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Hunting Carrion crows

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Twopack120

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Now I was always told that large crows would harm newly born lambs , I’ve never seen it happen to a live lamb , but earlier in the year , lambing time , I did see at least a 100 crows close to a flock of ewes , I didn’t know the farmers name but I wonder if he would have welcomed me thinning them out a bit , or were these birds just feasting on dead lambs or entrails from birthing .
 
Bearing in mind the general licenses, it might pay to approach him on a "of last resort" kind of question.
They will attack the young, so the farmer might be open to, and legally better able to justify shooting help, during lambing, I'd just get a plan together before asking.
 
Twopack120 said:
Now I was always told that large crows would harm newly born lambs , I’ve never seen it happen to a live lamb , but earlier in the year , lambing time , I did see at least a 100 crows close to a flock of ewes , I didn’t know the farmers name but I wonder if he would have welcomed me thinning them out a bit , or were these birds just feasting on dead lambs or entrails from birthing .
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I'm in the middle of a lot of upland farms with sheep. I know when they start to lamb outdoors as buzzards turn up for the afterbirth, and the crows chase them round. I've heard it said many times they will attack sickly lambs, but never have seen it.
 
Twopack120 said:
Now I was always told that large crows would harm newly born lambs , I’ve never seen it happen to a live lamb , but earlier in the year , lambing time , I did see at least a 100 crows close to a flock of ewes , I didn’t know the farmers name but I wonder if he would have welcomed me thinning them out a bit , or were these birds just feasting on dead lambs or entrails from birthing .
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@Twopack120
I would simply ask the farmer - he will obviously know best.
 
Very hard to decoy/shoot crows if you haven't got a crop as there very wary birds I've always found the best methods

Decoy on freshly cut grass there after stuff that's been chopped up or after the muck spreader is out as they are after the worms

Decoy over something that has died where they would come down to start stripping it apart

They are incredibly nosey birds so a pigeon flapper with a dead crow on it in a Decoy pattern really does get them to come in for a look

A good crow caller can bring them into the pattern with the flapper as well

You can flight them on return to roost if you're well hidden but it visibility is against you as it soon goes dark
 
Twopack120 said:
I know that’s what made it so noticeable ,they were too big to be rooks and so close to the sheep , I’m 67 and a country lad and I had never seen the like.
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Nothing strange about large numbers of crows amongst lambing ewes🤷🏼‍♂️
Rooks are also the same size as a carrion crow, but look Totally different you can’t really mistake one for the other!, and they’re less likely to attack a lamb.
I’ve read this many times and feel I may be missing something?
If you’ve got to 67 without seeing a corvid as a “countryman” attack a lamb, or throw a rabbit kitten around you’ve been doing it wrong 👎🏼
 
100 'crows' together are most likely to be a mix of rooks and jackdaws....more of a risk to crops than lambs. Carrion crows operate in much lower numbers but their risk to livestock is very much higher. Their instinct is phenomenal.....I've even watched them following pregnant ewes around a field.
 
To be fair I had to check the differences between rooks and crows, (feathery trousers it seems).
Around here is is mainly jackdaws, fewer crows, plenty of jays.
Where I grew up, in the southeast, majority of corvids were crows, not sure I saw more than a single jay a year there.
 
Crows are crafty and will attack sickly lambs that are down after being born , especially if the ewe is exhausted and not paying attention or down herself . They target the eyes as they are soft and vulnerable and most sheep farmers will tell you it's a sickening sight .
 
SlugFest said:
100 'crows' together are most likely to be a mix of rooks and jackdaws....more of a risk to crops than lambs. Carrion crows operate in much lower numbers but their risk to livestock is very much higher. Their instinct is phenomenal.....I've even watched them following pregnant ewes around a field.
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you kind of argued against your own point there !
As a side note crows/jackdaws won’t usually be in the same place 👎🏼
And theyre Absolutely not a bigger pain to an arable farmer
 
“They’re more of a risk to crops”
“Their risk to livestock is much higher”
 
Ok guys I think I’ve ruffled enough feathers with this one and I’m sure most of us can tell the difference between rooks , crows , ravens and jackdaws by their chatter or call , thank you all for your input
 
Andyshoots said:
“They’re more of a risk to crops”
“Their risk to livestock is much higher”
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The rooks and jackdaws are more of a risk to crops (than they are to lambs)

The risk to livestock is much higher from carrion crows (than it is from rooks and jackdaws)

Not too hard to grasp really if you read it properly
 
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