Coyote by the run

[NancyNurseCxMama]

Went out tonight to close up the coop which is totally enclosed in a run which is totally enclosed in hardware cloth with hardware cloth buried and extending from the perimeter.
When I saw the coyote near the run I yelled "COYOTE!!!" and it took off like a shot. Left coyote poop behind. No evidence of digging or attempt to get into the run.
It was barely sunset and the girls had just marched into the coop. Pop door was open but run was secured.
So....no free ranging for us. EVER.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Coyotes are bold. It will probably come back to check out your chickens again.

 

[Lonnie B]

Now would be the time to set some foot hold traps around your run to take care of this problem.

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

Coyotes are bold. It will probably come back to check out your chickens again.

I'm sure it will. My yelling "COYOTE!!!" had the effect of startling it but if it senses a free meal it will be back.
We are loaded with raccoons, foxes, coyotes, mink, weasels, hawks, owls, feral cats, and neighborhood dogs.
Neighbors just had two chickens taken by another neighbor's bird dogs. Restitution was made but still....
The neighbor who had his chickens taken is a free-ranger. Correction: he is an ignorer. He has a too-small coop, no run, no fencing, no guard dogs. In other words, he doesn't give a flying fajita whether his chickens are safe or not. He lets them free range when no one is around to detect and protect. Lets them out and goes to work. He has lost quite a few more than the two taken by the bird dogs.
He loves his eggs so he keeps buying more layers.
I love the idea of free ranging. My chickens would no doubt have a ball checking out our property. But the fun would end pretty quickly, I think, and it would not be pretty.

 

[oldhenlikesdogs]

Mine free range, but we have donkeys and goats to help keep watch. Most years I'm fine. A few years back a young coyote took 10 of my birds before my husband got a good shot at him. It learned quickly when my husband left for work and I got out to my shed. For some reason the donkeys did nothing to it. My husband had to take time off from work to try to catch it in the act. After about a month he finally did in the dead of night, we had bought a night vision scope just to get this coyote.

They are the worse predator to deal with because they are so smart, and will come out any time of the day. It will probably move on to the neighbors after checking out your coop thoroughly.

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

Now would be the time to set some foot hold traps around your run to take care of this problem.

Honestly, I don't think that would do much. From the sounds of the coyote greetings at 3 am there are plenty of them out there. Along with the other predators I believe that it would be a losing battle if we started doing things like that.
And I personally could not stomach doing that to a wild animal. YMMV, of course, but for me...no. Lots of kids, cats, friendly neighborhood dogs and other things that I would not like to see in those traps. I would rather take a shotgun to something than see it tormented in a foot hold trap.
So I choose to keep my girls in an enclosed run and do my best to predator-proof their lives. One coyote means many more---they are not lone wolves.

 

[NancyNurseCxMama]

Mine free range, but we have donkeys and goats to help keep watch. Most years I'm fine. A few years back a young coyote took 10 of my birds before my husband got a good shot at him. It learned quickly when my husband left for work and I got out to my shed. For some reason the donkeys did nothing to it. My husband had to take time off from work to try to catch it in the act. After about a month he finally did in the dead of night, we had bought a night vision scope just to get this coyote.

They are the worse predator to deal with because they are so smart, and will come out any time of the day. It will probably move on to the neighbors after checking out your coop thoroughly.

I think it probably is enjoying the buffet at my neighbor's coop. Sad, but I would rather it did that than hit mine. I can't save the world but I can trying protecting a piece of it.
I have seen coyotes at all times of the day, always running through the protected wetlands bordering our property. Healthy and beautiful animals---eating well, I would assume.
Foxes too, pretty little red ones pouncing on voles and mice.
I can appreciate the beauty of nature but boy, it can be cruel.

 

[Trish1974]

@NancyNurseCxMama, if your location didn't say NY I'd swear we had the same neighbor!
It saddens me I cannot free range. I have all the predators you mentioned plus bald eagles. They aren't so much a threat in summer and fall but winter and spring they like to come up to the house and eyeball the cats and chickens. I grew up with free range chickens just 10 miles from where I live now. Totally different terrain with a lot less predators. Back then (in the 1980s) we didn't even have coyotes in the area. We only had 2 kill incidents that whole time. One was a stray dog, and one peregrine falcon attack. I keep my girls locked up like they are in San Quentin, but take them into the garden with me on occasion and I built a small tractor I can pull them around the yard in so they can get grass, seeds and bugs. I hate confining them, but when you take on the responsibility of owning such vulnerable animals I think you need to go to great lengths to make sure they are protected.

 

[aart]

When I saw the coyote near the run I yelled "COYOTE!!!" and it took off like a shot. Left coyote poop behind.

 

[Fruity's Group]

Would you set those at night to make sure no chicken got caught? We are having a problem we think with coyotes/foxes coming during the day. We've had chickens free range in their coop area for more than a year, but suddenly they are being eaten, 2 per day. We have to act quickly. What woudl I put near the trap to draw them in?