Coyote took off with one of my free range chickens

[arlann]

I’ve always known there were coyotes out and about on my property. I can hear them yipping at night sometimes and have seen a few early morning. Yesterday, my husband and I were cleaning up after supper and looked outside and saw a head popped up in the pasture watching my free range chickens. We watched our chickens run and take cover underneath an evergreen tree and my husband went out to scare it off. Turns out it had already gotten one of my chickens and grabbed it and ran. We lock our chickens up at night but they free range during the day. I was also under the impression that coyotes were night time hunters. Will they continue to come back during the day to eat my flock?

Note: If I keep the door closed to my run a few of the chickens find ways out (I have no idea how) and then they end up alone and they can’t figure out how to get back in.

 

[sourland]

Now that the coyote has found a food source, it will return. Coyotes are smart and will adjust their hunting to when prey is available. Snaring, trapping, shooting are in order. Good luck.

 

[chickens really]

Sorry about the Bird...
Coyotes like Fox do hunt during the day...Mostly morning and late afternoon into the night..12 hours they prowl..Sleep during the warmest part of the day unless Winter...?
I have an electric poultry fence that my Birds are confined to..Also two working dogs out as my Birds are out..My fence is not electrified although it keeps the birds inside...I don't want my trained dogs to get zapped..

 

[SueT]

I just went outside at 8 AM and heard coyotes up the hill. We have seen them in the middle of the day, and are sure they are often around even when we don't hear or see them. We lost 2 hens to coyotes and had stop free ranging.

 

[arlann]

Now that the coyote has found a food source, it will return. Coyotes are smart and will adjust their hunting to when prey is available. Snaring, trapping, shooting are in order. Good luck.

Dang. Stupid coyote. Time to go rifle shopping. Thanks!

 

[CntryBoy777]

Even with great fencing free ranging has its risks and when the decisions are made, the consequences have to be accepted....like it ot not. There isn't any sure way to protect free ranging birds from a host of issues, predators only being 1 of them. If a predator is known, seen, or heard then ya can figure there are more that aren't....only by eliminating those ya can are you lessening the chance of attack for your birds. If ya are relying on your birds for food, then the losses have to be factored in to the numbers and if they are your sweet little darling pets, then ya better treat them as such and don't throw them to the wolves....literally....a hope and a prayer has never stopped a hungry predator and never will.

 

[coach723]

Also you need to figure out how to secure your coop/run. If the birds can find a way out then predators can find a way in. Most predators will continue to return to where they have been successful. Losses while free ranging are unfortunate but the risk we take when allowing that. All you can do is take reasonable precautions to try to minimize losses. Losses at night while roosting could be worse as they are just 'sitting ducks' so to speak. I have seen coyotes at all hours of the day and night. Many other predators are more common overnight, or early morning late evening. Hawks would be daylight. Good luck and I hope you don't have more losses.

 

[itsasmallfarm]

we have lots of coyotes here, (so many we can not free range), not sure where you live but i would trap/shoot them.
now before i go more in depth on trapping just be sure you know your laws (shooting a problem animal is legal here where i live but trapping them with out a fur license is a no)

now keep in mind if you plan on shooting them you have to be there when the coyote is there and provides an ethical shot. (to note there most likely will be more they are a pack animal)

while a well placed trap is there hunting 24/7 i live in Canada so we have to follow the humane trapping agreement (which am 100% in agree with) but i have no idea what is legal in the states (if that is where you are) but i am going to be using a duke coil spring number 3 padded jaw. (legal where i live and there cheap compared to the other traps on the market).

 

[Howard E]

Sorry to hear about your loss. What most eventually discover is that true free ranged birds in areas with any degree of predator load at all are at constant risk of being devoured. So much so I tell folks to assume they are already gone......if not today, then tomorrow or maybe the next day. They are living on borrowed time. That is just the way it is. You can try shooting your way out of harms way, but predators of all types come around at all hours of the day and night. Hard to be there and at the ready all the time. Even if you are present and on watch, by the time you sense there is a problem, it is too late to stop the carnage. So in general, when free ranging, there is very little you can do to prevent these attacks. Varmint has nothing to worry about and is left to concentrate on the kill.....which they are exceptionally good at.

So rather than a true free range situation, what most folks would be better of doing.......is to "yard" their birds. Establish a perimeter zone to confine the birds within and to keep predators out. It can be as big or small as you like and as such, offers much of the same benefits as free ranging does. It's just safer.

Best option to establish that perimeter zone of protection is an electric fence. Put one of those up and do it right and balance swings in your favor. Varmint now has to negotiate that obstacle without getting zapped, which they should never be able to do. That changes everything.

Another option, is to yard the birds, and trust to a guard dog to patrol within it. That works well for some, but the dog must be present to win. Fences are on guard 24/7.

 

[Birdinhand]

i've given up on free ranging, unless i'm actually with them and even then, I accept that there is still risk, as Howerd E said. I keep increasing the area I have fenced in with hardware cloth. if we had large acreage and wanted to make a larger area than is realistic with hardware cloth I'd go with electric fencing, but still, we have large birds of pray here in the northwest that think nothing of dive bombing with break neck speed, literally, so I'm not sure even that would work here. I have accepted that keeping chickens is an agreement where I provide food and safety and they provide food... safety is not something they were ever provided in the wild.