Crows at home - is it worth keeping a wild bird? Crow chick (photo)

When you hear that someone you know has a bird in a cage at home, a parrot or a canary immediately appears before your eyes. In fact, it could be an ordinary hooded crow.

She is extremely smart and quick-witted, and looks very elegant, so she can easily become a pet and recognize a person as her owner. If you are interested in such a bird, you should find out how to care for it and in what conditions to keep it. In this article you can find the information you need.

Gray Crow: photo, description

In appearance, according to its constitution, the domestic hooded crow is a bit like a rook. Only the body is denser and the wings are wider. Its weight does not exceed 650-700 g. The beak is slightly inclined downwards.

The wings, tail and head of these birds are completely black, they seem to shimmer with a metallic sheen. The body of the bird is gray, which is why it is called the hooded crow. The brown color of the plumage is observed only in young individuals. The mouth is pink, the eyes are blue.

Bird intelligence

Observing the lifestyle of crows, ornithologists noted that these birds have extremely developed intelligence. They are able to turn the situation in their favor in any circumstances. For example, crows living on city streets collect food on the roadway only when the traffic light is red.

While walking in the forest, you will notice that crows are not at all afraid of ordinary tourists and completely ignore mushroom pickers. But, if a hunter with a gun in his hands comes into their field of vision, the birds become restless, feeling danger.

It is quite difficult to keep a crow in a city apartment, and the bird itself feels uncomfortable in a cage; it needs space. If you decide on a hooded crow, then it is better that you live in a private country house, then you can equip an aviary for such a restless feathered pet and create proper living conditions.

A domestic crow must have an “apartment” measuring at least 1x2 m, the height of the enclosure is required to be two meters and no less. It is advisable to place a dry tree with horizontal branches in the bird house. If this is not possible, adapt different perches in the enclosure.

The floor should have a coating that is easy to clean. It is sprinkled with sawdust or moss on top. As necessary, cleaning is carried out, during which the old litter is replaced with a new, clean one. Drinkers and feeders should not stand without fastening; the bird will quickly knock them over.

If you decide to let your pet fly all over the house, it is better to immediately abandon this idea. The fact is that a crow cannot be called a calm and assiduous bird. This creature is overly active and also curious. In just a few minutes of free flight around the room, a house crow can scatter things, tear off wallpaper, knock over small flowerpots or cause mischief in some other way. In a word, damage to your home is guaranteed if you do not equip an aviary for a restless, active bird.

How to care for a crow at home?

Caring for a domestic crow is not difficult, the main thing is to know its habits and what it needs for a normal existence in captivity:

You need to install a birch log to sharpen the claws and beak.
. To prevent the bird from getting bored in the enclosure and spoiling the interior you created, give it shiny balls or other toys.
. Place a container of water in the enclosure for bathing several times a week. The domestic crow loves water treatments and can splash in the water every day.

As you can see, everything is quite simple, except that you have to clean up after this bird quite often; it is not particularly neat.

What to feed a crow at home?

The undeniable advantage of such a hooded crow is that this creature is an omnivore. The only condition that must be observed when preparing a diet for a crow is a variety of “dishes”. The main menu of birds consists of the following products: chicken giblets, boiled or raw meat, various cereals, eggs, fish, vegetables and fruits, bread.

In addition to the above, crows can happily eat frogs, insects, chicks and all kinds of plant foods. For wild birds, the main food is food waste.

For normal growth and development, house crows must be given vitamin and mineral supplements. It is not recommended to mix them with food; instead, place them in a separate feeder so that the bird itself chooses what it needs.

The diet of chicks is not much different from the adult menu. At first, in order to win over the feathered babies, they are hand-fed. Then they are gradually taught to eat from the feeder on their own. Chicks are recommended to prepare mash from the following products: porridge, meat and vegetables. The last two ingredients should be finely chopped.

Your feathered pet should always have fresh food available. clean water. In order not to harm the bird, you should not feed it spicy, salty, fried foods or fatty meats.

Walks

Surprisingly, crows, despite their restless disposition, easily learn and get used to a leash. Of course, this is not a dog or a cat, so during such walks you need to take some precautions:

When training a crow, your hand should be in a special leather glove.
. It is necessary to select equipment for walking very carefully so that the bird does not get injured later.
. When walking, make sure that her relatives are not nearby. Large concentrations of wild crows may make your pet want to join in their free-ranging lifestyle. There are times when a crow attacks other birds, trying to protect its territory. This can also result in tragedy and trauma for her.

