

Colin

[Two_Sheds]

Crows ... fowling, noise and damage to my crops

Which crops in particular? I've never, ever seen a crow attacking my veggies, in 15 years of growing. Woodpigeons do though.

Carrion Crows have a diverse diet: worms, insects, fruit, seeds, kitchen scraps, eggs, and young birds.

Fouling: it's good manure

Noise: OK, they're a bit raucous. I'd still rather listen to them than my neighbour's yapping spaniels all day every day. Or next door's teenager blaring her car stereo in the early hours every night.

[Tam]

Do your crows use air rifles or shotguns for their "fowling" ?

[dominic10]

The neighbour at the bottom of my garden chopped down all his trees which solved our crow problem. But I would have preferred to have kept the trees. I find the seagulls crying/calling/singling at 4 o'clock in the morning more of a nuisance - they and the other birds sound so happy. I can't remember the seagulls being so noisy, they seem to have taken over when the crows moved out.

[woody21]

They cause no harm, its the pidgeons that cause the issue in my area or tree rats as i call em
if you have a corn or maize field then yes crows would be an issue but seems other veg is safe and if you see them around your veg watch them closely and see if you can figure out what they are eating as they will be bug and slug hunting which is a good thing!

They are very intelligent creatures which you can use to your advantage, they will indeed survey the area well before coming to ground from trees, fences, sheds and house roofs so if you deny them places to land by placing bird spikes, chicken wire or anything you can to prevent them landing and remove trees if possible and cover fruit trees in netting.

Bird netting is an instant fix!

get a big dog! once they learn you have a large dog they dont bother even if they have a good look and dont see it. lots of crows use my fences and trees as lookout points fot the surrounding gardens but never bother with mine at all. they dont bother even when the dog is in the house they learn to avoid my garden alltogether, dog has never bothered with any birds either!
i see crows landing in gardens that have small dogs as long as the dogs arent in the garden of course so they are smart enough to figure out the size and risk of dogs it seems!

When they get together they do deserve an asbo! but its never long before they end the party and all fly off again elsewhere. i find them very amusing and interesting and all the noise quite funny.
The noise will have a reason, time to breed and all that.... i promise you they dont do it to annoy us and in fact all the noise pollution we humans make only makes them call louder and more so in the early hours when we are asleep and being quiet.

Food scraps in bins and in compost piles are probably the most attractive thing to a crow so closed bins and covering compost heaps will help. feed pets indoors as scraps are crow magnets.

once one crow surveys the area and sees food, feels its safe and hits the ground the rest just drop out of the sky without looking.


As for gun law, in a residential area youre best popping into the local police station for advice. you would want to inform them anyway so when they get a call from someone reporting shooting you wont get armed police pointing real guns at you and im not joking! they will if they are unaware beforehand.
you may even need a licence and public liability insurance to cover accidents.

hopefully you find a humane way, as has been said you will need a top notch gas powered rifle and the ability to be seriously accurate to get instant kills.
The gun will cost more than the bird netting.

Killing the crows might just end up leading to a bigger population of a bigger pest over the years like millions of treerats! (woodpidgeons)

[pauco]

Mmmm, we always find it so easy to blame the Birds dont we. Just look at our seaside cafe's
fish&chips very nice they maybe, but, do we look to dispose of the finnished meal???? Yup on the
pavement it goes. Gulls are opportunic feeders Need i say more!


paul.

[SarzWix]

My dog hates crows and barks her head off at them. So they just sit on the fence one plot away and glare at her. I hate them too, vicious, nasty things. They dive bomb people on our site for about a week every year when the young ones are fledging, and one poor bloke (in his 80s) had to go to A&E and get a stitch in his head where he got pecked by one They've never gone for my crops so far as I know, but they do peck through polytunnel covers trying to get at the trapped insects.

[veggiechicken]

The crows roost in the trees around the tree house. I enjoy their company. They arrive early evening and chatter away, then, when all are gathered, make great swirling flights across the estuary, sometimes stopping off in other groups of trees, sometimes returning to mine. They scoff any bread left out on neighbouring bird feeders and the jackdaws nest in unguarded chimneys nearby, but, apart from a large deposit down my neck last week, they do me no harm and they are welcome to stay as long as they wish.
I could no more shoot one than fly.

[PAULW]

The old country rule is if you see a flock of crows they are rooks, a pair of rooks nesting on their own are crows.

[GardenFaery]

Best deterrant I find is a lurcher who still likes chasing birds and hasn't seemed to have worked out they aren't some sort of flying rabbit, but a bird who can and does always fly away when he runs at them?