Training A Crow

[woodworkingboy]

I found a young Crow on the ground. Apparently it fell out of the nest, but it isn't quite old enough to be able to fly, although it goes through the motions. The parents were freaking out, but it is a place with a lot of tall conifers and i was unable to see the nest. It immediately had a good appetite, dug a banana. I think it will make it, seems rather hardy. I'd like to train it, anyone have any experience training birds like this? I see a place on the net that sells cords and leather attachments for the legs of birds and a harness, for when you want to begin training. They won't respond to my inquiry about buying. I'd like to get those. Thanks for any tips!

I saw a man with a trained Crow once, and it was very cool.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Crows can be domesticated.

 

[cory]

Wow sounds cool. Bernd Heinrich is a noted biologist who raised several wild birds including owls and ravens. "Ravens in Winter" and "One Man's Owl" are I believe 2 book titles of his, good and fun reads and you would probably learn a lot of relevant stuff if you peruse them.

 

[Husabud]

I read, somewhere on these interwebs, about a guy who trained crows to clean up after an event. Concerts and the like. He said training crows was easy, they are very smart birds and enjoy having a task. As I recall, it was as simple as rewarding a dead done. Repetition was the key.

 

[Limbrat]

Never raised a crow Jay, let us know how it goes. They are pretty much omnivores, I watched one steal a baby swallow out of a nest and eat it a couple of weeks ago.

 

[MasterBlaster]

Crows will eat anything.

 

[FireFighterZero]

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/4BjDUJF4KZg" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

I could not help myself. If this is too inappropriate, Butch, you can get rid of it.

 

[MasterBlaster]

 

[woodworkingboy]

The thing about it is that it is not hyper. When it's hungry, like when I get to my shop in the morning, it is a little antsy, but with something in it's belly it chills right out. I read where they are early morning feeders in particular. Late afternoon and it goes to sleep. Hardly ever lets out a peep. i think we are bonding. It's legs are strong, I might have found it at a real good age. Omniviores, yes, but some things aren't good for them supposedly, like chocolate. It has a big trap, food goes down easily.

 

[vharrison]

Cool Jay, this is going to be interesting!

 

[flushcut]

Cool! You may have the best throw line setter out there, who needs a BS when you have a trained crow doing your bidding. lol

 

[woodworkingboy]

Interesting plan. LOL No doubt crows are smart. The parents spend a good part of the day in the trees above my shop, and when I go outside with their young, they become very agitated and start swooping down and making a racket. Probably trying to frighten me away. They must know that it is in the shop. I don't know if it's the father or mother, but one starts banging it's beak very aggressively against the trunk of the tree it is in. I have never seen crows behave like that.

 

[FireFighterZero]

I would think that your crow is going to make a good friend. It ought to domesticate quickly if you take care of it's needs. I read that crows can recognize 200 words and can be long lived in captivity. The only other bird that rivals it in the intelligence department is the magpie.

 

[Dave Shepard]

Crows will eat anything.

Except other crows, I'm told.

 

[GemCutter]

The ex and I raised a robin years ago. I thought it was great having a bird you could take out, let fly and have it come back to you.....until about the fourth time when it didn't come back. Stupid robin.

 

[Limbrat]

My uncle sent this to me. I have never seen a roadkilled crow so it caught my attention.

Researchers for the Massachusetts Turnpike Authority found over 200 dead crows near greater Boston recently,
and there was concern that they may have died from Avian Flu.
A Bird Pathologist examined the remains of all the crows, and, to everyone's relief, confirmed the problem was definitely NOT Avian Flu.
The cause of death appeared to be vehicular impacts.
However, during the detailed analysis it was noted that varying colors of paint appeared on the bird's beaks and claws.
By analyzing these paint residues it was determined that 98% of the crows had been killed by impact with trucks, while only 2% were killed by an impact with a car.
MTA then hired an Ornithological Behaviorist to determine if there was a cause for the disproportionate percentages of truck kills versus car kills.
He very quickly concluded the cause:
When crows eat road kill, they always have a look-out crow in a nearby tree to warn of impending danger.
They discovered that while all the lookout crows could shout "Cah", not a single one could shout "Truck."

 

[Dave Shepard]

 

[gf beranek]

Post a pic!

 

[MasterBlaster]

OK!

 

[cory]

What was cool about the crow exploding. Things like that strengthen that which is bad.

 

[FireFighterZero]

What do you mean Cory?

 

[cory]

Jim, I mean that if the crow was actually blown up, or if it was simulated, I didn't see what the point was. Maybe I need to know what the movie is about to understand. But generally, animal abuse or torture or wanton destruction is a very bad thing and people that do it or like to watch it comprise a lot of what is wrong with this world, imho.

A buddy of mine has a Brazilian working for him, they were installing a septic system when the worker was new to the job, the worker said 'why do all this work, there is the river right there, put the shit in the river, problem solved'. Meanwhile I've been keeping up on current news regarding the apparently sorry state of Brazil in prepartation for the World Cup and the Olympics. Aside from the massive social/poverty issues over there, the water pollution is mind boggling. There is approx 10' to 20' of solid garbage lining every foot of the bay there and floating large debris like couches are making the sailing trials borderline undoable. Mind you I haven't been there, just reading this stuff in the news.

I relate people who throw all their shit in waterways to people who wantonly torture or destroy animals. People who approach life like that make a negative contribution to life on earth.

 

[Thor's Hammer]

I am absolutely against the death penalty, but people who litter and dump trash are probably my one exception to that.

 

[cory]

Yeah, go Draconian on their ass.

 

[MasterBlaster]

When I was on the Enterprise, trash was thrown overboard at the fantail. It was an amazing sight, seeing trash bags floating all the way to the horizon. I'm pretty sure they don't do that anymore.