If it is not possible to walk with the crow in the fresh air, then the owner of this feathered beauty must provide it with a sufficient amount of ultraviolet rays in the house. The ideal option in this situation is sunbathing. It is necessary to take into account the fact that ultraviolet radiation does not pass through glass.

To date, scientists have not come to a clear answer to the question of how long the hooded crow lives. It is only known that in captivity this bird can live up to 18-20 years with proper care. A domestic crow will require a lot of patience from its owner, but in the end it will become a devoted and intelligent feathered friend for him.

Crows should only be kept in captivity. Once in the cage as an adult, she is simply unpleasant, at least for the first few months until she gets used to it a little. It is a vicious, wary and wild bird that is difficult to tame. A crow with a broken wing, who lived in my enclosure for about a year, remained a wild one. Once (she was never able to fly), she ran away and did not return to the enclosures, where her usual food was waiting for her.

The crow taken by the fledgling, which was still a poor flyer but had already flown out of the nest, was not much better.

A well-fed chick, especially one taken by a fledgling puffball, is something completely different. He is just as attached to a person as a jackdaw, but more persistent, more careful and cunning than her. If a jackdaw is given bread and porridge, and a magpie and a crow are given meat, then both are equally suitable for a crow. However, she especially loves meat and prefers it to all other foods.

The greed and gluttony of a crow, and most importantly the physical consequences of this, can be very unpleasant. A hungry chick is persistent when begging for food. Having flown close to the man, he sits with his legs spread wide apart and screams, opening his crimson mouth. You can throw the chick away with your hand and try to grab it. All in vain: jumping to the side, he continues to scream. Even when he swallows food, he sometimes still screams. And then some strangled, whistling sounds escape from the throat, which is plugged with a piece of bread or meat.

At our biological station there lived a crow, Carlos, who was adopted as a chick and raised. They kept her free. She flew wherever she pleased and greatly bothered us all with her endless pranks. Crows have an unpleasant passion: carrying shiny objects. My bird especially liked the shiny key from the bird's aviary. The crow managed to steal the key several times, but it was always taken away. One day she even had to climb onto the roof of the barn, where she stuck the key under the shingles.

Since then he has not been hung near the enclosure. And yet the crow outwitted. Once, entering the enclosure, I left the key in the lock. A few minutes later he returned - he was no longer there. The crow, which had previously occupied its usual observation post on the roof of the barn, also disappeared.

The crow was excellent at distinguishing people from great distances and never allowed strangers close to it. Carlos, when she was once very pestering, asking for food, was hit by one of the guys. Since then, seeing the offender from afar, the crow took off somewhere higher.

The crow flew very far from the house, a kilometer or more. One day she disappeared. The bird appeared 2-3 days later with a piece of frayed rope on its leg. Apparently, the crow was tied, and after pecking at the rope, it returned home. Since then, the bird has been wary of all the little guys. One could assume that it was the guys who caught and tied her up.

Karlusha constantly wandered around the house, always ready to do some kind of “dirty thing.” One day our botanists spent the whole day sowing some rare plants. A lot of seeds and bulbs were obtained. The plantation took on the appearance of a small cemetery: it was completely covered with white crosses - labels for the planted plants. All the biological station employees quickly painted the labels and wrote inscriptions on them. The work was finished when it was already dark. The first thing I heard the next morning was the noise and screams of our botanists. I went out. The entire biological station was at the site of yesterday's work. Not a single label remained on the plantation. They were pulled out of the ground and scattered everywhere.

And Karlusha sat on the roof and looked at us, turning her head. No one had any doubt that she had caused destruction: on the roof in front of the crow one of the labels was white as material evidence. It was not possible to restore the position of the labels. The cup of patience was full. The crow was sent to the Central Station of Young Naturalists. Karlusha lived there for many years, enjoying everyone’s attention and love.

