When you think of pests, you might picture insects and rodents wreaking havoc inside your home. But pests also come in the form of birds, like crows that swoop in from the sky to nibble on your crops in the vegetable garden and leave their droppings all over your yard.
Once crows feel comfortable around your home and yard, it can be difficult to shoo them away. Day in and day out, you’ll hear their noisy caws. Your children might even be afraid to go out and play because of the sheer number of crows outside.
While crows can be a huge nuisance, it’s inhumane (and illegal!) to kill them. The best you can do is come up with a game plan to deter them from coming back to your home. Today, we’ll talk about how to keep crows away in nine easy ways. Let’s jump right into it!
9 Things You Can Do to Deter Them from Your Home
1. Clean Up and Cover Possible Food Sources
The easiest way to discourage crows from coming to your house is by cutting off all of their food sources. Crows are attracted to homes with open garbage bins where they can scavenge for food debris, pet food, and leftovers that were thrown out.
Make sure all your trash cans are properly closed with a lid. These lids should be secure on the bins, as flimsy lids can come off if the bins are knocked over. When trash spills out, crows are sure to come over for a feast. Securing your garbage cans with weights or heavy chains is good too.
If you have bird feeders in your garden, consider putting them away, as this is a no-brainer food source for crows. You can also install feeders that only accommodate tiny birds. These feeder trays make it impossible for bigger birds like crows and ravens to nibble on the bird food inside it.
If you grow fruits and vegetables in your garden, use bird netting to cover them up and protect them. You can get all the tools you need to set up this wire mesh netting from your local hardware store or garden shop. Fences are also a good alternative to this.
2. Place Your Crops in an Indoor Garden
There are many benefits of switching from an outdoor to an indoor garden, like protecting your plants and crops from inclement weather and being able to purify the air. But another huge benefit is that it keeps out predators like crows.
When you have an enclosed, indoor garden, crows will have no way to enter it. They won’t be able to nibble on your fruits and veggies or build nests in your trees and plants.
3. Put Up a Classic Scarecrow
Many centuries ago, Egyptians used scarecrows to keep birds away from their crops along the Nile River. They used wooden frames and fabrics to cover their bodies, and then they’d pop out and frighten crows and other birds that came too close to the fields.
Today, scarecrows are a lot more modern and sustainable. They’re made of straw or bamboo and then covered up with farmer’s clothing, like button-down shirts, jeans, and a hat. They’re also great décor for Halloween!
Setting up a scarecrow is a great way to make it look like there is someone always guarding your yard. This will keep the crows from getting too close.
But over time, crows can become habituated to these set-ups and pick up on the fact that your scarecrow isn’t a real person. So, it’s best to move the scarecrow around in different positions each day and change its outfit from time to time.
Setting up your scarecrow can be a fun activity for you and your family. Here’s a quick YouTube video of how to make a scarecrow and dress it up with fun accessories and clothes:
4. Trim and Thin Out Your Trees
Crow flocks love to roost on trees with lots of leaves and branches. It keeps them warm in the winter months and allows them to congregate in large numbers. A crow also roosts in tall trees to protect itself from predators, like raccoons.
If you suspect that a flock of crows is roosting in your garden’s trees, trim some of the tree’s branches. Thinning out your tree’s leaves makes them a less attractive area for crows to roost. They’ll probably look for another tree that can keep them warmer and protect them from predators.
5. Deter the Crows with Bright, Shiny Objects
You can set up shiny and bright objects in your yard to keep crows away, too. These include old CDs, folded pieces of tin foil, aluminum pie tins, and even small mirrors. The blinding reflection of light onto these items can deter crows from coming closer to your home.
Check out this quick video to see how easy it is to set up CDs as natural deterrents for crows to keep them away from your property:
You can also direct a laser beam at the crows if you notice them while you’re in the garden. Crows that are disturbed by the bright light of a laser beam are known to flee immediately. However, this is a quick-fix band-aid solution as they tend to return after about 15 minutes.
6. Experiment with Noise Deterrents
Loud noises and sounds can signal a threat to crows, making them feel less encouraged to head down to your garden.
Try putting up some wind-powered spinners with little bells or metal parts attached to them. Whenever there’s a breeze, these contraptions will spin and emit a sound that can help deter crows from coming closer.
Wind chimes are also an excellent option. Not only can they make your garden feel zen and peaceful, but they’ll scare away crows, owls, and other unwanted birds as well.
If you’re willing to go the extra mile and have speakers in your garden, you can play audio recordings that can scare off the crows. You can use any frightening audio, from crow distress calls to loud fireworks to just people blabbering about.
7. Invest in a Farm Dog
A farm dog is a huge help in any yard. They can herd livestock and protect them from predators. But they’re also a great way to scare off crows as well.
As soon as a crow sees the movement and noisy barking of a farm dog, they’ll rarely be tempted to visit your yard. They know there’s a looming threat of a predator that can take them down.
And if they do dare to come over, your farm dog can chase them off and harass them for you. That way, the crows don’t linger to eat up your crops.
What’s great about a farm dog is that, unlike noise deterrents and scarecrows, they’re unpredictable. Crows don’t realize after a while that a dog is harmless. If anything, it makes them more scared to enter your garden.
8. Set Up a Motion-Detected Sprinkler System
Crows hate getting wet. One way to get them to flee your yard is by hosing them down unexpectedly. Of course, you can’t always be on the lookout to grab your garden hose and direct it at them. It’s much more convenient to set up a sprinkler system activated by a motion sensor.
When the crows come too close to your yard, your motion-sensor sprinkler will sense their movement and immediately turn on. This drenches the crows, giving them a startle and forcing them to flee. It’s also a life hack to effortlessly water your lawn every day!
9. Concoct a DIY Bird Repellent Spray
Lastly, you can consider creating a homemade bird-repellent spray with water, vinegar, chili peppers, and dishwashing liquid. Here’s how to do it, step by step:
- In an empty spray bottle, combine equal parts water and white vinegar.
- Chop up your chili peppers into tiny pieces. Add these into the bottle.
- Put a few drops of dishwashing liquid into the mixture too.
- Shake your concoction and let it steep overnight.
The next way, give your bottled concoction a little shake and spray it onto the surfaces you want to keep crows away from. Just be sure not to spray them directly on your crops and other edible plants.
Conclusion
Picking up after crows and having them destroy your crops is a headache for anyone, especially if you have a vast yard. Luckily, there are plenty of ways to get rid of those pesky crows.
The best way to keep crows away is to maintain your home’s cleanliness. Make sure none of your garbage bins are exposed and there isn’t any food debris lying around. To protect your crops, consider an indoor garden.
However, it’s important to remember that crows are intelligent. They pick up on crow deterrents that aren’t actual threats, like scarecrows, shiny objects, and noise deterrents. So, it’s best to combine these with unpredictable techniques, such as a bird repellent spray and a farm dog.
Good luck with your journey to keep those crows away! Hopefully, one of the methods listed above can help finally keep your garden crow-free.