A coyote found my chickens and I am in a panic

[cmom]

I have electric now around my pens and since I have heard critters come in contact with the hot wires but have not lost any more birds until recently when a fox dug under a gate even though there was wire there. I fixed it now but the fox was around during the day too.

 

[srm220]

A coyote is not overly easy to trap, they are one of the smartest species of fur bearing animal around, to catch one you must know what you are doing, they are very sensitive to human scent and if you leave any around your trap setup they will not go near it no matter what you bait it with.

Maybe you should just leave human scent all over the coop...

 

[MariaNJ]

A coyote got five of my girls Saturday night. We are devastated, as they were our first flock (from last year). The remaining four and the roo are quite shaken, and barely come out of the coop. Will they relax any? Maybe it's not good for them to relax too much, but I hate to see them so scared. Also, I'm torn about letting them out of the run during the day (when I am home with the dogs out in their run). I like this semi-free range option, but I wonder if it helped spread the word about their presence. Thoughts?

 

[blucoondawg]

Maybe you should just leave human scent all over the coop...

Ya, too bad that doesn't work.

 

[chickengeorgeto]

....turned around there was a coyote stareing right at me. ... I am worried it will come back after my animals now that it knows where there is a food source. So I guess my questions are Will it come back, [?] will it bring in more of them, [?] can they get through chicken wire and fenceing, what can I do to keep them away from here, [?] as crazy as this seems will it try to jump or dig to get into then pens?

The problem most of us have with predators now is that the vermin have lost all fear and respect for Homo Sapians. This is especially so for hawks, coyotes, raccoons, and foxes.

If you want to see a bold coyote take a peek at this one. Coyotes view humans (especially our old and young) now like we are a tall sub-sandwich.

I suspect that there was a lot of human scent around when this lady was walking her dog.

 

[cmom]

That was quite a video...

 

[chickengeorgeto]

Around here coyotes or anything else comes after chickens any time of year, all it takes is for them to be hungry and know where the easy meal is, your best bet is killing them...

What blucoondawg means is that the coyotes eating your chickins are NOT starving nor are they at death's door from malnutrition as some want you to believe. The reason that coyotes use your chicken coop as their personial Stop and Shop is more like this....

Papa Coyote: "Honey" (as daddy Coyote picks up the remote control) .... "Hows about fixing me and the kids some of your tasty bloody chicken sandwiches before the game starts."

Mama Coyote: "Yes, I'm hungry too. You know how it is? You eat a couple of those Chinese ring neck pheasants for dinner and in 30 minutes your hungry again."

Mama Coyote calling from the Coyote's kitchen: "Oh Darling, we are all out of bloody chicken, I served the last of it today to my bridge club. While I slip into something more comfortable, why don't you be a sweet heart and run down to that nice woman's chicken coop and get us two chickens, one for tonight's sandwiches and one for the kids to eat tomorrow before soccer practice."

Fade to black as Papa Coyote bolts from the Coyote's den with a gleam in his eye and bloody hen murder in his K9 heart.