The guys from the Nature Conservation Society cell at the Kuibyshev Children's Park in Moscow kept two crows. One was brought by an adult, with a broken wing, and the other was taken from the nest by a small chick. The first remained a wild and angry bird all the time, but the second (her name was Crow) was very attached to people. So their leader enters the room where the young naturalists had previously been. And now the Crow’s welcoming cawing is heard. Definitely, she didn’t consider the boys as hosts and when they came, she didn’t pay attention to them; she really loved it when they talked to her. She distinguished voice intonations perfectly. They say to her: “Oh, what beautiful eyes our Crow has... What wonderful feathers. .. She’s just a beauty for us!..” And the softened bird comes closer and closer, bows its head down, bends, crouches and, in the manner of all corvids, expresses its “sublime feelings” by rolling its eyes. However, as soon as I was distracted and silent, the bird immediately transformed. As if with annoyance she shouted her loud “carrr”. This probably meant: “Why did you forget about the poor bird?!” Continue, praise, I’m very pleased!”

The crow lived in a cage with the door open and considered the room its own. She chased the jackdaws if they flew there for hidden food. Frightened by something, the crow rushed headlong into the cage, dived through the door and immediately calmed down, as if it had found itself in an impregnable fortress. Then the bird began to examine through the bars what it was and whether it was worth being scared. The bird once lifted the hook that locked the cage door with its beak. Since then, she did not allow herself to be locked: she immediately threw off the hook.

Jars containing food supplies for crows were first covered with paper. This was not an obstacle for the bird; it instantly learned to get into the jar. Then they began to use a tin lid, which turned out to be insurmountable. But even here the inventive bird found a way out. She watched when the jar was opened. A moment, and the lid ended up in the crow's beak. The bird flew into the cage and hastily hid its prey in the farthest corner.

Of course, Vorona brought her teachers not only joy and pleasure, some of her pranks were very unpleasant. Having learned to lift the hook, the bird opened the cage in which the old tame goldfinch lived. He disappeared. Not a single feather of it was found. Only later, by chance, did they find two goldfinch legs. This was all that was left of the poor singer.

Anyone who has had a foster crow in their home can tell many funny and sometimes annoying episodes associated with this restless bird. The crow chick - Vorishka, or Vorik, raised in the Ilmensky Nature Reserve, remained in the memory of all its inhabitants for a long time. This is what preparator A. Shemet says about this fosterling.

Waking up with the sun, Vorik first of all visited the laboratory veranda. Here he began his “work” with a preparator, immersed in a sweet morning sleep. Especially "croaking hoarsely, Vorik began to pull the edge of the blanket, pull his hair or pinch his legs if they were peeking out from under the blanket. In the end, Vorik's owner had to give up the pleasure of sleeping in the open air and move to the laboratory. Here he left open only a window pane. But this did not improve the situation: an uninvited visitor penetrated here too.

Having had his fill, Vorik sometimes rested, sitting on the Russian stove in the kitchen. Only during this short period of afternoon respite did he disturb anyone. The rest of the time, driven by his restless spirit, all he knew was to bother anyone he could.

If Vorik caught sight of a box, he would begin to fiddle with and peck at it with his large black beak. Vorik was very intrigued by closed boxes. He did not calm down until he opened them and found out what was in them. After that, he either threw them aside or turned them into a pile of garbage, depending on his mood. Woe to the smokers who did not have the habit of hiding their matches and cigarettes in their pockets. Having picked up the box that caught his eye, Vorik flew up to the roof with it. There, using his beak, he first skillfully opened the box, and then pulled out match after match from it and scattered them around him. By the way, I observed such a special curiosity for all kinds of boxes not only among crows, but also among jackdaws and magpies.

If it happened that Vorik fell into the hands of strangers, it was difficult to restrain him. He raised a terrible hubbub, floundering and struggling with all his might. Vorik treated some acquaintances favorably, others - indifferently, and others - viciously: he attacked them, trying to grab a place not covered by clothes, pinching them until they bled. He especially attacked those who were afraid of him. Vorik, to some extent, distinguished the intonations of the human voice. He responded and flew to his nicknames, and he had several of them. He understood when they threatened him with the cook Fenya, whom he feared to the point of panic. It was worth saying: “Where is Fenya?”, “Fenya, take Vorik!” - like a mischievous person, he rushed into the next room in fear. Here he disappeared behind the curtain that served as a door. After a while the curtain began to flutter. From under its lower edge, first a black beak and then a head appeared. She quickly disappeared, then showed up again. When Vorik was convinced that everything was fine - Fenya was gone, he immediately returned to his interrupted fun. In our country you can often hear the expressions: “Oh, you crow!”, “You missed it!” Such an offensive opinion about the bird is not at all true, if we recall the pranks of Karlusha, Crow and Vorik.

