How To Stop Crows From Destroying My Lawn? 12 Proven Methods
Someone sent me an email last week. And asked me how to stop crows from destroying my lawn? She is a garden lover. But crows are making problems. So, BirdEver decided to write an article on the topic. Hope it will be helpful for you too.
Let’s go to read!
Yes, crows are a nuisance to have around. They can be aggressive and noisy, plus they love to eat your lawn! If you’re tired of crows invading your property, then this blog post is for you. You’ll learn how to prevent crows from coming onto your property in the first place. And what products to use if they do come onto your property. Finally, how to get rid of them once they’ve invaded.
CAUTION!
How To Stop Crows From Destroying My Lawn?
Crows are beautiful, intelligent animals that are often misunderstood. They are not the structurally soundest birds out there. But they can be very useful in agriculture and refuse disposal. The problem with crows is that when they’re looking for a place to roost at night. So they’ll usually end up nesting in people’s yards or gardens. That can make for some pretty ugly lawns!
Why Do Crows Destroy Lawns?
Crows eat a lot of prey during the day. But at night, their diets consist mostly of grains and seeds. So that makes up a large part of your lawn’s diet too! The crow problem arises when crows mistake their food source for another. Throughout the course of a year, one crow can destroy dozens of square feet from your lawn in search of food.
I imagine that if you’re only seeing one crow coming onto your property to find his dinner, there’s probably around approximately 20 other crows living in the approximately 100ft radius surrounding you. Especially those who come to visit about twice a day or more during certain seasons!
Prevent Destruction From Crows
If you want to prevent destruction from crows, then you should follow some tricks. Here are 12 proven methods including fake crow, removing bird feeder, chafer beetle, magpie, lawn pests, beneficial insects & chinch bug, etc. These methods can solve your crow problem.
1. Scare Crow With Loud Noises
If you’ve got crows, then you’ll probably have loud noises too. Usually in the form of “cawing”. Crows are pretty noisy animals! But if you want to stop the crows from coming onto your property in the first place, then there are a couple of things that you can do with these loud cawing noises. You can play crow sounds onto your property with speakers on a string. And swing it around in circles above your head. Especially when you see a crow coming. This will scare the crow off your property and send him back to where came from. Hopefully leaving behind his crow buddies who will receive the message loud and clear.
2. Plant A Scarecrow
If you want even more luck scaring crows off your property, then install a scarecrow! Crows have an amazing sense of smell. So they’ll be totally freaked out by any homemade or store-bought human scent that you can spray onto your scarecrow. That is supposed to represent you. Not only will crows keep away. But other animals like skunks won’t’ want to come around either!
3. Don’t Feed The Birds
You may think this one’s counterintuitive: don’t feed the birds. But it works! If you stop feeding birds (specifically crows) in your area, then they won’t think there’s anything in it for them to come around. This is because crows are social animals. They think that the area belongs to the whole group, not just one individual crow. So if you stop feeding birds in your yard, then you’ll likely see a decrease in the number of crows that show up.
4. Install A Scarecrow With A Shotgun
If scaring crows away doesn’t work, then scare them away with a shotgun! At least make sure your scarecrow has a gun. I kid I kid! But seriously, try laying out some old CDs or shiny stones on the lawn to make noise. Especially when the crows land. This will send them running for their lives since they hate loud noises.
5. Use A Crow Repellent
If scarecrows or loud noises don’t work, then it’s time to bring out the big guns. In this case, the small can. There are a number of animal repellants you can buy at your local garden supply store that will help keep crows away too. Just make sure you follow all label instructions carefully before using any product on your lawn! The last thing you want is for your grass to die. Because you sprayed too much chicken manure onto the soil surface expecting the crows will stay away. But they just come back tomorrow anyway!
6. Don’t Plant Grass For Them To Eat
This one may sound obvious. But if you don’t want to attract crows, don’t plant something they eat. Because they like grass seed very much. I have several tulip bulbs planted on my lawn. That the crows LOVE! But since I didn’t want to attract any birds into my yard, I dug up all of the tulips and put them away for next year.
Anyway, if the best way to prevent crows from destroying your grass is to not have any grass at all. Then go ahead and tear out your lawn! Replace it with dirt or rocks instead. So that will definitely keep those pesky birds away. Just remember that you can still attract other types of nuisance animals like skunks and geese. Those might end up being worse than having a few scraggly patches in your lawn where nothing grows.
