Very true.
Feeding that particular raven? He was helping himself by murdering one of my best layer hens. I don’t have many. That did taint our relationship right from the start.
I HAVE tried feeding them in the yard. They are SOOO very careful when approaching food. I’ve seen them stamp their feet near the food as though to set off a trap. I’ve seen them approach, then jump suddenly back. It takes them a long time to actually steal the grub (usually eggs, once my hen gets over her trauma and splitting headache and takes her PTSD drugs). It’s a good thing ravens live so long since I think it might take most of their lifetime to actually tame one.

That’s not how you create friendships xD that sounds like the spanish “colonization”. If you had tried to give him food i’m sure he’d go back.

Yeah, I don’t kill them. I call my place Sanctuary Sylvan. Very rarely do I cut a living tree, and then only for the most serious of reasons (like shading the garden, although rarely). Even more rarely do I call on the Fish and Wildlife people to help me with my problems … most are college educated and have only “elitist” exposure to the real web of life around my place … they don’t see the daily doings of critters locally. I refer to them often for large population data, though, and I do have some friends among the service.
I DO NOT deal with the forestry people, since their philosophy has degenerated into creative deforestation.

Black birds are specifically differentiated from both crows and ravens. Black birds are smaller than either of the foregoing, and SING. Crows are not so melodious, and as much as I love Ravens, I”m afraid that Tom Waits is better than any of them. I love the trilling song of the RedWing Blackbird, which is complicated and beautiful. I think Ravens have a much broader vocabulary, but for music you’d be better off with the tiny, tinny speakers of your cellphone.

I can’t really say. I DO know tho’ that Ravens are wonderfully intelligent and I am sure they can count. I nearly caught one in my chicken coop that was working to crack the skull of a hen, picking on her head repeatedly right behind her comb. He flew as I came through the door. (I very nearly caught his legs as he went by. Wish I had, I would have loved to try to create a friendship.) I have often fed them … and if an egg is lying in the yard, they approach the egg, stomping on the ground with a foot, as though the egg were sitting on a loaded trap. Very smart birds.

Here in Montana the Ravens (capitalized, eh?) are large birds. I have a scull that must measure over 4 inches from tip of beak to the back of the bird’s head. Up in Alaska the ravens are much smaller … one insistent fellow opened up my lunch brownbag and ate my lunch leftovers right beside me as I sat and lettered a boat. Crows are everywhere, but do not have the mystique that the Ravens have. Our little clique of folks call ourselves the Raven Clan. Those birds are smart. They can work in solitude or in flocks.

P.S., If you live in the USA, you may want check with your local warden or wildlife officer before killing a Raven. In the USA Ravens are federally protected and most states have additional laws protecting them. You may well be in the clear by protecting your poultry, but many fish and wildlife agencies want to handle it themselves even in those situations.

Whoever told you Ravens were extinct must not have been to western North America. Where the Taiga’s southern fingers come down into the USA, my present home and on and off work place for over a half a century, Ravens are very often the most common bird encountered in any specific area. Although they will be seen anywhere, even in the most remote areas uninhabited by humans, Ravens and people go together. Playgrounds, store parking lots, fields and refuse dumps all attract them by the many thousands. Native American tribes to the west and to the north of here consider the bird holy. The Common Raven to British Colombians is like the Bald Eagle to the USA, highway signs in B.C. feature the Raven. Of course, Ravens aren’t confined to North America. They’re still found in Europe, Asia throughout Siberia, and unless I’m mistaken, they still inhabit the Near and Middle East where their presence was first recorded.