steve Ypsi
04-29-2003, 11:08 PM
Pete the pet crow and the funny things they do
I believe it was around the spring of 1955 when me and my brother wanted a crow for a pet.
We found a nest near Bunton and Woodlawn court
I don't remember what month it was, we watched the mother until she started feeding the babies., I climbed the tree and the babies were stone naked, I left them, waited about 7 to 10 day period, they now had feathers but about 50 percent skin showing, this was important I found later. I took one from the nest
We hand fed him and we named him Pete, they have to be fed about every two hours, we fed him nightcrawlers,worms bugs and when we didn't have that it was bread soaked in milk.
He grew fast, in about 5 or six weeks he was about grown. The following are short stories on what he did, he was a real comic.
Pete would follow us around like a dog, he would land on your shoulder and peck at our nose hairs, he was always gentle, he would make little sounds I can't describe while pulling on nose hairs.
He mimicked a small dog we had, this dog wasn't much bigger than the crow. In that summer when Pete was able to fly this dog had 3 pups, she had them in a little depression of sand by the corner of the house, Pete being curious flew down and walked over to the pups and pulled ones tail, he didn't do it mean or hard but the pup whimpered and the mother came flying around the corner and right on top of Pete, what a sound, snarling and caw caw caw and feathers and hair flew, I was right there and screamed at the dog, she stopped and Pete walked away cawing softly, it was like he was saying come on if you want some more, neither was hurt at all, Pete learned after that, he would wait until the mother left the babies and when she was a good distance he would fly down silent, pull a tail and quickly fly back up on the roof cackling while the mother came back on a full run. one day he misjudged and she caught him again, lucky for Pete that dog was not a good fighter and small as she was it was almost a even match, feathers and fur flew again, this time before I could holler at the dog she stopped fighting with Pete and went to check her pups, Pete walked away again like he had won but he never bothered the pups again.
We raised chickens, all types for eggs mostly, we had a area about 75 X 75 fenced with a house and nesting area to the far side in the center of the fence. We had a Rooster, what we called a Dominecker, he was so mean he would spur us when we weren't looking, he got kicked like a football but it made no difference he would still get you if you didn't keep your eye on him. there were about 12 to 15 Hens, in the heat of the day they would be under a nest box that was 4 feet off the ground staying cool and dusting. on the opposite side of the pen was a water trough for the chickens, it was about 4 feet long, 2 2 X10 's nailed at a angle making a vee, on the ends were 2 X 10's about a foot and half long nailed to form the trough.
Well one day Pete not Knowing chicken's hate other birds and ones that come out of the sky. Pete flew down to the pen with the mean dominecker watching him, Pete got into the trough and was taking a bath, well the mean rooster was across that pen with the hens following him on the run, in a flash they covered that 60 or so feet, it would have been comical but that mean rooster was all over Pete and the hens throwing a peck every so often, Pete got under that V of the trough and tried to fight back but they were putting the hurt on him, I ran into the pen and kicked that rooster about 10 feet side ways in the air and started smacking the hens, they ran off, I picked up Pete and He was cooing and cawing, he mostly had his feeling hurt. Pete got even over that Summer, he learned to Cackle like a chicken, he would do this from the roof of the house and the hens would come out from under that nest shelter when they heard him and when they were in the center of the pen he would launch off that roof like a hawk in a hard dive right at those chickens, what a sight, Those chickens have a natural fear of birds from the sky and would almost flip inside out turning to run for their lives to the over hang of the nest box. Pete would circle and fly back onto the peak of that 2 story and cackle like he was saying take that.
My mother swore she hated that Crow but that day the rooster caught him she was out making sure he was all right. The reason she didn't like him was one day she was hanging clothes on the clothes line, well Pete flew down silently and landed on the clothes line, he was about 10 feet down the line and she was hanging clothes working away from Pete, He had a new game, He walked along that line pulling the clothes pins dropping the clothes on the ground, I saw this from the house window, well about the 10 th piece of fresh washed clothes fell and my mother saw him out of the corner of her eye, she called him many names, S.O.B and other choice ones and ran at him, well Pete just flew up on the roof and make his little weird sounds, My mother got a straw broom out of the house and shook off the clothes and rehung them, Now she was watching for him, well Pete made that short flight down onto the line, My mother was after him swinging that straw broom back and forth like a mad woman, of course Pete was to fast for her and got away.
