Stop Crows From Picking Over Your Garden With These 4 Easy Hacks

Crows are clamorous, confident, and cunning, and like to gather in crowds. If a group decides to roost in the trees around your yard, they can become a noisy nuisance, spreading droppings, digging up delicate seedlings, and decimating your carefully tended vegetable patch.

Sending these brainy birds packing is possible, but it requires a combination of savvy strategies. Learn how to keep crows out of your garden with these humane and proven-effective methods.

Why Are Crows Attracted to Your Garden?

Nearly three-quarters of the American Crow’s diet is made up of seeds and fruits. However,  these birds are opportunistic, omnivorous foragers that aren’t fussy when it comes to food.

Busy backyards can be busting buffets for these birds. Whether that’s an easy-to-access trash can, a vegetable patch full of their favorite foods, like corn or berry-filled shrubs, or a pollinator garden laden with tasty insects. 

If your yard is surrounded by tall trees for them to nest in, that can also make it a more attractive place for them to park.

Want more gardening tips? Sign up for our free gardening newsletter for our best growing tips, troubleshooting hacks, and more!

4 Ways to Chase Crows Out of the Garden

For the best success in getting rid of clever crows from your garden, use a combination of short-term, non-lethal control methods. It’s important to regularly change things up in terms of tools, times, frequency and locations to help prevent the birds from getting habituated to things. 

1. Visual deterrents: Harassment devices include mylar tape, dead crow effigies, scarecrows, and lasers.
2. Audio deterrents: These include recorded crow distress calls, cracker shells, and propane cannons. Chatting with your neighbors about using these techniques can help keep relationships cordial, especially if you live in a busy suburban environment.
3. Motion-activated deterrents: Strategically placed sprinklers or bright fluorescent lights aimed at the roosting area can scare crows off. Even a deliberately directed spray from a high-pressure hose can help.
4. Repellents: Studies suggest that the chemical methyl anthranilate (a grape-derived food additive that is harmless to humans) acts as a deterrent to crows. It can be applied as a liquid spray or via fogging. However, it is best used in combination with other control techniques and requires regular reapplication.

How to Keep Crows Away for Good

The trouble with harassment techniques is that they might temporarily scare off crows, but if you don’t put in place other preventative strategies, the same crows or a new group will quickly return. Try the following to make your yard less attractive to crows long-term.

• Habitat modification: Thinning the branches of the large roost trees by up to 50% can reduce perch sites and cover, and encourage crows to congregate elsewhere.
• Exclusion methods: If the birds are targeting your berries, cornstalks, or apples (a fruit crows love), try covering the individual shrubs or trees with bird netting.
• Secure trash cans: Crows aren’t averse to picking through garbage for some tasty finds. Select a wildlife-proof trash can or secure the lid with a heavy stone or bungee cord to keep them out. 
• Invest in crow-proof bird feeders: If you still want to attract other smaller birds to your yard, keep crows away from bird feeders by selecting a style that these bigger birds can’t access, and regularly clean up any dropped seed.

When to Call a Professional 

If the crows keep coming despite your best efforts, it might be time to call a wildlife control specialist. This is particularly true when large numbers are becoming a health hazard or major nuisance. They can help you adapt your deterrent and exclusion strategies to best effect.