Coyote's howling close by tonight...

[bigoakhunter]

I went outside to check on my girl's and all I could hear is coyote's howling. About 300 =400 yards away. Which is really close for them. It was recently deer season here in Michigan. So they are probably on a deer carcass. As it was only 8:45 PM and they were howling non -stop for the whole 10 minutes I was outside! Welcome to northern Michigan! ANd I thought the racoons and hawks were bad.

I will just have to be vigilant and make sure they are locked in at night.

 

[Big C]

I would set some leg traps...

 

[BridgeTea]

I could have written your post one night last week, BigOak. The coyotes sounded closer than ever one night and I figured they were after an injured deer or had found one. In fact I had just stepped out the back door taking the old dog out for his last tinkle, and he and I just kind of stopped in our tracks when we heard the howling closer than ever before. It was so loud and up close I at first thought it was a siren. The dog's pretty feeble and we already refer to him as coyote bait, so I made it a very short trip outside for him that night then scooted him back inside.

I just keep walking the perimeter of the covered bird run each morning to make sure everything looks secure. So far I haven't seen any signs of predators. Our coop is actually inside a corner of a pole barn, with a little pop door leading out to the run. We just all do the best we can with what we've got. Good luck to us all!

 

[rhoda_bruce]

I think all the preditors are going completely out of control. I hear the nightly chorus of the coyotes howls in unison with the dogs barking all over the neighborhood. And I have read so much about raccoons from the other members and I know we have them here that I really feel like setting traps, if nothing else to fill my freezer and quiet my dogs down. I don't know what I would do with coyotes though. Would be nice if they wouldn't be so many. I think it would keep my dogs safer. What I really want to do is make my whole yard almost as safe as my coop. One day.

 

[NitaAZ]

We had blocked where the coyotes were coming in and getting our chickens. Then yesterday they found a new place and took 8 chickens. Not even any of the young roosters I'll have to get rid of. They took: 3 young cuckoo marans (approaching laying age); silver spangled hamburg; 2 easter eggers, 1 buff orpington, white cochin.

Today they all had to stay in the chicken house until I can figure out how to confound the coyotes again. They don't come at night when the hens are locked up. They come in the middle of the day to wreak their havoc.

 

[BridgeTea]

Quote:
Oh, wow I didn't know coyotes would do that. So sorry you lost the birds today.

My birds are let out of their run each day while I am home. Hmmm...I may have to rethink that. Our property is very open, and we're surrounded by open field, not woods. So we keep an eye to the sky for hawks during the day. That would be a heck of a note if the coyotes start loping across the fields in the middle of the day. Thank you for the warning, and again I'm sorry about your losses. Sometimes I think I skate by on beginner's luck. I'm sure my turn is coming when I least expect it.

 

[fldiver97]

My backyard slopes into a stretch of conservancy, I live in a cul de sac but in town....We have a pack of coyotes that live in a ravine about as far as a couple of city blocks away. There are evenings/nights that I hear them howling less than a couple of hundred feet away from my house. I have occasionally spotted a coyote at 10 and 11 am not 75 feet from my back porch. My yard is fenced in, have never had a problem....neighbors though are big on birdfeeders all over front and backyard. And other neighbors have indoor/outdoor cats. I have seen the coyotes walking right up on their back porches. As far as keeping chickens goes....I saw more coyotes during daylight in the two years before I got chickens....peoples garbage, feeding wildlife and possibly feeding their pets outside are way bigger problems in attracting them. Not to speak of the red tailed hawks that perch in the trees near the birdfeeders..... Still no free roaming in the yard for the girls unless I am home. Otherwise it's the covered enclosed run....

 

[emys]

That's not an isolated story. My friend had her whole flock killed by a pair of coyotes in the middle of the day. It was spring and they had pups to feed. I guess it made them bold.

 

[bigoakhunter]

Bridget I was not shocked as I many times hear them, just not that early in evening or that relentless. Nit Az, sorry about that! They must be hungry to attack during daylight. I have a Golden retrevier and a yellow lab. So am not as concerned about daytime attacks. Although the Golden gets after anything that moves. So I keep girls in run.

I am going to ask son to put his digital game/trial camera out by coop to see what happens at night.

May be interesting.

 

[NitaAZ]

We had a coyote problem a few months ago too. They always came between 11:30 and 2:30, one time at 4:30 (daytime, not night). So yes, definitely watch your hens during the day too! Even yesterday with my chickens all locked up, he was here at 1:30, standing at my back fence (20 feet from my house), staring at my dogs. We hear them at night, but haven't had them on the property at night that we know of. Just during the day.

All the scat I'm finding is full of gourd seeds, so I'm sure they are hungry. But there are a ton of mice, rats, and rabbits out there. They can eat those!