My mother also hated it because Pete would sleep in a small woods behind our house and at Day break he would fly down and peck at the kitchen widow until some one got up to play with him. One day he flew out to meet some wild crows , well they chased him back to the house. when he was in this woods about 500 ft from the house we would call his name and he would come out of there like a bullet and land on our shoulders and coo to us.
He was a little leary of strangers. One day one of the neighbors from down the street came over and wanted to pet him, well Pete would fly off, I asked the Kid if he had any thing shiny, well he had a 50 cent piece, I told him to hold it out when Pete landed on My shoulder when I called him back, The kid did, when the $.50 got in range Pete grabbed it and off he went to the peak of the house, man was the kid up set, Pete played with it up there and finally tired of it and it slid down into a gutter, we had to borrow a ladder to get his money.
Pete terrified our half wild cat by dive bombing him when he wasn't aware of Pete, I saw him do this many times, that cat would jump 3 or 4 feet straight in the air and each time Pete made that fighter plane dive at the cat and then flew up on that roof and I swore he was laughing with those cooing cawwing sounds.
He could bark like a dog, he clucked like a chicken , He said what sounded like Pete.
he was such a baby, always gentle with his little pecking in your nose or ears while making these cooing sounds. well the summer wore on and then school started, he didn't get a lot of attention now we were back in school, we didn't see him some days and then he would appear when we called him, well some time in late Oct or early Nov he didn't return any more, I think he joined up with the wild crows.
We tried again to raise 2 babies, they were more fully feathered when we took them, they were not ever close at all like Pete was, either having 2 or them or two late taking them and they wouldn't imprint with us like birds do. they flew off after just a few months.
Steve Ypsi
I believe it was around the spring of 1955 when me and my brother wanted a crow for a pet.
We found a nest near Bunton and Woodlawn court
I don't remember what month it was, we watched the mother until she started feeding the babies., I climbed the tree and the babies were stone naked, I left them, waited about 7 to 10 day period, they now had feathers but about 50 percent skin showing, this was important I found later. I took one from the nest
We hand fed him and we named him Pete, they have to be fed about every two hours, we fed him nightcrawlers,worms bugs and when we didn't have that it was bread soaked in milk.
He grew fast, in about 5 or six weeks he was about grown. The following are short stories on what he did, he was a real comic.
Pete would follow us around like a dog, he would land on your shoulder and peck at our nose hairs, he was always gentle, he would make little sounds I can't describe while pulling on nose hairs.
He mimicked a small dog we had, this dog wasn't much bigger than the crow. In that summer when Pete was able to fly this dog had 3 pups, she had them in a little depression of sand by the corner of the house, Pete being curious flew down and walked over to the pups and pulled ones tail, he didn't do it mean or hard but the pup whimpered and the mother came flying around the corner and right on top of Pete, what a sound, snarling and caw caw caw and feathers and hair flew, I was right there and screamed at the dog, she stopped and Pete walked away cawing softly, it was like he was saying come on if you want some more, neither was hurt at all, Pete learned after that, he would wait until the mother left the babies and when she was a good distance he would fly down silent, pull a tail and quickly fly back up on the roof cackling while the mother came back on a full run. one day he misjudged and she caught him again, lucky for Pete that dog was not a good fighter and small as she was it was almost a even match, feathers and fur flew again, this time before I could holler at the dog she stopped fighting with Pete and went to check her pups, Pete walked away again like he had won but he never bothered the pups again.
