Coyotes can be a chicken or ducks best friend

[bluejeans]

Coyotes are easy to keep out .And they kill and eat smaller killers that are much harder to keep out so think before you kill off the coyotes that patrol your place. you will be more inviting to weasels foxes and such with the coyotes gone.

 

[sylviethecochin]

Maybe so, but it's a lot easier for the dogs to tangle with the foxes, fishers, and coons than it is for them to tangle with coyotes.

Besides, as stated above, my birds free-range. I once lost several barncats to coyotes (I was a kid and I had raised these young cats from kittens,) and I like them far away from me.

 

[HuskerHens18]

Maybe so, but it's a lot easier for the dogs to tangle with the foxes, fishers, and coons than it is for them to tangle with coyotes.

Besides, as stated above, my birds free-range. I once lost several barncats to coyotes (I was a kid and I had raised these young cats from kittens,) and I like them far away from me.

I've even had packs of coyotes run on the place in broad daylight to slaughter my flock, the losses were devastating. My German Shepherd gets let outside after I lock up my chickens so he can mark territory and maul coyotes getting too comfy around the farm. Then my Aussies sit with the flock all day to keep other daytime predators away. Then my barncats kill rats, mice, and squirrels that cause other problems for my chickens. Although.. my roosters are better mousers than my cats
I could see though if you lived by water why you'd want to keep coyotes around, I'm lucky enough that I'm far from water. Most small predators stay away

 

[GldnValleyHens]

Coyotes are horrible. Period. Here we can shoot them 24/7 with a license, and anytime they are on our property chances are they're turned into fur pelts!
Never had a chicken killed by a coyote, as far as I know, but there was one standing about 20 ft away from the coop watching with a hungry expression. We didn't get him though. About 4 years back they ganged up on our German Shepherd, who absolutely despises them. There was a vicious attack one him, and in the morning I went out there to find Chase spurting blood out of a torn ear, and pawprints and blood all around from coyotes and him. Now he hates them even more and goes barking and snarling after them, even if he just hears some howling. He's getting up in years and takes a lot of naps, so he doesn't protect the chickens at all like he should. He let a hawk take one while he probably snored through it.

 

[HuskerHens18]

Unless you free range your chickens, then it just becomes a coyote buffet.
But I see what you mean if you keep your chickens locked up! Good point

 

[AlleysChicks]

Coyotes go after cattle, farm dogs and just about everything here. Coyotes and willd dogs are a nuisance.

 

[bluejeans]

Watch spring time as coyotes feed a little later in day if they have pups. Watch cloudy days as coyotes can forage all day. In summer if there are coyote pups in area they can break coyote rules as there still dumb. But other than these things you can still free range with coyotes around. With out a guard dog that spends all day and night with the flock.

 

[sylviethecochin]

If you think about it .You have been free ranging with coyotes around. You just have gotten so good at it. When and where to let your chicken range and when to put them up or not let them out you hardly think about it . am i right?

There are no coyotes where I live...anymore.

There used to be a pack (family unit, coyotes don't exactly form packs) a few years back when I first moved up here, and I lost a few ducks. But I live in a fairly rural area, and a lot of Amish, farmers, hunters, and small dog owners are not overly pleased by the presence of coyotes. And so they disappeared.

I don't have to lock the ducks up at night anymore, which is great, as my ducks are nearly impossible to herd away from the pond. I never worry about my chickens' free ranging--they're allowed to go anywhere, and they rarely venture more than a few acres away from the house. The dogs supervise while I'm at work.

 

[morganalefae]

There are no coyotes where I live...anymore.

There used to be a pack (family unit, coyotes don't exactly form packs) a few years back when I first moved up here, and I lost a few ducks. But I live in a fairly rural area, and a lot of Amish, farmers, hunters, and small dog owners are not overly pleased by the presence of coyotes. And so they disappeared.

I don't have to lock the ducks up at night anymore, which is great, as my ducks are nearly impossible to herd away from the pond. I never worry about my chickens' free ranging--they're allowed to go anywhere, and they rarely venture more than a few acres away from the house. The dogs supervise while I'm at work.

Actually coyotes do form packs qouted from a online source:
"A pack is a coyote family dominated by an alpha male and female who form a breeding pair. It can also include this year’s pups and offspring from the previous year, along with individuals from other packs that have been accepted into the family. The size of the pack will depend on the amount of food available to sustain it. If the pack relies on a natural diet, its numbers will tend to be smaller. But if the diet is subsidized by humans, either intentionally or unintentionally, its size could be considerably larger.

Coyote packs have a “home range”—the entire area in which they live—and a “territory” that they will defend against other coyotes and whose boundaries are marked with urine (like dogs). Coyotes also use scat to mark the most heavily defended core areas (unlike dogs). Our coyote packs appear to defend all the area they regularly use: their territory is the same size as their home range. As with the size of the pack, the size of the territory will depend on the amount of food available. If the pack relies on a natural diet, its territory will be larger than that of a pack whose diet is subsidized by humans"

so yes coyotoes form packs they will hunt on their own or in pairs unless it's a large animal then more of the pack will hunt together.

as for disappearing if the area disliked them and there were experiance hunters chances are the disappearance is due to the hunters killing them off.

 

[PirateGirl]

Honestly, reading your post made me feel a little better. We have coyotes and we have hawks, but honestly it's rare to see or hear of anything else other than the bunnies and prairie dogs which eat feed, but not chickens. I never really thought about the coyotes keeping the smaller predators in check, but I don't doubt it.

When my husband and I built our coop/run our goal was "coyote proof" not "predator proof" and so far it has worked, and if the coyotes keep the smaller predators away, hopefully it will continue to work.