Asking for ideas on how to "manage" coyotes

[babsbag]

My neighbor wouldn't care, I have insulators on his T-posts elsewhere. But I wanted the coyote or fox to feel the bite before they got to my side of the fence. It is field fencing so pretty big squares too, I think a fox could get through them. I would like a wire at ground level and about 15" on his side.

 

[farmerjan]

Put it on your side. If he can get through the fencing then it must be 12 " stays; but he will not just "run through it" so as he is working his way through he will be moving a little slower and will really feel the zap as he is coming through. Problem is you won't know exactly at which height hole he will be coming through, regardless of which side you put it. I would make sure it is midway across the hole so he gets hit. If you put it on his side, then a fox will just as easily go under it as on your side. They will go low sooner than go high. Same with the coyote, he will go under before he will go over if he can.

 

[babsbag]

I don't think they are 12" stays, they are smaller at the bottom too but they are a lot bigger than my 2x4 no climb. Since this is in a gully I will get those step in stakes and run wire back and forth about every 6" or so and that ought to make them think about it a few times. Thanks for the input.

 

[farmerjan]

Probably 6" stays so even a fox would think twice except if they were desperate to get through, and if it is graduated then you are looking at something like 2" up to 4 or 6" between the top couple of wires. Not saying they can't get through, but going under would be preferable to them.

 

[Kusanar]

The Fabulous Fadjur was one heck of a beautiful Arabian. Glad you were able to see this horse!

Yes, I hear you on the 5ft. verses 4ft. fence. We had dinner tonight with a good friend who is a successful sheep rancher here and he said the exact same thing! I will go tomorrow and see the price difference at TS. Thanks again!

I'm not done catching up on this thread, but I just saw this post. I have a gelding that is a Fadjur great grandson and looks like a fat version of him!

 

[greybeard]

Most animals, if shocked behind the eyes or head, will move forward or if already moving forward, will continue to do so. If shocked in front of their eyes, they will back up or stop moving forward.

 

[babsbag]

So it appears that the coyote problem has been solved with repaired fencing and a top hot wire. I bottom hot wire will be going on tomorrow as quite possibly something smaller is still getting in with the chickens...or I have a hawk problem. I still have chickens disappearing without a trace.

I have had two chickens killed by hawks in the past and they ate them at the site of the kill, they did not carry them off. Eagles are not around here so this would be either a Red Tail hawk or a Cooper's Hawk. Most of what I read say that they can't carry off a full grown chicken. Anybody have any experience with hawks and chickens? Mine free range on about 1/4 acre so a little hard to make it a covered run. They do have some brush for shelter, but there are tall trees close and the hawks would have a good view. This is happening during the day. I have a lot of chickens so can't say for sure how many are gone but I know for certain that this summer I have had 3 ducks, 3 Polish, and 8 Black Copper Marans disappear without a trace. Guess I need to actually count the birds on the roost at night.

Time for another LGD. I might move my older female into the chicken area during the day, but need to make sure she is duck safe first. Mia (LGD puppy) will miss her though.

 

[Bruce]

As I understand it a hawk can't carry off a full grown large fowl so would have to eat it fairly close to the kill site. Foxes will carry them off leaving a pile of feathers where they were killed (at least in my sad experience). Any way a fox could get inside the fence? Those suckers are stealthy. When I've lost a bird to a fox, it had to cross 150' of open field before the grass started to grow in the spring. With no guard animals, they went unnoticed until it was too late. Kills were fairly close to buildings.

 

[babsbag]

The fox would have to be going under. My land is not level and this fence has a few places where is doesn't touch the ground entirely, but we are talking a 2-3" gap. I have hung scraps of chain-link fencing off of places that have bigger gaps and that works well as it just lays on the ground and gets incorporated into the weeds and duff and they can't push it up. I found a few places last night that I was suspect of and will be taking care of those today. It would also have to be going through or over hog panel fencing as I put in a double line of defense when the coyotes were having snacks.

In 7 years of raising chickens that lived with my goats I never lost one to any predator other than my own LGD puppies, however the dairy made me move them out of the field. I would rather deal with a ground predator than aerial ones and right now I am thinking that I need more game cams. I am also going to make the chickens some run in covers. I have a lot of scrap 2x4s for the frames so just figuring out what to use for the cover. I can get "blow" plywood fairly cheap so I might use that.

I think I will build a scarecrow too and hand some CDs on strings and maybe even try the owl. But it is just so strange that they are just disappearing but I do have hawks around here, I hear them daily.

 

[soarwitheagles]

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!