Coyotes!!! Need advice, please.

[CityGirlintheCountry]

If you are having trouble with Frontline not working, try switching to Advantage. Frontline worked great with my dogs until last summer. Last summer was wretched. They were covered up with fleas even with the Frontline. I switched to Advantage and it was magic. Not a single flea in sight after that. I think perhaps some get immune to certain products. You might try another of the major products to see if they work better.

 

[Up-the-Creek]

For fleas and ticks we use Bio-Spot by Farnam. Its a lot cheaper and it works great on our dogs. They live outside and they roam all the time,never see a flea and maybe sometimes see a tick on thier hair crawling around,but they will fall off. Its a great product.

 

[Clay In Iowa]

AS a father of 2 Boys, chickens/livestock aside.... if my childrens safety were at stake, it would be no holds barred. I'd do every hing in my power to get rid of them.

Shoot them, poison them, find their den and make them memories. If you can't find them locate someone who can. If you don't want to shoot them ask around and explain the situation, someone will help you, if I lived close enough I'd help out.

 

[PortageGirl]

I don’t really know of any place where coyotes are protected, not to mention that here in a traditionally rural area, I can do most anything to anything with four legs to protect my livestock and property. I have no real wish to kill hawks, they are federally protected and I consider them nature’s vermin assassins, though I know others don’t agree with me. I’ll count on my shrubs in the back, my roosters and netting over places where I can put it up as protection and take my chances with them.

Another exception could well be laws about discharging firearms in populated areas, and worries about baiting them with poison meat etc because of danger of killing innocent things. Ok, stray dogs shouldn’t be straying, but if they’re not killing my chickens, I don’t really want to kill them. For that matter, lots of birds will peck at dead meat, and I don’t want to kill them either, or cats, and shooting something these days has become an issue for me too because of some building that’s gone on here since I was a kid. There’s no LAW about it, but common sense tells me that even a 22 can hurt someone if aimed in the wrong direction. I’m a good shot, but not so good that I’d want to risk even a pet in a neighbor’s yard, not to mention windows, siding, vehicles, etc etc etc. I think I’ll have to get a pistol instead of a rifle though, I’m not shy about stepping out in the back where a coy would see me! I’m not shy at all in fact.

Thing is, Coyotes are smart. They’re adaptable… they learn very fast, and they learn to be sneaky. They can find ways through, around, under, over and behind a most situations to get to what they want. I read that they’ve found coyotes in Central Park in NYC!! If that isn’t adaptable, I don’t know what is!!

They learn. And they reproduce wherever they can, whenever they can. They produce pups and multiply so fast, everything I’ve read says that once they move into an area, there’s almost no way to get rid of them totally. All we can hope for is to make them so unwilling to come near our property they move on to easier prey.

Sorry to have hijacked your thread GumpsGirl! This whole thing got me reviewing things I’d dug up a while ago, so I thought I’d talk about it.

 

[timbofarms]

My mini donkey done a great job protecting our livestock.

 

[Judymae]

Mr. Donkey did okay with the goats and my potbelly pig AFTER I had him neutered. Before he was cut he could get a little frisky with the goats and the potbelly pig!!! He's even stayed overnite with the chickens and ducks when we had a problem with a bobcat hanging out!!! Kinda cute to go out to the coop and see a donkey cuddled up with 6 ducks!!!

 

[poultrykeeper08]

When i had my 2 mini donkeys i had no problems my Male vergas would charge at any dog/cyote that came near the fence . I was told by the breeder we got our donkeys from is that they will chase down and stomp the cyotes but they will also chase them down and bite their backs and the backs of thier necks and kill them .

I know when i had my female savannah Tied out to graze a nieghbor was walking thier dogs on the back of our house witch is owned b the state and they were off the leash and well his dg went after my female and when to go jump oh her back side and she did a back kick and sent the dog flying . The always leashed thier dogs from then on .

I dont think my heeler would do much warning about cyotes i think she would want to walk up and play with it !!

Our friends own a farm and have a heeler . And he was working on his tractor and relized his dog wasnt by his side . And a heeler owner knows they dont leave you alon so he went and looked for her and seen a pack of cyotes runnning through his cow pasture and his dog was following them .

As far as ticks get a few guinea hens they work great !!!

 

[byrandom]

Donkeys do not like to step up. Even small steps. Whenever we went to pick up our girl (who was about 4 at the time), she would NOT step up into the trailer. We had to build an impromptu ramp, and even then she almost pulled me through the trailer and out into the pasture.

She has since given birth to a beautiful White and Black paint Jack. It's amazing watching her teach him how to stand guard, what is a "threat" and what isn't. VERY effective guardians! Worth their weight in gold.

Oh, and both of them live with all 20-something (we seem to have a new kid every day!) Nigierian Dwarf Goats. Some of the babies have been stepped on, but nothing horrible. No broken bones. The jack (who is about 6 months now) does chase the new babies every now and then. The older ones know how he is, and use their small size to their advantage.

Muffin (she's a huge brown donkey) is territorial of her food. I think it stems from when she wasn't getting fed very much from her prior home. So we feed her in the pasture, and the goats in their "sleeping" pen (which is about 40'x40'). The donkeys have a barn in the slepeing pen, however, usually prefer to sleep underneath one of the huge evergreens, or out in the middle of the pen where they can keep an eye on the goat house and the street where the dreaded pitbulls come from!

 

[NancyDz]

Quote:
I woudnt encourage this behavior, one things coyote's are known for is luring dogs. Some of them run and the dog chases while others lay in wait. Then when the dog passes them, they surround the dog and kill it. They are very smart. I think a donkey or llama is the best protection or at the least two LGD, they seem to be more deterred if there is more than one dog.

Good Luck!

Nancy

 

[Swamp Roo]

Quote:
I agree with you, both with your killing ethic, and thoughts on shooting safety. If you are concerned about how far a .22 will shoot, go with a smooth bore 12 ga. I like pump guns personally especially in "it's gotta work now" situations, and as a bonus, there isn't an intruder in the world that doesn't recognize the sound of a pump gun being cycled. They make a round called Dead Coyote in a shot size T. It's a heavier that lead material (tungsten I think), so no worries about a chicken eating pellets later either. Hummmm I wonder what it was developed for??? The reason I like my 12 ga is it is lethal and forgiving within it's range which is about 150 yds (only 450') realistically only about 100 yds but with the tungsten ammo it may be 150 yds. Still no reason to not know exactly what is down range, but it is a bit safer that a rifle or hand gun. Remember barrel length only has some effect on range, it's the ammo.

So to sum it up, Donkeys are great from everything I've heard. Go for it, but I'd get together with the neighborhood and find a way to control the coyote population as well. There are plenty of hunters that will jump all over the chance to come shoot some for you, just ask around. I'll bet some of the boys at your feed store would be happy to help or know someone who would. I just ran into a buddy a Bass Pro last night who was buying a predator call, I told him if he wants to shoot some just come over. I told him that I want the hide, and to do it as far away from my chickens and rabbits as possible, no sense in attracting attention to them.

Swamp