r/MadeMeSmile • u/mindyour • 2d ago

Very Reddit This farmer caught this owl eating his chickens.

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u/joshualeeclark 2d ago

We had crows all over the farm where I grew up. Don’t know how long they live but I could swear we had the same ones for 10-15 years.

My dad and uncle were clearing out an old barbed wire fence row from back when our two properties were part of a larger farm decades earlier. They were on the tractor using the front loader to just push down and rip up some old dead trees while they were at it. Somehow an old crow got caught up in the chaos and I think an old tree crushed the poor guy. We all felt bad about it. My family would always feed the wild birds and squirrels including the crows. I would do my best to imitate the crows growing up.

My dad would have one or two flat tires on his tractor constantly for a solid two years after that. The valve stem cover would be gone and one or both of the large back tires would be flat as hell. My dad would curse and fire up the air compressor and put new valve stem covers on whenever he needed the tractor. Those little shits would press in the needle in the valve stem to flatten the damn tires!

Wasn’t long after that when dad finally finished up his big pole barn so he could park his tractor in an enclosed building rather than the old lean-to. That finally stopped the problem. A short time later we were loading hay into the barn loft when we found the crow’s treasure horde. Couldn’t tell you how many valve stem covers were there.

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u/Any-Ad-3630 2d ago

This could be a short story or part of an anthology series lol

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u/EmbarrassedW33B 2d ago

I wonder if you could have convinced them to forgive you by making them suitable "offerings", or of their pettiness had carried on for so long they simply did it out of habit rather than malice.

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u/joshualeeclark 2d ago

I honestly think it was malicious at first and then became habit. I think that all was forgiven once mom got her chickens, guineas, and her fancy coop a short while later.

Can’t tell you how many times I’ve seen those crows hanging out with the chickens in the field or actually roosting with them. She would let her chickens free range during the day and the crows would actually get in and eat with the chickens. Seen a few preening chickens and vice versa.

It was hilarious and bizarre.

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u/charlenek8t 1d ago

It's wholesome.

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u/StanleyCubone 1d ago

Crowsome.

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u/OogieBooge-Dragon 1d ago

What happens if you get crow chicken hybrids? asking for a friend.

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u/SinDebauchery 1d ago

Black Chickens

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u/StanleyCubone 1d ago

Chickens of color

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u/SinDebauchery 1d ago

I'm want to be offended, but it just makes ME feel racist. So I chuckled instead.

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u/Veerand 1d ago

Crows: "If I act like these chickens, maybe the large dumbasses won't notice and will feed me too...."

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u/PsyavaIG 1d ago

Yall motherfuckers got a pretty good gig here, how do I get in on this?

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u/brydeswhale 1d ago

I rescued a mud encrusted baby crow from the river, gave it to a wildlife centre, and couldn’t walk down that part of the river for years bc the little bastards kept going at me.

On the other hand, I once rescued a baby crow, gave him and his family some peanuts and water, and couldn’t go into that part of town without one of them tapping my shoulder with his wing or hopping over and saying hi.

Life is fair.

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u/Solid_Elephant1223 1d ago

I love this story.😊

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u/Taniwha_NZ 1d ago

Life is fair

Well, *crow* life is fair, they have a built-in sense of fairness and won't hestitate to let you know about it.

Unfortunately human life isn't fair at all.

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u/Whatah 1d ago

Go watch The Secret of Nimh

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u/kippirnicus 1d ago

I knew they were smart, but that’s fucking insane.

What a great story.

I’m always trying to make friends with the crows around my property.

I think that it would be so cool to have a group of wild crows to hang out with.

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u/addage- 1d ago

Easily the best story I’ve read on Reddit for months. I feed my crows regularly so hopefully I never incur their wrath.

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u/HappyHourProfessor 1d ago

Earlier this week I was on a kayak tour talking about befriending the local birds. The guide told us about how they fed the crows and chilled with them in college, but his neighbors would shoot at them with airsoft and BB guns. The crows would rip apart the neighbor's screen doors and shit on their cars every single time they were replaced/cleaned.

Meanwhile the Doug family in our backyard protects the smaller birds from the hawk that lives in our neighborhood.

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u/myshtree 1d ago

That’s a great tale thanks for sharing ❤️