My wife likes to watch the crows that stop to visit, in our back yard.

What's a good food that she can put out for the crows? She read someplace that dry cat food is good, then she read someplace else that dry cat food is bad.

Class? Anyone? SC? Marzy?

Oiled black sunflower seed.

Agree with Sunflower Seeds. But Crows are omnivores and will eat anything that wont eat them.

When I was a kid we lived in the country and my dad kept an extensive garden.. We where constantly chasing them out of the corn. Vis a vis the Scare Crow. So I would think corn would be a good food. Not on the cob, but either the whole or cracked versions. The big box home stores sell it or better yet a feed store.

Throw out a piece of Pizza - They will kill each other for it.

Crows are omnivores, scavengers, and opportunists. I’ve seen one pounding the hell out a live woodpecker that was stunned after hitting my window- it was still alive, mind you, while the crow stood on it and tried to peck it’s brains out. That being said, crows are still one of my fav birds. Soooo smart. We tamed them as kids and they were great companions.
Cat food is high in protein, but this wouldn’t be their primary source of food, so I don’t think you have much to worry about. Try a variety of different treats, they’ll show you their favorite.
More interesting: leave a “gift”… a shiny silver something, bottle cap, coin.. with some food, or incorporate some food into something, and watch. Chances are, they’ll “pay” you back with another gift. Also, they’re probably watching for your wife if she has consistent timing with her offerings, and they’ll understand when to keep an eye out. Our crows ate pretty much everything, even had a sip or 2 of beer. We would make a big point of looking around and then “hiding” some toy or treat for them. The speed with which they hopped over and uncovered our treasures after we walked away was comical. Have fun!

There are a wide range of things crows will eat.

You might want to narrow the choice of what you put out, based on what you have in your area that you don't want hanging around where you plan to feed the crows.

Crows predate on small bunnies here.
We are on crop #8 or 9 easily by now.

Well, if cost is no object, there most favored snack is cheetos.

Commercial wild bird seed is formulated to attract a wide variety of birds, mostly songbirds, but crows find it just fine as do chipmunks, squirrels. and small vermin. This concentration of meal-sized proteins attracts predators such as foxes, owls, etc. Crows are pretty smart, as are most birds, but crows especially. They will pass up a free meal if the feeder is too close to where predators congregate. They include people in that category, so if you specifically want to attract crows, being discreet is vital. E.g. put the feeder where you can see it, but they can't see you. Otherwise, the little birds will get it all.

They seem to like dry dog food

I'm sure the crows will be appreciative of just about anything you want to put out for them.

Double cheese burger and fries

I have several crows (or possibly ravens, I don't know how to tell the difference for sure) that hang out around here.

I also have a lot of peanut shells that mysteriously appear.

Perhaps I'm adding 2 and 2 and getting 5, but I get the feeling somebody is leaving peanuts in the shell out for them. I'd assume unsalted, and possibly raw.

They seem to like the corn I feed coons with.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I have several crows (or possibly ravens, I don't know how to tell the difference for sure) that hang out around here.

I also have a lot of peanut shells that mysteriously appear.

Perhaps I'm adding 2 and 2 and getting 5, but I get the feeling somebody is leaving peanuts in the shell out for them. I'd assume unsalted, and possibly raw.

Ravens are even cooler. Coarser caw, bigger bird, bigger more “Roman nose” style beak, smarter.
Salt is always a bad idea for these guys.

quote:

Originally posted by PHPaul:
I have several crows (or possibly ravens, I don't know how to tell the difference for sure) that hang out around here.

I had to learn the difference when we moved to AZ 20 years ago. Back in MD, we had crows. Here in AZ (at least in our area), there are only ravens. Ravens are larger, but that is hard to judge if you do not have a crow to compare it to.
 
Crows caw, ravens croak. It is a very distinctive difference.

quote:

Originally posted by arfmel:
They seem to like dry dog food

Crows around me take the said dry dog food and bring it to my bird bath to moisten it and then eat it. I have to constantly change the water as it is red in color with soggy bits of dog food in it.

My Conure does this with dehydrated fruits in her bird food. She rehydrates them with water and eats them. We put the leftover bird food our pet birds don’t eat out for the wild birds to eat.


ETA: Hell, now I don’t know if they are Crows, Ravens, or Grackles. I will have to find out.

I'll trade some turkey buzzards for some crows. I haven't had a crow around my place in two or three years, but I do have turkey buzzards. I have about a dozen of them roosting on my barn right now.

I wonder if they aren't becoming the dominant carrion eater and pushing the crows out....or maybe they know something I don't and they're just waiting on me.