In the bird world, only the raven can compare with the crow in its observation, resourcefulness, and perseverance. The crow is constantly on the alert, and one can envy its attention.

The crow is almost always harmful: it destroys the nests of birds, including even the largest commercial birds, such as eiders and geese. Small birds nesting in hollows suffer even more from it. Sitting on the roof of a birdhouse, a crow can wait for hours for the starlings to emerge from the entrance. At the Bolshevskaya biological station one morning, almost all the removable lids of the birdhouses were found on the ground. The culprit turned out to be a crow. She was caught in the act at the moment when she, having thrown off the lid of another birdhouse, was dragging a squeaking, already fledged birdhouse from inside. That is why I especially recommend the crow for education. If you take it from the nest, you will do a good deed.

It is worth noting that in England these birds are not only bred, but also successfully domesticated. However, if you are not English, everything is much more complicated. Don’t rely too much on their intelligence and incredible ability to imitate different sounds. After all, making an adult crow tame is quite a difficult task. How to tame a raven? The question is relevant for those who consider the black bird to be an attractive pet.

Crow from the street: how to tame him?

For those who found an abandoned crow and decided to take it home, there is good news - taming such a baby will be easy and simple. He will be obedient, tame and will easily do everything that his beloved owner will require of him. But this idyll will not last forever. In just a couple of years, there will come a time when the bird will demand freedom and at any opportune moment, without hesitation, will fly away even from the most comfortable home. Nature takes its toll, and it is impossible to resist it.

But for those who brought home an adult specimen, you should not count on purchasing best friend. It is impossible to train such a bird; its only thoughts will be to escape.

If all these difficulties seem trivial, you can safely get yourself a crow. The only recommendations would be advice - buy a bird at the age of 3 months from special breeders, then there is a chance to make something useful out of it. But older birds are no longer amenable to training, which means that getting a pet instead only increases the problem. It is difficult to answer the question - how to tame a crow.

It is very important to take care of and feed the crow yourself. Otherwise, she will not understand who her owner is and will be naughty and wild. It is also recommended to have only one individual, otherwise the birds will live their own lives and will not pay any attention to the owner.

How to tame a crow?

In order to make a manual crow, you need to spend a lot of time and patience. You need to work with the bird daily for 2-3 hours. It's best to do this outdoors. To begin with, it is recommended to use special leather straps; they will help hold the bird while escaping. If you carry out such walks every day, you can gradually take a risk and let your pet go; if everything is done correctly, he will not leave you.

After conducting a series of experiments, it was noticed that females are softer and more obedient birds, which are easier to contact and amenable to training. But with males everything is more complicated - these are active and sharp individuals who dream only of freedom and do not miss the opportunity to fly away.

There are special books that help to tame birds of prey; you can take them into service if you want to make an obedient pet out of a wild crow.

Competent diet of crows at home

The diet of birds in the wild is very different from home breeding, because few owners will feed their birds carrion. The list of products that should be given to a crow at home is quite long:

• meat: beef, chicken, mice, rabbits. It is worth noting that this item is mandatory in the diet of any crow;
• porridge: buckwheat and oatmeal;
• cottage cheese, boiled eggs;
• apples, carrots, berries;
• baby food - for chicks;
• premium dog food.

Although they are considered omnivorous, there are some restrictions. She is prohibited from consuming the following foods:

• pork is too fatty for the poultry diet;
• tomatoes;
• potato;
• citrus;
• sweets and savory foods;
• black bread.

Due to such an abundant diet, bird droppings have a peculiar smell, so the room where the raven lives should be well ventilated. If you ask an ornithologist whether it is possible to tame a raven, the answer will be ambiguous. These wild birds are capricious, so you can expect many surprises from them. It should be expected that the found feathered friend may be sick

Nowadays, thanks to the image created by mass culture, it has become popular to keep extraordinary animals at home, turning them into another interior object. One of these pets will be discussed in this article - namely, the crow. But let’s put aside the mystical aura surrounding this bird and get to know the raven better.

