Crows - grrr !!

[shivvy]

I live in the country and love encouraging birds into the garden. However this year I seem to be overrun with crows. There can be 20+ at a time at the bird tables and they are stripping all the birdfood leaving nothing for any of the other birds.
I am sure I will be told that they need fed in the same way as the smaller birds, but I couldn't keep up with the amount that they can put away!
Is there a sensible and humane way that I can deter them?
Thanks.

[burnhal]

If you are putting food on bird tables then there is no way you will deter them. What kind of food are you putting out?Put up some feeders- they cant get at them! One for seed mix, one for sunflower hearts, one for Niger seed for Goldfinches. And a cage feeder for peanuts- the cage keeps the squirrels off.That will keep most of your birds happy apart from the ground feeders, such as blackbirds. Scatter your feed for them amongst undergrowth- that will keep the blackbirds happy. Put a feeder in or near a tree and even the shy feeders like dunnocks will use it.
Unusual to get 20 crows together? Rooks or Jackdaws??

[Sir Alec]

I can get 40/50 crows at once in a huge ash tree at the end of my garden. It's worth buying some cheap dog or cat food to put out for them. They prefer this to seed since, as you probably know, they're carnivorous. At this time of year they are of use, because they eat slugs and snails, so I know they're a nuisance but they do some good!

[burnhal]

Omnivores- not carnivores. It matters not to them whether its plant or animal.

[Sir Alec]

I forgot to mention that if you also put out a little cat/dog food at night, it will also encourage hedgehogs, which will also gobble up the garden pests.
burnhal - grovelling apologies for my mistake.

[Noweia]

There's a saying:

If you see a group of crows, they're rooks.

If you see a solitary rook, it's a crow.

[mummaducky]

well this isn't really an answer but just a bit of knoledge some people belive that the crow carries spirits and that when we die they collect are souls and carry them onto the great beond and that if your visited by groups of them they are there to ward off death and protect your soul! just thougt id tell you if it wer me i wouldn't be in a rush to get rid! but thats just me you probly don't even care but i thought id let u know on the off chance you'd be intrested!

[Eve]

I was going to say small feeders for the smaller birds, tucked somewhere it's harder for the crow to get to.

How about the seed balls on a long string that the small birds can cling onto but not the bigger birds.

When I first saw the question I thought it said cows lol...it's been a long day :)

[burnhal]

mummaducky- its little snippets like that that make this site so interesting! Keep on throwing them in!!

[shivvy]

Oops burnhal - I should have been more clear when I wrote the question. When I said birdtables, I meant my bird feeders collectively. I have different feeders which dispense seeds, sunflower seeds, peanuts, niger seeds, fat balls and suet blocks. Most are hidden in the bushes however the big bu@@ers fly right into the bushes and trees and can steal from all but two of the feeders.
I thought about putting some meat out in the garden Sir Alec but the dog would be off with that the minute it was put down!
Jenna - bless you - is it time for a bit of a lie down?!

[Eve]

I think it is, it was an amusing picture in my head though and made me smile haha :)

I think I need my bed!

[burnhal]

difficult! You could try moving the feeders out of the trees- perhaps onto those shepherd crook shaped stands. Once they find they cant get at them they may move on elsewhere. If they are crows they should split down to solitary birds soon as families disperse so the problem should start to sort itself out, plus another month or two and the fields and hedges will be full of free food so feeder activity will drop off anyway

[misundrstood]

i put big chunks of bread on the shed roof and very small stuff scattered lower down the big birds go for the big stuff and smaller go for small it sort of works until the squirrel arrives also can i say and i quote from bill oddie bread is not good for birds

[shivvy]

Noweia - that is a good little help/reminder - thanks.

Mummaducky - blimey I'm a bit creeped now!

Misundrstood - if you are telling me that good old bill says that bread isn't good for birds, why do you feed it to them?!

Burnhal - I often get crows, jackdaws and rooks confused. I usually think that rooks have a more hooked beak and that jackdaws have a more domed head? If that is right, then I seem to being tortured by a mixture of crows and jackdaws.
I have looked on the RSPB site but is there an easy way to tell crows and jackdaws apart?

[burnhal]

A crow is big and totally black (unless you live in the far North of Scotland where you may get hooded crows but we will ignore them for the moment).
Crows are solitary birds- you generally only see them in pairs in the breeding season and in family groups (parents and young) for a short while after.
Rooks are a similar size but live and breed in large flocks. They are all black apart from a bare grey area around the base of the bill extending to the face and the bill itself is grey- looks very light in colour.
Hence the saying a rook on its own is a crow, several crows together are rooks.
Jackdaws also live in flocks, are smaller than the other two and have a distinctive grey nape. Jackdaws are the most likely garden visitors of the three.