How To Protect Crops From Crows? 5 Best Crow Deterrent

How to protect crops from crows

While the topic is about crops damage, no other bird than crows come into focus. Landowners and farmers know the struggle of dealing with crows during the growing and harvesting season, especially if it is a cornfield, the pain, and damage by crows multiples by so many times.

Many birds are valuable for farmers since they eat insect pests and provide critical benefits in farming. However, crows don’t come under that category.

Crows being highly social and intelligent birds damage things around just for fun. Even when you aren’t hungry, they will poke into your beautifully grown vegetables.

But, But, But, the good thing is there are several guaranteed ways to outsmart the pesky crows. From deterring devices to tips and tricks, we have a whole lot of treasure for you.

Let’s get started:

How do I stop crows from eating my crops?

The best way of stopping crows from eating crops is by scaring them. And the best method for the same is the timeless scarecrows.

For ages and across the world, farmers have been swearing by scarecrows for keeping their crops safe. If you have ever been to the countryside, you may have seen fields jeweled with them. So why not bring down this suggestion to your own farm.

Either DIY an old-school scarecrow yourself or buy a readymade one. You can find many options for them at your local farming store or even at some of the departmental stores. Or seek the marketplace during Halloween time as it is when some excellent scarecrow decorative options are available.

TIP: Scarecrows work their best if they are moved around quickly.

How do I keep crows out of my vegetable garden?

Crows are super intelligent omnivorous, and they feed on both plants and animals. From nuts to berries, apples to mushrooms, they will munch on almost every fruit and vegetable from your garden.

Though because you actually won’t want that to happen, start preparing for safety since the sprouting season.

  • Cover the entire spread of your garden with anti-bird protection nets during the bird season. You can also cover the vegetable sections separately.
  • These nets are highly flexible, durable and also UV-resistance. They won’t let your vegetable garden suffocate but make it breathable enough.
  • Most bird protection nets are made up of rot-free plastic, and hence nothing from rain and other outdoor conditions can actually damage them.
  • Netting is an inexpensive method and doesn’t require frequent monitoring like another bird repellent. Once settled, you can rest assured for months after that.
  • These nets are lightweight and have great tensile strength, making them more flexible. Even upon netting your vegetation closely, you aren’t putting any external pressure on their growth/ height.

TIP: For planting a bird protection net in your garden, always create support first. For that, you can either use the surrounding trees or mark wooden sticks around the vegetation ground.

Besides an anti-bird net, you can also use chicken wire and fishing wire for the same purpose.

How do you stop crows eating apples? Do crows eat apples?

Crows love fruits, and apple is one of their favorites to munch on. And without using bird control measures, you may end up with several half-eaten apples every season. Here are some of the ultimate methods that can help you from keeping your apples safe from crows and other birds:

  • After pollination, cover your apple trees/ garden with exclusive nesting. This will keep crows from accessing and eating the red ripping apples.
  • Cut out long strips of flash tape and hang it all around the apple trees in your garden. Flash tapes basically act as streamers for keeping crows away. The best you can use are holographic flash tapes, old mirrors, and old CDs.
  • Wrap fishing line all around your apple trees.
  • Use owl/ hawk decoys. Crows, though, are a popular bully, but they are a little afraid of owls. For reducing their risk of predation, crows at times try attacking owls, but it is always the latter one who wins. Hence, taking that into consideration, you can hang owl decoys in your apple trees. Go for one with glowing eyes, a moving head, and a built-in speaker for the best results. Also, keep changing decoys’ position to imitate them as real.
  • Lastly, you can also mount multiple small to medium-sized shinning windmills throughout your apple orchard. What they basically do is confuse and blind crow’s visibility.

How do I stop crows eating barley?

When winter Barley starts to mature, the problem of crows eating and destroying them also begins. Farmers across the country lose a considerable amount of their products just because of the nuisance created by birds. Hence, if you too are amongst them, here are some of the preventive measures you can follow:

  • Hang Hawk kites or Helium Balloons on your farm. These aren’t just for keeping your boat safe from birds but also work in fields. Considering the size of the field, hang one, two or multiple of them within a certain distance. Seeing them close won’t dare to come close.
  • Or Plant a sound machine in your Barley fields. These machines play loud and disruptive noise or predator’s call for deterring crows away.

How do you stop crows from pulling corn?

  • Cover your cornfield with anti-bird netting. It is inexpensive and quite easy to place. Also, not just from birds, but it will also keep your corn safe from deer, squirrels, monkeys and other possible wildlife.
  • Plant one or two sound deterrents somewhere in your cornfield. Upon sensing any movement around, they will start operating predator voice which won’t trouble you but will scarecrows.
  • Hang a dead crow in your cornfield. Crows get nervous seeing a dead crow and leave the place, sensing danger. This trick will work wonderfully to keep your corn crop safe.
  • Play danger crow sound in your crop field. Just like upon seeing a dead crow, live crows also take distress signals from other crows real and consider leaving the place. Search for such audios on YouTube and play them to deter crows.

How do I stop crows digging up my garden?

Upon seeing crows digging up in your garden, you may wonder Why? They do so simply for searching for food. They look for insects, likely grubs and larval insects. And the only way you can stop them from doing so is by reducing their ground/ soil food source.

Here is how you can stop crows from digging up your garden soil:

Use Grub Killer

Grubs are an effective food source for crows, and you need to reduce them foremost. For that, you can use a variety of Grub killers.

You can find them at your local plant store, with your Gardner, or at any e-commerce platform.

Use Motion-activated Sprinkler

Birds, including crows, are scared of the sudden movement or water spray. Hence consider using a motion-activated sprinkler in your garden. It won’t only stop crows from digging up the soil but also irrigate your land.

Provide them food somewhere else

Feeding crows is a common culture in Asia, especially in Indian households. By doing so, they reduce the nuisance crows would have created while searching for food in their garden. Hence, consider placing a crow feeder or a simple bowl with nuts, grain, etc.

Wrapping up…

Crows are the cleverest bird, but the idea here is to outsmart them. We never emphasize killing or harming birds, but you can always get rid of them humanely. Though with a humane method, the primary key is consistency.