Could your next pet be a crow?

I read an article recently, Interesting Facts: Ravens/Crows that grabbed my attention. It triggered a memory of my husband’s cousin Will Banister, who has a pet crow! So, I asked Will how he came to have pet crows.

Will says his dad used to tell them about a crow he had when he was a kid so when Will was about 12, he says:

“We went looking for and found my first baby crow in a nest on top of a windmill, so I climbed up and got him. We took him home and fed him dry dog food soaked in water, and gave him water and bread. We kept him in a box in the house till he got feathers, then fixed him a nest, and nailed it to a tree outside so he could flap his wings and get ready to fly.”

According to the article, the studies have shown that crows can remember human faces and have demonstrated a tendency to favor both people who show them kindness and hold grudges against those who treat them poorly which holds true with Will’s recounting of his life with crows.

Will says they had so much fun and the crow liked him more than anyone because he fed him more. He says crows are ornery and he would harass the chickens and cats mostly and when Will was on his horse, Crow would dive down and hit the poor horse between the ears.

Will’s daughter called Crow the devil bird because he didn’t like her

Will says he and his last crow really bonded and he actually got jealous of anyone, human or animal. Will says, “He really hated my daughter and it was hilarious to watch him get after her when she came around!! She called him devil bird!”

His last crow died earlier than others who stayed with him for a year or longer. He has never caged them, saying, “I look at it like I want to borrow them for a while and when they get mature enough and want to fly away, I’m happy to let them go be crows.”

The article continued explaining how crows’ intelligence is comparable in some cases to that of chimpanzees, which are among the smartest members of the animal kingdom. Will’s experience with crows confirms: “Crows have so much personality and they are so smart! Each crow I’ve had was different from the rest. To me raising them and letting them be how they are is the way to do it. I had a crow one time when I lived out on a ranch that could bark like a dog!! I couldn’t tell the difference between him and the dog. I don’t know how many times I’d have to stop what I was doing to go see what the dog was barking at and it was that dang bird up on a pole barking his head off!”