How to Keep Crows from a Garden

Crows are believed to be the most intelligent of all birds. The American Crow, Corvus brachyrynchos, when fully grown is over a foot long and weights about a pound. A crows black coloring serves a dual purpose because it allows crows to spot other crows at great distance during the day and protects them at night. Crows are quite social and flock together whenever possible, even attacking en masse what they believe to be threats. Crows will eat nearly anything and that brings them in direct conflict with humans. How do you keep crows from your garden?

Difficulty: Moderately Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• Plastic grocery bags
• Stakes (5 to 6 feet tall)
• Old CDs or pie tins
• Black cloth
• Halloween Decorations (Crow, Owl, Black crepe paper)
• Windmill

How to Keep Crows from a Garden

1. Make grocery bag windsocks. Collect several different colored plastic grocery bags. The more colorful the plastic bags the better the results. Fill the bags with air then tie them off. Attach the bags to the tops of 5 to 6 foot stakes. Set the stakes out in a random pattern with no more than 15 feet between them. When the wind moves the bag it appears to crows as if people are in the garden.

2. Hang a dead crow. An old southern tradition is to hang up a dead crow. I know what you are thinking. This is gross. It is also very unsanitary. Instead use a piece of fluttering black fabric.

3. Use Halloween decorations. At Halloween it is easy to find stuffed owls, crows, and black crepe paper. The stuffed crow and black crepe paper can be used in the “dead crow” method. The owl is the crow’s natural enemy.

4. Use old CDs. Attach old CD’s or pie tins to twine and hang in the garden. The crows will avoid the shiny disk. This method is also effective on pigeons and magpies, but most common songbirds are not disturbed.

5. Put up a windmill. You can purchase a good medium (6-12 foot ) windmill from most garden centers that is easy to put together and affordable.

Tips & Warnings

• Don’t let the crows see you hang a “dead crow” or you may find yourself on the receiving end of a dive bombing called a “mobbing”.