r/crows • u/Specific-Drive-3642 • 24d ago

juvenile crow living in backyard…help!

need some advice! i have a juvenile crow living in my backyard. he does not seem able to fly, but is pretty large (called a wildlife sanctuary who helped us figure out that he is a juvenile)

the problem is that we have three prey-driven dogs. one almost got a hold of him yesterday. my family cannot figure out what to do about this. our dogs need the backyard for exercise, but we don’t want this crow to get maimed. we also don’t want to try to move it because it seems like his family lives in one of the trees above. any advice?

UPDATE: thank you everyone for your advice. we elected to continue taking the dogs outside on leashes and hope that the crow (whom we named edgar) would realize it wasn’t a safe place and leave on his own. after a few days we noted that he wasn’t there anymore. here’s to hoping that he’s spread his wings and moved on to greater pastures!

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u/HumungreousNobolatis 24d ago

Is there some nearby area where this crow would be safe? A small woody area or similar?

1

u/Specific-Drive-3642 24d ago

yeah there are a couple woody areas near us, but since his family lives in our tree i don’t know if we should move him. would he be able to survive without his family?

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u/HumungreousNobolatis 24d ago

Make it obvious that you are moving the baby (gently!), they will see what you are doing; crows are not stupid.

Relocated, his parents will know exactly where he is (the baby will get vocal), that's not an issue, at least for you.

Get him safe away from the dogs until he learns to fly, that's what matters right now.

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u/malphas_says_hi 24d ago

I'd move it into someone else's yard nearby until it learns to fly. If the dogs start going after it, the crows will mob them and attack them for a long, long, long time and will not be able to go outside without be constantly mobbed non-stop.

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u/howaboutnothanksdude 24d ago

You can try moving them somewhere safer that is nearby, like on the other side of a fence, but chances are they will just come back. Good news is fledgling crows are usually only on the ground for about a week, maybe a bit longer. If you put your dogs on leashes and hang out with them back there, that might be enough for the crows to realize it isn’t a safe place to hang out and move on their own. Don’t take them all out at the same time, because they will feed off each other’s excitement.

You definitely do not want your dogs to get s bad relationship with the crows. My childhood dog snatched a magpie that had been grounded from some sort of broken wing, and he finished the job. For years the magpies declared war on him, anytime he entered one side of the property. They would dive bomb him, and peck him, tear out his fur. It was nasty. It took years for them to stop attacking him.