coyote came at 9:30! WHY???????

[Mr Pink]

This past week I have trapped 11 coyotes from a 3 acre native grass field 400 yards form my coop !

 

[PirateGirl]

This past week I have trapped 11 coyotes from a 3 acre native grass field 400 yards form my coop !

This is impressive. I would think that once you got one or two the others would have made themselves scarce. I have a feeling the group that lives by my house is close to this size because there are always more than you see and I have seen 5-6 at one time. I have watched out the window as one walked within 20 ft. of my chicken coop while they were locked inside roosting. So far, no loss, however since before I even brought my chickens home my husband joked that it was a waste of money/effort to just be feeding the neighborhood coyotes. He is however on my side and has helped make the most secure coop we could. He actually likes my chickens and no longer cracks jokes about the coyotes

 

[Folly's place]

I agree that electric fencing is the best plan for 'free ranging' your flock. We have coyotes here and they haven't yet tried for my chickens; I have big barking dogs next to the chickens, and I think it helps too.
Mary

 

[Beer can]

Here coyotes pack up at night and hunt. During the day it's not unusual to see a lone one out looking for a easy meal.

 

[BYC910]

sorry about your loss CC is very right Coyote is a 24/7 predator . The more cover and better the food supply the larger the pack .Smart to point they time you . Know what time you let the flock out .

There are woods around but I'm in the suburbs and have had coyotes passing through at all times of the day and night. 9AM, noon, 2 PM and all times of the night. Sometimes they are loners but most of the time there are at least two.

 

[PirateGirl]

sorry about your loss CC is very right Coyote is a 24/7 predator . The more cover and better the food supply the larger the pack .Smart to point they time you . Know what time you let the flock out .

Agreed about them knowing your routine. Someone locally had chickens for years without incident. When she was on vacation (through no fault of the pet sitter) she lost her flock to coyotes who dug 2 feet under the fence while no one was home.

 

[HenOnAJuneBug]

This past week I have trapped 11 coyotes from a 3 acre native grass field 400 yards form my coop !

How do you trap them?

 

[Al Capon]

What you might want to do is make friends with a local coyote hunter/predator caller. It might take some asking around, but those folks are out there and would love to help you out.

Once coyotes find an easy source of food, they never give up on it. If they've killed your chickens, they will be back, sooner or later.

A good predator caller will have an assortment of calls, hopefully they'll have an electronic caller with an assortment of farm animal distress calls available. I've got one and I'm fixing to go help a friend who lost his Rooster a few days ago to a coyote. I'll hang my call out and use a chicken or piglet in distress sound and eliminate whatever shows up for an easy meal. He is in an area with high coyote densities, so it might take many trips to rid the area of the offenders.

 

[Mr Pink]

How do you trap them?

Snares or here in Missouri the term is Cable restraints ... had 5 more this morning

 

[ChickenCanoe]

Wow, Mr Pink, that's a lot of coyotes. Are you near Springfield?