156 MAINE AGRICULTURAL EXPERIMENT STATION. I913- 



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 long 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, fn a 

 single year the crows desti^oyed 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 efifect 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 slight individual success and no substantial effect on the 

 steady losses. Poisoning is reported to have been used Avith 

 success in other places, but has never been tried on the Station 

 plant. It is doubtful whether it is justifiable, save under very 

 exceptional circumstances. The point is that it is difficult to 

 manage affairs in such way as to insure that only the crows 



