Keeping coyotes away....?

[secuono]

What do you guys, who live more in suburban/non-sheep or cattle country, do to keep coyotes away? I live in Virginia, we don't have mass cattle farms like in the west or mass sheep farms.
I'm on 5 acres with small mountains around it, most is cleared and kept mowed. Have 10 sheep, 4 horses and one LGD with them all the time.
Neighbor just told me there was a coyote on one of the mountains by the creek, just feet from my fence!! I've seen one before, but 10mi from the house.
I don't want to loose any sheep, but I also don't want to live in fear and lock everyone up at night or end up living out there with them!
Any kind of fencing I can add to my 4ft field fence or chemical deterrent or something? Do I even need to worry, since we haven't had one on the property yet, tons of deer around for them. There's fox and coon around constantly as well.
Do I need to get another dog?
I know lights and noise sensors that go off automatically only work for a short time, so I rather not waste time and money with things that don't work long term.

 

[Sumi]

There are some tips here, in this article (more in the links):

http://www.backyardchickens.com/a/coyote-chicken-predators-how-to-protect-your-chickens-from-coyotes

Good luck!

 

[M.L. McKnight]

What do you guys, who live more in suburban/non-sheep or cattle country, do to keep coyotes away? I live in Virginia, we don't have mass cattle farms like in the west or mass sheep farms.
I'm on 5 acres with small mountains around it, most is cleared and kept mowed. Have 10 sheep, 4 horses and one LGD with them all the time.
Neighbor just told me there was a coyote on one of the mountains by the creek, just feet from my fence!! I've seen one before, but 10mi from the house.
I don't want to loose any sheep, but I also don't want to live in fear and lock everyone up at night or end up living out there with them!
Any kind of fencing I can add to my 4ft field fence or chemical deterrent or something? Do I even need to worry, since we haven't had one on the property yet, tons of deer around for them. There's fox and coon around constantly as well.
Do I need to get another dog?
I know lights and noise sensors that go off automatically only work for a short time, so I rather not waste time and money with things that don't work long term.

The best deterrent I have found for predators is human urine. Put some old towels in a few 5 gallon buckets outside of your fence, tell the guys to fill them when they are out in the pasture a few times a week, a couple of these should do the trick.

 

[secuono]

No men around here other than DH and I couldn't pay him to do it.

 

[Baymule]

Maybe you will just have to pee in the bucket yourself! LOL

Maybe another dog would be a good thing.

 

[bonbean01]

We have the home night paddock that we put them in everynight...has a strong light that comes on at dusk and goes off at sunrise...also motion lights at the corners...do you have electric wire on the outside of your fence? We have three strands of electric wire around the paddock and so far...so good. A second LGD would be a good idea too.​

 

[goatboy1973]

My father in-law uses hair swept off the floor from our local barber shop, fills women's pantyhose with it and hangs them at various intervals on his fence to keep deer out of his sweet potato and greens crops and it also keeps the coyotes away.

 

[Bossroo]

In California , These suggestions may work for a while... that is until the coyotes get used to the smell of human urine and hair or anything else. I walk my horse pastures every day where I see at least 3 coyotes every day there, and there are twice per night coyote community sings even a few yards from our house. Coyotes are known to be in places like New York City, Chicago, Los Angeles, etc. so what makes anyone think that the urine , hair or lights will work long term ? In our area of 20 acre parcels (16 ) , our across the street neighbor has a herd of 50 ewes that produces on average of 80 lambs per year. The coyotes kill on average 20 of his lambs per year. So, we shoot the coyotes by the dozen and hang the carcasses on the fence which makes the other coyotes think twice for a while at least until next year's pup crop comes along and the process continues. Just a mile down our road is a 10,000 acre cattle ranch. The owner and his friends including me, shoot 50 -70 of these pests every year during 3 times a year weekend hunts with BBQs . And this on top of a couple dozen that we kill on our own lands anytime that we see them. No one for miles around can even keep a chicken alive for very long. I manage to raise 25 CornishX 4 times a year inside my horse barn stall by just raising them for 35 days of age , then process them as 1/12- 2 lb. "Cornish Game Hens " Just the way life in the Wild West is !

 

[babsbag]

Bossroo, why don't you have an LGD or 2 or 3? I live in CA and I agree that our coyotes are very smart, Wylie Coyote was named after them. I have an electric fence but never felt safe until I got the dogs. I hear them every night and see scat on our road almost everyday. I have the only water source for miles right now so I have an attractive nuisance. I have friends that raise goats and sheep on 100s of acres and have dogs. They don't lose livestock to coyotes.

 

[Bossroo]

The thing that happens is ... one coyote teases a dog to start to chase it, then goes into a nip at the dog and run action until they reach a pack consisting from 5 to 20 or more coyotes and they all attack the subject dog . All that we found of one neighbor's 2 - 4 year old LGDs ( great pyranees) was mauled carcasses . Another neighbor had a huge , mean, male Rottweiler . He took off after a coyote one late evening and all that he found the next day was it's head and hide. A neighbor's Rhodesian Ridgeback male, was found torn to shreds. Etc., etc.. It seems that the most effective control measure is a bullet. I ,and my neighbors always have a rifle handy so that when we see one, bang. Also, some of the neighbors and some friends get together on weekend hunts.