I’m a bit of a bird feeding enthusiast, I’ll admit. At last count I had about a half-dozen birdfeeders around the house.
Now we’re up to seven, and the latest has a bit of an ulterior motive to it.
You see, I’ve recently noticed a few crows hanging out around. They mostly steer clear of our farm, hanging out in the trees on our neighbors property to the East and North. The thought of luring them in had crossed my mind, but was never acted upon until I stumbled across a few accounts of people using crows to chase off birds of prey.
I’ve seen red-winged blackbirds chase off red-tailed hawks countless times, but the hawks are only a big problem for us after the blackbirds have left for the season. Crows live here year-round, and they’ll work for peanuts. Literally. So it was off to the scrap lumber pile to build a platform feeder. Nothing fancy, just a 12″ x 12″ platform to stick in the top of a drill-pipe fence post.
I filled it with peanuts and a few pork neckbones and waited.
The wait wasn’t long. The crows found it within 24 hours and have been back every day.
The chickens ought to be thrilled, they’ll be protected from the air and the ground this year.
Interesting idea! I’ve always marveled at how aggressively birds defend their territories and their nests. We often see small songbirds chasing crows and crows chasing hawks. For the most part, we’ve tolerated the hawks around the farm, except for when the chickens are young and not full size yet. The hawks have helped keep the vermin down. We did lose a few banty roosters, though and I went out and scolded the young hawk (chased with a broom while shouting like a madwoman) when I caught him after the little roosters.
I’m hoping you’ll find your LGDs to be very useful in air patrol, too. I have Matemma x Great Pyrenees with the goats and they have been alert to threats from the sky. I only have one left now, his brother died last winter. I won’t replace him as we’ve sold off most of our goats. Only kept a few for weed/brush trimming detail. But Fezzik still bounces across the pasture, barking wildly at hawks that attempt to fly over or too close to his pasture. He’s a great protector.
The Blue Jays will like for that feeder,too.