Thread: Where to find: crows/ravens?

Tweet

Does anyone have a good source for crows/ravens suitable for outdoors? I would like several in various poses to add to my outdoor yard haunt.

Thanks in advance,
discard

I got 2 of those standard ones you see everywhere... mine from Oriental Trading. They looked to me more like black pigeons, so I got a black bag of cheap black feathers at Hobby Lobby. I trimmed them, punched a couple of holes, and hot glued to extend the wings and especially tail feathers. I then coated them with latex and Gloss Medium. They were outdoors in all kinds of wind and rain for weeks and held up great.

http://www.halloweenforum.com/album....ictureid=26541

I got mine last October from Dollar Tree. They held up for a month through the weather, but they were starting to look rough by Halloween. This year, I painted them with black latex then spray painted them a gloss black. And hot glued their little legs back in. Hopefully, they'll make it through another October.
Michael's sells them, too, when they put their fall stuff out. But they're a little bit more expensive. But they're prettier.

i got several a few years ago at martha stewart online, they held up well, others i have bought did not do so well, i found the black dye ran when they were wet, but the MS ones did not run at all. i think Michaels cares some MS halloween stuff..

I've got a bunch if you need some. Brand new from the hallween trade show this year. $15 for a pair, shipping will be actual costs. Same for anyone else who needs any.
Sent you a pm.

Michael's craft stores carry them, but probably only around Septemeber/October.

Michaels starts stocking their crows around June/July (I remember being pleasantly surprised last year). If you sign up for their newsletter on their website, they'll send you online coupons good for 50% off one regularly priced item. Print out a bunch, and go use them when you're out and about or have a few friends with you so you can get as many as you need.

I think they end up being around $5 each for the large crow/raven.
Here is one with the wings closed (the eyeball is my creation - they don't come like that). They are about 8 inches tall and at least that long. They also have a version with the wings open and it's the same body size.


Dollar Tree has little crows, but last year's were very poor quality. Instead of the full body feathered, they were flocked with a thin coating and only had feathers on their wings and tails. BUT the price is right .

Here are the crows from 2008. They are the same size as 2009 (about 4 inches tall). You can see they aren't perfect, but they had a fully feathered body at least:

I remember someone mentioning nice ones from that outdoor/sporting goods place. I think it's called Cabalas if you have one where you live. There is also a thread where someone carved them from foam. Painted black and feathers glued on could be cheap.

You could also try gander mt or dicks they sale raven decoys they are very weather appropriate but cost a little more money

In the past I've bought my crows/blackbirds from Oriental Trading, Dollar Tree, Michaels, TJMaxx/HomeGoods, BigLots! and Tuesday Morning. So far only used them indoors. However when I set up my zombie farmer theme outside I'm planning on using them there. I'm kind of in the same boat as you. While I haven't looked that close yet at them (haven't had the need for repair), I thought for example that the DT ones were foam-based and assumed the rest might be too. I wonder if there's a protective spray I should be putting on them before taking outside to help them hold up better in the elements. Any one used one on theirs?


Here's a wikishop site for prop crows. Despite all the ones listed there I don't think any of them are weatherproof. http://www.shopwiki.com/prop+crow