Help! Coyote in the middle of the day!

[jennymo]

Hey guys! I’m a new chicken mama and we have had a rough week! I let my girls roam free in our fenced in yard during the day. 2 of them got over the fence recently (tree limb had fallen) and were taken out by the neighbors dog . Today our gate was left open (ugh) and I suppose all of the chickens wandered out...I wasn’t home. My neighbor saw a coyote chasing them...in our neighborhood in the middle of the day and now I am missing 4 more! So half our girls gone in less than a week! I assume that I will have to keep the rest locked up now that I know a coyote is around? What do I do going forward?? They love to roam around during the day and I hate to keep them locked up but I don’t see any other way!

 

[cavemanrich]

Your problems arose from 2 things. Chickens flying over fence, and gate being accidentally open.
Here are some solutions.
Build a secure RUN area. It will protect from many different predators, DAY and NIGHT.
Take a note of which chickens are flighty, and clip their wings. Only one wing needs to be clipped. They will not be able to fly over fence when that is causing them imbalanced flight.
Secure closed, your gate...
Just because coyotes are in your area, does not mean they will automatically jump over your fence. I'm sure they smelled those chickens before. When they were in their open range, naturally coyotes did need a meal. Remember that coyotes, like other predators have a purpose in OUR WORLD. We just need to make their choices rodents and such, rather than OUR CHICKENS.
WISHING YOU BEST,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,

 

[PirateGirl]

Unfortunately coyotes can be active 24 hours a day. I hear them often at night and see them often by daylight. A secure coop/run/yard is your best defense. Hopefully you do not have any other losses I suspect your coyote will be back in the near future. If they have a good food source, they have no reason to move on. Good luck. If you have specific questions on fortifying your set-up feel free to share some pics.

 

[PirateGirl]

You mentioned you have a fenced yard, what type of fence? How tall? What is your gate like? Gates are often weak points in any fence/run.

 

[aart]

What do I do going forward??

Build a bigger run, secure all around including a roof.

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