Hi there, there is another thread going on talking about coyotes. Interesting stuff there. It is headed "Coyotes howling close by tonight" by bigoakhunter
Here are 3 seperate posts from 3 different people:
I could have written your post one night last week, BigOak. The coyotes sounded closer than ever one night and I figured they were after an injured deer or had found one. In fact I had just stepped out the back door taking the old dog out for his last tinkle, and he and I just kind of stopped in our tracks when we heard the howling closer than ever before. It was so loud and up close I at first thought it was a siren. The dog's pretty feeble and we already refer to him as coyote bait, so I made it a very short trip outside for him that night then scooted him back inside.
We had blocked where the coyotes were coming in and getting our chickens. Then yesterday they found a new place and took 8 chickens. Not even any of the young roosters I'll have to get rid of. They took: 3 young cuckoo marans (approaching laying age); silver spangled hamburg; 2 easter eggers, 1 buff orpington, white cochin.
Today they all had to stay in the chicken house until I can figure out how to confound the coyotes again. They don't come at night when the hens are locked up. They come in the middle of the day to wreak their havoc.
My backyard slopes into a stretch of conservancy, I live in a cul de sac but in town....We have a pack of coyotes that live in a ravine about as far as a couple of city blocks away. There are evenings/nights that I hear them howling less than a couple of hundred feet away from my house. I have occasionally spotted a coyote at 10 and 11 am not 75 feet from my back porch. My yard is fenced in, have never had a problem....neighbors though are big on birdfeeders all over front and backyard. And other neighbors have indoor/outdoor cats. I have seen the coyotes walking right up on their back porches. As far as keeping chickens goes....I saw more coyotes during daylight in the two years before I got chickens....peoples garbage, feeding wildlife and possibly feeding their pets outside are way bigger problems in attracting them. Not to speak of the red tailed hawks that perch in the trees near the birdfeeders..... Still no free roaming in the yard for the girls unless I am home. Otherwise it's the covered enclosed run....
Here are 3 seperate posts from 3 different people:
I could have written your post one night last week, BigOak. The coyotes sounded closer than ever one night and I figured they were after an injured deer or had found one. In fact I had just stepped out the back door taking the old dog out for his last tinkle, and he and I just kind of stopped in our tracks when we heard the howling closer than ever before. It was so loud and up close I at first thought it was a siren. The dog's pretty feeble and we already refer to him as coyote bait, so I made it a very short trip outside for him that night then scooted him back inside.
We had blocked where the coyotes were coming in and getting our chickens. Then yesterday they found a new place and took 8 chickens. Not even any of the young roosters I'll have to get rid of. They took: 3 young cuckoo marans (approaching laying age); silver spangled hamburg; 2 easter eggers, 1 buff orpington, white cochin.
Today they all had to stay in the chicken house until I can figure out how to confound the coyotes again. They don't come at night when the hens are locked up. They come in the middle of the day to wreak their havoc.
My backyard slopes into a stretch of conservancy, I live in a cul de sac but in town....We have a pack of coyotes that live in a ravine about as far as a couple of city blocks away. There are evenings/nights that I hear them howling less than a couple of hundred feet away from my house. I have occasionally spotted a coyote at 10 and 11 am not 75 feet from my back porch. My yard is fenced in, have never had a problem....neighbors though are big on birdfeeders all over front and backyard. And other neighbors have indoor/outdoor cats. I have seen the coyotes walking right up on their back porches. As far as keeping chickens goes....I saw more coyotes during daylight in the two years before I got chickens....peoples garbage, feeding wildlife and possibly feeding their pets outside are way bigger problems in attracting them. Not to speak of the red tailed hawks that perch in the trees near the birdfeeders..... Still no free roaming in the yard for the girls unless I am home. Otherwise it's the covered enclosed run....
