What are the best coyote deterrents?

[Willowspirit]

A gun!

Given tt its a felony in many states to set a boobytrap with a gun in your absence, a gun might mean many late nights. Also before I even used a pellet gun i would check to find out what my "no hot wire" community thinks about what kinds of guns you can fire in the city limits. If I had to break one or the other law I'd put in the hot wire.

 

[Ms Clucky]

Plants hot pepper plants around your yard

 

[Sequel]

I planned on fencing my yard with hot wire, but my city doesn't allow electric fencing.

What are the best coyote deterrents that you know of besides an electric fence? (Other than installing wire into the ground to prevent digging. Soil doesn't allow for that ) Thanks!!

No electric fencing??? That's too bad. You said your dirt doesn't allow for buried wire. Does that mean it's hard? If that's the deal then you don't have much to fear with digging. You can apron some wire on top too, no need to dig.

I once had raccoons decide to start a latrine in my vegetable garden. I got them to stop by using chili pepper. I got a big container of crushed red pepper at Costco, the kind you put on pizza. I sprinkled it around the area where they were getting in and they stopped. It doesn't affect birds at all but mammals don't like it. I know nothing about quail, but I wouldn't know why they would be different in that respect.

How habituated to humans are your coyotes? You could also take some clothes you've worn and stuff them with straw or leaves, make a sort of scare crow thing, put it in a lawn chair out by your tractor. Might work for a while, but you'd need to move it around often I would think.

Sorry I keep cluttering up your thread, I've been dodging pests from deer to raccoons to coyotes and hawks and it's a subject I'm always thinking about. Good luck and let us know what you come up with!

Cathy

 

[matt swenson]

what city doesn't allow electric fencing ? i'm sure that for high voltage, anti-human electric fence. totally different from agricultural electric non lethal fence. (i bet your cops have tazers.) where are you? i wanna read the by-law.
also putting an electric Deterrent around coop isn't an electric fence. it's a strand of wire. Also there has to be an agricultural exemption.

 

[matt swenson]

hey if you live in California look up senate bill 582....there a state wide law that defines the two types of fencing. electrified fencing like the type used to keep human thieves and vandals out places. electric fence like single strand to keep animals in, or out of pens. the way i read it there is an agricultural exception.

 

[June2012]

Oh my goodness there's so many posts thank you all!! <3 I'm going to have to go through this one by one so please bear with me.

 

[June2012]

I have the “night guards” which I think help and we live in the mountains where coyotes are plentiful. We transfer our ducks to a enclosed shed tho. Our turkeys stay out in run that isn’t very secure but nothing has broke through it’s been a year. We have security motion lights. Two dogs that we let out a lot I’m sure they mark territory or something. Two cats that once in a while stay out overnight. We have a neighbor who I talked to once we moved up in the mountains that had ducks and turkeys outside just like us I asked her if she had predators get anything because there’s coyotes, bob cats, raccoons, fishers, Fox all around here. Well she said she’d never had anything get her birds ever. She said she believe it’s beacuse she has 30 - yes not a typo 30 outdoor cats. Lol just an idea.

I would personally rather not use the night guards. I haven't read many good reviews on them personally... I suppose that I'd have to herd my quail into a coop every night, but I'm not so keen on the idea, honestly!

Oh dear, I'm much to tight on space to have 30 outdoor cats, HAHA! And, the coyotes would eat'em right up.

There are a couple solutions to your problem:

1. If a chicken dies, hang it from a hot wire (enough to give you a shock when you touch the chicken) at about the height of a coyote's nose, when he's just trotting around. This will sort of train them to not want to touch a chicken.
2. Get a few guineas. They will squawk very loudly when something out of the ordinary even thinks about coming near them.
3. The way I like to deal with coyotes is just to shoot them whenever I can see them. You can also sell their hides for maybe around $60 where I live.
4. Use heavy-duty welded wire fencing (most commonly used for sheep) on the outside and a chicken wire fence on the inside.
5. 5-6 ft. high chain-link fencing works very well, but is pretty expensive for a new one.
6. Trapping coyotes is also a good technique if you have the time to check the traps frequently.

I hope some of these suggestions helped.

No electric fencing here. I'd get a big fine and I don't want it on my record.

I have close neighbors, so no guineas. It's why I'm raising quail -- possibly the most quiet livestock ever, haha.

I don't trust myself with any firearm. I have horrible aim, misplace things nearly all the time, and am a general clutz. Nope. I also live in an area where the selling of animal hides would cause a riot, LOL!

I don't know if I can invest so much money into those fences right now, but we'll have to see.

Trapping animals are a bit of a risk here. There's just a lot of regulations here. o-o

Well if u can I'd look into llamas or dogs I've seen both alert for and attack coyote llamas of course will require a little study on care and handling hope this is a help also yucca is a very good border plant no idea about what ur climates like yucca grows well in Florida lol

A dog would bark all night and my neighbors would complain. I don't have any space for llamas, either. Yucca would not fare well in the winters here. :/

Wolves don't like coyotes. But seriously I have seen some chicken coop/tractor hybrids that look like they would work very well as long as they are otherwise secure--proper wire mesh, no holes that allow for entry and so forth. I have 2 or 3 chicken tractors left from the previous owner of our place and they are very sturdy.

I'm just worried that a coyote might tip a tractor over. I intend on having all sides covered in 1/4in hardware cloth, mind the floor, with a 16in skirt of 1/4in hardware cloth. I was planning on putting bricks on the skirt but I doubt that would deter a coyote(s) much.

i hit post too soon. As for hot wire who would know you were using it if a single strand or tape? There are also things called coyote rollers thT go on top of a six foot fence. It keeps them from using the top of the fence to pull themselves over. I've heard they work.

My next door neighbor has a solid hate for me and has a window that looks directly into my yard. Ugh. I just don't want to risk that he might call the authorities on me, ya know? It'd also be pretty obvious, I think, that I have an electric fence because of the energizer and battery required for the fence if anyone else saw. I also read that coyotes need at least 7 strands for an electric fence to be effective. The cost of an energizer and battery for just one strand in the hopes of not getting caught but then not being effective wouldn't be worth it.

I don't know if I can install a six foot fence right now... Maybe in the future, so that's something I can't rely on.

 

[June2012]

Paint ball gun also works

Gotta agree with @Willowspirit on that one.

 

[June2012]

Is their “coop” (no idea what to call it) elevated?

I haven't built it yet. No, the coop (yes you're right!) would not be elevated. Quail are ground birds. Them going up a ramp would be hit or miss and not worth the addition of an elevated coop because they would rarely use it, and I would probably have to put them up there by hand each time. I also plan for at least 20 quail so even putting them in by hand would be impractical.

 

[SomeFlockingGuy]

Huh well what about a decent brick border at the bottom and barbed wire stretched around top at about 5 ft high fence