We raised chickens, all types for eggs mostly, we had a area about 75 X 75 fenced with a house and nesting area to the far side in the center of the fence. We had a Rooster, what we called a Dominecker, he was so mean he would spur us when we weren't looking, he got kicked like a football but it made no difference he would still get you if you didn't keep your eye on him. there were about 12 to 15 Hens, in the heat of the day they would be under a nest box that was 4 feet off the ground staying cool and dusting. on the opposite side of the pen was a water trough for the chickens, it was about 4 feet long, 2 2 X10 's nailed at a angle making a vee, on the ends were 2 X 10's about a foot and half long nailed to form the trough.
Well one day Pete not Knowing chicken's hate other birds and ones that come out of the sky. Pete flew down to the pen with the mean dominecker watching him, Pete got into the trough and was taking a bath, well the mean rooster was across that pen with the hens following him on the run, in a flash they covered that 60 or so feet, it would have been comical but that mean rooster was all over Pete and the hens throwing a peck every so often, Pete got under that V of the trough and tried to fight back but they were putting the hurt on him, I ran into the pen and kicked that rooster about 10 feet side ways in the air and started smacking the hens, they ran off, I picked up Pete and He was cooing and cawing, he mostly had his feeling hurt. Pete got even over that Summer, he learned to Cackle like a chicken, he would do this from the roof of the house and the hens would come out from under that nest shelter when they heard him and when they were in the center of the pen he would launch off that roof like a hawk in a hard dive right at those chickens, what a sight, Those chickens have a natural fear of birds from the sky and would almost flip inside out turning to run for their lives to the over hang of the nest box. Pete would circle and fly back onto the peak of that 2 story and cackle like he was saying take that.
My mother swore she hated that Crow but that day the rooster caught him she was out making sure he was all right. The reason she didn't like him was one day she was hanging clothes on the clothes line, well Pete flew down silently and landed on the clothes line, he was about 10 feet down the line and she was hanging clothes working away from Pete, He had a new game, He walked along that line pulling the clothes pins dropping the clothes on the ground, I saw this from the house window, well about the 10 th piece of fresh washed clothes fell and my mother saw him out of the corner of her eye, she called him many names, S.O.B and other choice ones and ran at him, well Pete just flew up on the roof and make his little weird sounds, My mother got a straw broom out of the house and shook off the clothes and rehung them, Now she was watching for him, well Pete made that short flight down onto the line, My mother was after him swinging that straw broom back and forth like a mad woman, of course Pete was to fast for her and got away.
My mother also hated it because Pete would sleep in a small woods behind our house and at Day break he would fly down and peck at the kitchen widow until some one got up to play with him. One day he flew out to meet some wild crows , well they chased him back to the house. when he was in this woods about 500 ft from the house we would call his name and he would come out of there like a bullet and land on our shoulders and coo to us.
He was a little leary of strangers. One day one of the neighbors from down the street came over and wanted to pet him, well Pete would fly off, I asked the Kid if he had any thing shiny, well he had a 50 cent piece, I told him to hold it out when Pete landed on My shoulder when I called him back, The kid did, when the $.50 got in range Pete grabbed it and off he went to the peak of the house, man was the kid up set, Pete played with it up there and finally tired of it and it slid down into a gutter, we had to borrow a ladder to get his money.
Pete terrified our half wild cat by dive bombing him when he wasn't aware of Pete, I saw him do this many times, that cat would jump 3 or 4 feet straight in the air and each time Pete made that fighter plane dive at the cat and then flew up on that roof and I swore he was laughing with those cooing cawwing sounds.
He could bark like a dog, he clucked like a chicken , He said what sounded like Pete.
he was such a baby, always gentle with his little pecking in your nose or ears while making these cooing sounds. well the summer wore on and then school started, he didn't get a lot of attention now we were back in school, we didn't see him some days and then he would appear when we called him, well some time in late Oct or early Nov he didn't return any more, I think he joined up with the wild crows.
We tried again to raise 2 babies, they were more fully feathered when we took them, they were not ever close at all like Pete was, either having 2 or them or two late taking them and they wouldn't imprint with us like birds do. they flew off after just a few months.
Steve Ypsi