The raven belongs to a species of bird belonging to the order Hyperlink "Passeriformes". Its wingspan sometimes reaches 150 cm, and its weight is over a kilogram. The color of the feathers of an adult individual acquires a bright blue tint. The bird chooses for its habitat areas remote from humans; its refuge often becomes old thickets of forests, but in the last century crows have increasingly begun to occupy abandoned buildings, appearing on the outskirts of villages and landfills in search of food, especially in the cold season. An amazing quality of a bird is its ability to choose a mate once and for life. For nesting, it prefers to choose hard-to-reach places, which it fiercely protects from any encroachment by strangers.

When you have the idea of ​​making a raven your favorite pet, no matter what the reason, you should think it over very carefully. If this desire is just a momentary flash, you should definitely refuse to buy an animal. A domesticated pet cannot be returned to the wild, it is almost impossible to find new owners for the bird, and since the lifespan of a raven is very long, you assume obligations to care for it for many years.

The owner is so unusual pet must understand that raising and caring for a bird will be an extremely labor-intensive process. Under no circumstances should a raven be kept in a cage, otherwise it will damage its plumage. He needs to have a spacious aviary, or a so-called birdhouse. If an additive is used, the raven will need more long time for walks, let him play in your room for about an hour. The raven is a very clean bird, try to organize water treatments for it at least once every day.

Keeping a raven will require a lot of money from the owner (just like caring for any pet): buying toys, equipment for a comfortable place to live, and costs for veterinarian services. You should also get used to stripped wallpaper and torn cornices, the destruction of small trinkets and torn books, because indoors the crow needs to spend excess energy somewhere. Do not forget that these birds are very curious and will explore every corner of your home, without a doubt this will cause new destruction. All of the above will make it impossible to keep a crow in a rented apartment. It is worth considering that if you leave for a long time, it will be difficult to find a guardian for such an unusual pet.

With such an important step, it is worth considering the composition of the family. Crows are extremely jealous animals because... They choose one owner for themselves, except if other family members took an active part in his upbringing. They can also be aggressive towards guests and other pets. You need to be careful if you live in the house small child. Therefore, it is advisable for a person who is fully established in life, who is ready to be responsible for his actions, to get a bird.

You can sometimes hear from sellers about specially bred “domestic” crows, but this is a lie; all these birds are removed from the wild under a specially issued license. Therefore, if you have a strong desire to have such a pet, it is better to look for a young raven that has been abandoned by its owners, which happens all too often.

It is better to take a young individual for the first time months after birth; chicks whose chicks are over six months old are difficult to tame. For the first month and a half, you need to devote a lot of time to the chick: feeding every two hours, cleaning more often and communicating with it as much as possible. If you get two birds at once, it will be difficult for them to switch their attention to a person.

An adult individual needs to be devoted to approximately three hours a day: exercise and train, let out for a walk to familiarize him with the area, so that in the future he will not get lost when he starts flying. But it’s better to set aside time for a trip outside the city, where he can fly around to his heart’s content and without interference. At proper care and training, an accidentally lost pet will be able to survive in the wild, so education is a very important part of the process. It should be remembered that before walking a crow, you need to teach it to wear special leather straps for its paws - fetters. It is best to start training from the moment the raven begins to walk independently. For entanglements, it is best to use split leather velor or leather from a boot top. The health of the bird depends on a careful approach to the choice of equipment.

Depending on the gender, the nature of the birds also differs: the male is active, there is aggression, he loves to explore the world around him, while the female is calm, observant, and devoted to the owner. For a beginner, it will be better to get a female; it will also be useful to familiarize yourself with the biology and upbringing of birds.

The raven is a carnivorous bird, its diet should consist mainly of fresh lean meat: chicken, beef, rabbit, chickens or mice. For proper nutrition You need to include porridge (buckwheat, oatmeal), low-fat cottage cheese, eggs, berries, vegetables and fruits (excluding citrus and nightshade) in your pet’s menu. Pork, milk, brown bread, as well as salty or sweet foods should be excluded from the diet.

The nutrition of chicks up to a month should consist of delicate food: porridge, high-quality baby food, finely chopped meat, grated carrots. The diet must include organic calcium, various vitamins and minerals. The chick needs sunbathing, if he does not yet know how to sit on your hand, use a basket, make sure that he does not overheat.

A raven becomes a fully grown adult when it reaches the age of three years.