Asking for ideas on how to "manage" coyotes

[babsbag]

WOW @soarwitheagles you were a popular diner there for a few days. I did a chicken count in the coop tonight and I have 51 chickens and 2 ducks. I also have numerous chickens that sleep in trees. So this is what I discovered tonight, and I am not happy. Of chickens that I know I have/had I am missing 2 Buff Brahma roos and 2 hens. 8 Black Copper Marans, 4 Polish, 4 or 5 Red Sex Links/Golden Comets, 3 ducks, 2 or 3 Black Australorps, and 1 Barred Rock. From outside of the coop I am missing 5 guineas, 4 chicks, and one HUGE Easter Egger roo that has been my barnyard mascot for years.

So I am at a loss. The coop is predator proof, built 4' off the ground, solid floor, solid walls and roof. Nothing is getting in there. And the rooster sleeps high in the trees so no ground predator took him at night. I have not seen any large hawks and that roo and the Brahmas were big. I am sure I had a coyote making early morning raids but the coop opens late now in the morning, and the fence is like a hot Fort Knox. I know I have lost the roo, one Polish, and the 3 of the Marans since fixing the fence and installing a hot wire. (Bottom wire went on today). The fence in the ravine is field fencing as it belongs to my neighbor. I think I will be running 2x4 no climb inside of that section tomorrow. I don't know if a fox could get through it as is or not. My property is entirely fenced now so nothing is taking a casual walk, if they want it they have to go over or under a fence and most of it is hot.

So my other thought is an owl that hunts during the day??? In the past I have heard screech owls and Great Horned Owls so I know they are around here but by 9 AM they should be sleeping.

I am not looking forward to keeping the chickens confined to a covered run. The leaves landing on the mesh roof will be a nightmare all of its own and the ducks will miss their pond

I need an LGD for chickens. After 8 years with no losses this is a little unnerving.

 

[babsbag]

I am thinking fox. Will be running another hot wire at about 8" and making sure that the fence around the chickens is a hot ground. I know the one around the goats is, but this one most likely is not.

 

[Baymule]

Sounds like a fox or a bobcat. Both are sneaky, but a bobcat is pure stealth. Or an owl that can't tell time, or maybe it can and knows when the door opens. I agree, you need a LGD with the poultry. That's a lot of birds to lose, time to close the diner and make the predator look elsewhere. Sorry about your birds.

 

[babsbag]

Bobcat...hmmm, never though about that. I saw one a few years ago so I know we have them too. More fencing to do today. UGH.

The one that hurts the most to lose was my rogue tree sleeping rooster. He was hatched here years ago and has been my barnyard alarm system for the rogue hens for years. He just belonged.

I am looking for a dog but a pup can takes months (years) to train to poultry and there is no way to know. I might get another pup for Mia to chum with and put my old girl in with the chickens...just afraid that she will be sad.

 

[greybeard]

I have seen lots and lots of owls in daylight hours, even into the afternoon. If they don't feed during the night, they aren't going to just go to sleep and hope for better results the next night. They'll do whatever it takes to survive especially if they are raising young--day/night--doesn't matter. Hawks are the same way--normally a day hunter, they will hunt at night as well if they don't score in daylight.
Anything sleeping in a tree is easy pickins for owl and hawks alike, and both are smart--they know what time those gates open same as the poultry does..

 

[babsbag]

I have quite a few rogue roosters that sleep in trees that I would love to get rid of so why did it take the one I like ?

I do believe that an owl could have taken the one from the tree, same with the guineas that disappeared. But today when I was putting up more hot wire and fencing to reinforce my neighbors field fencing I found a spot where his peeler core fence post broke off at the ground and was swinging in the breeze. At a glance is looks like a nice tight fence but up close it is entirely different and any of the common chicken predators could get through there, probably all at the same time. There is a nice trail pointing the way too, might as well just put a sign up. I may get up early tomorrow morning and see what tries to get through and for sure a game cam is going there.

My goat pasture fence is about 4' from this entry way and today I found Francis laying right at the corner of the two fields; I wonder if he knows.

 

[Bruce]

Babs,
You sure have a lot of thieves showing up at your place! And I know the pain and frustration of losing chickens...

We keep all our chickens inside a chicken wire coop and chicken house. Their total living area is approximately 360 sq. ft. [16'x20'].

You ask if anyone has any experience with hawks and chickens...well, here is a funny story...

A friend who has lived in the area for decades called me. He was getting burned out on his free range chickens because they kept increasing in numbers [he had over 100 of them]. He asked if I would come over and take some. I told him I did not want to mix his chickens with our chickens. He assured me his chickens were "free range" chickens and would not be needing a chicken coop. I shared with him my concerns about predators. He told me his chickens know how to sleep high up in trees and that he never lost a chicken to a predator. He lives about 35 minutes from us. I agreed to pick up 15 of his chickens for an experiment.

In the first 24 hours we lost two chickens. After the second day we lost 3 more. Within 7 days, all of his wonderful and smart "free range" chickens went to chicken heaven quite rapidly.

Here is what I learned:

Came home one day and discovered an enormous hawk [wing span over 4 ft.] just finishing up his last few bites of a warm delicious free range chicken. It was the largest hawk I have ever seen.

Smaller hawks began to patrol our property and make loud screeching noises [and believe it or not, they still do it to this day].

I believe some monstrous owls picked off a few of the other chickens. Then we found some chickens laying nearby with only the heads missing...we were told this was the work of dastardly skunks.

I also believe a number of the chickens were eaten by sneaky foxes [we began to see lots of foxes at night time].

Needless to say, we provided a wonderful seven day feast for many predators here at our ranch.

I also learned some valuable lessons:

1. Free range chickens at our place was not a very good idea.
2. Some hawks grow much larger than I ever imagined.
3. Skunks are both selfish and picky [they only ate the head].
4. We made our friend very happy because now he doesn't have so many "free range" chickens to look after.

This really was a positive learning experience!

Sorry for your losses and those of @babsbag . Head and crop only is a raccoon trait, I buried one of my Cubalayas found that way in a not predator safe coop 2 days after we rescued her from a coon that went up a tree when we went outside at 3AM after hearing the chicken scream. We thought she had wandered off 2 weeks earlier. Instead she was brooding half a dozen non fertile eggs(no rooster) in the bushes next to the barn. Raccoons are VERY good tree climbers, it would be nothing for one to get up to a night blind chicken in a tree. I think a game camera is in order so you can see what is wandering around your animals at night.

 

[greybeard]

chupacabra............

 

[Baymule]

 

[babsbag]

I have had raccoons get a few broodies and they always leave a mess of feathers and body parts behind. These chickens just disappeared.

I agree with a game cam, the thing is I need more than the one I own and they aren't cheap.

While reinforcing the fence today I found that a peeler core post had broken off at the ground. It is on the edge of the ravine and was under a lot of tension and when it broke it just popped right up and left a nice gap under the fence. The fence isn't that old and the neighbor did a great job installing it so I was very surprised to see this. From a distance it looks just fine but up close and personal every predator in the neighborhood could come under that fence and probably all of them at one time, the gap was huge. There was an obvious trail. It has been repaired and hot wire has been installed.

I just opened this area to the chickens this spring, before this there was another fence between them and any land based predator, guess that is why I never lost any.