84 METHODS OF POUI/TRY MANAGEMENT. 



the experimental breeding work with poultry at the Maine Sta- 

 tion it is necessary to keep account of every bird on the plant. 

 It has, therefore, on this account been possible to check up and 

 form an adequate estimate of the losses due to the creatures 

 that prey upon poultry. A good deal of attention has been 

 devoted to the problem of how these losses may be cut down 

 and the results of this experience may be of benefit to other 

 poultry keepers. 



In the experience of this Station the most destructive natural 

 enemy of poultry in the long run has been found to be the 

 crow. The depredations of the hawks are more spectacular 

 perhaps, but in the Jong run far less destructive. A hawk will 

 only visit a poultry yard occasionally, and especially if he is shot 

 at once or twice will be very wary about approaching it again. 

 On the contrary the crow is a steady and persistent robber. He 

 will continue his depredations just as long as it is physically 

 possible for him to do so. While there may be some doubt as to 

 whether crows are beneficial or harmful as regards other phases 

 of agriculture, there can be no question that, so far as the 

 poultry man is concerned, the only good crow is a dead one. For 

 a number of years the crows killed and either carried away, or 

 left behind partly eaten, a large number of chicks on the Station 

 poultry plant. The losses were not by any means confined to 

 the small chicks, but half grown birds, each nearly equal in 

 weight to the crow itself, were killed, partly eaten, and left 

 behind on the range. 



One after another all the devices which had been suggested 

 by others, or could be thought of by those in charge of the 

 poultry work, were tried in order to stop these ravages. In a 

 single year the crows destroyed something over 500 chicks. 

 One important reason for these heavy losses is the location of 

 our poultry range. It borders upon a pine forest in which the 

 crows congregate in great numbers. In the case of a range 

 farther from the woods the losses, without protection, would 

 not be nearly so heavy. Various sorts of "scare-crows" were 

 tried but with no effect whatever. Dead crows were hung up 

 on stakes about the yards as solemn warnings to their fellows, 

 but instead of operating as warnings they appeared rather to 

 serve as "invitations to the dance." Decoying the birds in 

 various ways so that they might be shot was tried, but with very 