7. Act The Enemy
If you already have a big group of crows hanging out around your property, then scare them off by acting like an enemy. You can do this by stomping loudly or carrying a stick to make it look like you are large and in charge. Then the crows will take off for someone else’s lawn without any crow snacks!
8. Scare Them With A Motion Sensor Sprinkler
If all else fails, use technology to scare those crows away! For example, during my childhood I had a “scarecrow” that was connected to the water faucet on our hose bib. So whenever we turned on the hose he would start moving around randomly making very loud noises. Almost like a real scarecro). In addition to scaring crows, that motion sensor sprinkler was great for scaring them like pest.
9. Scare Them With A Crow Call
If you want to catch the attention of the crows then try using a crow call in your yard. Not only will this startle any crows that are looking for trouble. But it will also get the attention of other crows who might be passing by if you do it loud enough. And they’ll take off because they know another crow is getting attacked! This works particularly well right before dark when all of the crows are returning to their nests. So make sure you use this tactic early in the evening before it gets too dark outside.
10. Trim Your Hedge
Another great way to keep crows away is to prune your hedges and shrubs. So they are not as big or dense enough for the crows to make a home inside. Just be sure you don’t trim any low-hanging branches. Then the crows will be able to perch on top of them! If you have hedges around your property, then it’s also important that you clip all of the dead flowers (not dead crow) off too. Because the smell will attract beetles. That is what the crows eat most of all.
11. Prune Your Tree Branches
If you have big and mature trees in your yard, then prune all of the branches. Especially those are located within 5 feet of the ground. Crows like to use these low-hanging branches as an area for sleeping at night when they roost. So if you remove them then you will deter the crows from ever coming back. The best time to prune your tree is late autumn or winter while it’s dormant. Because this reduces the chance of disease or insects getting inside once it starts growing again in the springtime.
12. Spray Them With Water
This may sound a little silly. But did you know that crows absolutely HATE water? Yes, even birds get scared when they get wet! So if you want to scare off a crow that is causing problems, then grab your garden hose and spray them with water! Then they’ll fly away as fast as their wings will take them.
FAQs
Here are some frequently asked questions including answers on preventing crows from a lawn. Let’s go to read these quick answers to get a rapid solution.
Why are crows attacking my lawn?
Crows are attacking your lawn because they are looking for food. This might consist of worms, grasshoppers, bugs, fruits, seeds (grass seed), etc. Just about anything is considered fair game by these hungry creatures! So the best way to keep them away is to use one of our methods above and ignore them while you feed your dog or cat.
How can I stop crows from digging up my yard?
You need to be very firm and consistent with how you approach this situation. If you ever see a crow digging in your yard then immediately run over and scare it off before it retreats to safety. Then you should drop some kind of crow deterrents in your yard. Such as bird netting over the area that was just dug up. So the crow cannot get back to his fresh food source.
How do I stop birds from destroying my lawn?
Birds like crows can destroy your lawn by digging it up looking for food or simply. Because they want to use the area as a restroom. If you don’t want these creatures anywhere near your property, then you should try one of our 12 methods above and hope that it works!
How do I keep crows away from my fruit trees?
Crows are ruthless when it comes to finding anything with any form of nutritional value (such as fruit). So how can you keep them away without harming yourself or the animals around you? Well, first let’s see how many ways you can use to scare them off using our list above.
Why are birds tearing up my lawn?
Birds are tearing up your healthy lawn because they are either looking for sod webworm or other grass root to eat. Or because it’s the perfect place to take a quick dust bath. Keep in mind that not all birds do this but crows. So if you want to know to stop crows from destroying my lawn then simply read our 12 methods above!
How can I get rid of crows?
If you want how to get rid of crows, then use one of the 12 methods shown on stop crows from destroying lawn. These proven tactics will work for sure!
What are signs of grubs in lawn?
One of the signs of white grubs in your lawn is when you go outside to cut the grass and find lots of earthworm castings from last night’s digging. If that’s not enough, then you should check for big round holes in the ground that are about 3 inches in diameter. These might have a little soil missing within them. But you will definitely be able to distinguish chafer grub infestation from the other holes around your yard. Because you dug lawn grubs.
Final Words
There are many different ways to stop crows from destroying your lawn. We’ve compiled 12 of the most effective methods for you here. So take a look at what works best for you and your yard. Once you have found one that suits both crow prevention and budget needs, just follow these steps!
If none of these approaches work in your specific situation or if you want more tips on how to keep birds away in general, please feel free to contact us with any questions or concerns about bird control.