Coyotes, anyone have problems with them & their Minis?

[Mini Wonders Farm]

Hi, Coyotes are starting to be seen in our area. A few weeks ago I even seen two real good in early afternoon, not far from us, in pursuit of a fawn. Last night we heard them after another fawn. I know this is the natural order of things, but I'm worried about my Minis. I keep most of them out 24/7 in electric fence, they very in size from 28" to 37" but I do keep my mares w/ little babies stalled at night. I was wondering if anyone has had any trouble w/ coyotes, have any ever went after minis before? And what could be done to keep them AWAY?

 

[Molly's Run Minis]

we have ALOT of them here. they're the reason i have nightmares, all they do is howl at night and i'm not talking small packs either

we have a dog and her barking and constant territorial marking keeps them at bay, but barbed wire with little to no spaces in between will keep them out. it has to be pretty tall though, at least 6 feet. i'd say to use 8 feet to be sure. good luck with them!

 

[ohmt]

We had a pack of coyotes in the woods back behind our mares pasture 2 years ago. I didn't think coyotes would go after a herd of 20+ mares but was still worried. We have a donkey about 42" that we keep with the mares now and I haven't heard coyotes in the area at all this year. Our donkey is LOUD and will bray and charge at any animal that skimpers by, whether it be a bunny or a dog. He loves the mares though and was bottle fed as a baby so he'd never hurt any of his 'mommies'. He does a good job!

 

[kdhminis]

We have lots of coyotes in our area - Missouri. We haven't so far had them bother our mini's. But with that said - the neighboring farms have had coyotes take down calves, etc. - which are larger than some of our mini's. I know that whenever we have a foal born we immediately bury the afterbirth, etc. to get that blood smell outta here - as that will attract coyotes, etc. We do put our mini's in a tall fenced paddock and electric fenced area at night and only let them out to their pasture with regular barbed wire fence when someone is at home. I realize that coyotes will go thru electric fences and possibly could climb over the tall cattle panel paddock fences too. Our miniature horse paddocks and pastures are immediately behind and to the side of our house - so we basically can see everything going on and hear most things. And yes we have found baby deer dead in our further away pastures - probably done by coyotes.

I do not know of anyway to prevent them from being around. It's when I see 2 or more together that make me very nervous.

 

[Reble]

Our Counties have a price tag on them at $15.00 a hide... so we contact hunters that come and try to get them out of your area.

One county killed 150 in early spring.

 

[penny]

if a coyote can't go over a fence he will dig under it...best solutions...become a good shot with shotgun or rifle...buy Great Pyrenese(sp),Anatolion for guard dogs..get a big donkey, they run off most anything, yes even your own dogs! Find someone willing to trap them or trap them yourselves..

If coyotes are around and you have barn cats, expect some to go missing eventually. Coyotes love easy prey..We have had some out back of us in the woods, and we live in town! They've decimated the stray cat problem here and we see hardly any rabbits anymore. Their sneaky and smart..just have to outsmart them!

 

[Jacki Loomis]

You can visit the link below for an interesting article on Coyote damage, identification and control. It is compliments of the Internet Center for Wildlife Damage Management at the University of Nebraska - Lincoln. Please be aware that some content is graphic and deals with both lethal and non-lethal methods of control. If you don't want to read about lethal methods do not view this link.

http://icwdm.org/han...vor/coyotes.asp

I have additional articles and resources on wildlife control, both Coyote and other species. If anyone is interested or having a problem please email me at my work email, [email protected] and I'll be glad to try to find you articles & publications related to your specific problem.

Jacki Loomis

[email protected]

Manager, Nebraska Maps & More Store

School of Natural Resources, University of Nebraska - Lincoln

 

[LAZY J MINIS]

WE DID HAVE PROBLEMS WITH COYOTES, SINCE I HAVE MY JUNKYARD DOGS AND DONKEYS NO PROBLEM. MY DOGS ARE MUTTS BUT HATE COYOTES AND WILL KILL THEM ANYWHERE THEY FIND THEM AND THE DONKEYS ARE IN WITH THE HORSES. SIMON HAS TAKEN OUT THE NEIGHBORS PITT JUST FOR GOING THRU THE PASTURE.(SIMON THE DONKEY)

 

[Miniv]

We have coyotes, a pack with a den across our road .....

They tend to go after the rodents in our neighborhood and the calf placentas that our neighbor doesn't bother to pick up. (Knock on wood) the coyotes don't venture onto our property, although we see and hear them all around.

My theory is for US -- We have strands of electric around the bottom of our fencing where our most vulnerable groups are. (Coyotes AND Dogs prefer to dig UNDER and not climb fence)...We have four large and vocal dogs who travel our property daily and "mark"....AND we have five llamas in with different groups. Plus, our "baby group" is always closest to the house/barn with access to the interior of the barn on bad days......That area is well lit and has a radio going 24/7.

I'm really not sure which, if any of what I described is most helpful.......or perhaps a combination?

 

[TheCaseFamily00]

I was on my mower right beside the minis lot one evening and a coyote was about 20 ft from the minis but he was after my chickens.He didn't seem at all interested in them,he decided after a few moments thought that he had better go and not mess with my pets,WISE decision.

 

[georgiegirl]

Interesting comments from all. Hmmmm

We live in the heart of coyote country, mountain lion country, bear country, bob cat country etc etc

I dont know of anyone here who really has a problem with coyotes. We hear them about every night on the lakes by our house. I dont know anyone who has lost any stock to coyotes. We have lived here, in the same place for 24 years.

Our property is fenced around with 4 foot chain link with a hot wire on the top. We fenced it this way more to keep the loose dogs out than the coyotes. The wildlife officer told me that this fence was pretty much coyote proof. I had called him because we had a bob cat coming in spraying on everything.

I will say that I do put all of my horses in the barn at night with the door shut, not because of coyotes, but because of the big cats.

The coyotes here are not of any concern.

 

[Marty]

We're getting way too many here. Each year seems to be more and more of them and they are bold and not much seems to scare them off anymore. I have field fencing with hot wire both sides, big outside barn flods lights, but my dogs are my best security alerts.

 

[ErikaS.]

We have coyotes, but have not had a problem with them; my dogs' barking seems to keep them at bay. I do worry about stray (and not-so stray) dogs that come near my property as they really have no fear of people and little fear of my dogs, but my husband would take care of them should the need arise (sss method).

I almost had my husband talked into letting me get a guard donkey, but we really don't need one. Oh well.

 

[ljc]

The only problem I've had with coyotes is that they get into the minis' field and steal their toys. One morning I came out and found all five toys missing. There was a gap under the fence that the coyotes would crawl through so they took the toys with them. I would have loved to have seen coyotes playing with a jolly ball.

Honestly, I don't worry about the coyotes. If I had tiny foals, well, yes, but with full grown minis, no.

Mountain lions are another story, however.

 

[love_casper]

Had my first actually scary run in with a coyote tonight. When we lived in Los Angeles, the coyotes there were these scrawny, tiny, yappy little things. While trail riding we'd see them almost every day in the hills, and I ran into packs of 7 or 8 of them twice, we just kept riding and they usually scurried off before we got anywhere near close. SO I was expecting them to be the same out here in CO. Not so much.

I had just finished feeding the minis and was going to come through the fence when I saw what at first I thought was my Shiba Inu somehow running loose. It moved off, it wasn't her, figured it was a fox. It came back on the other side of the fence. Then went to the front pasture. Then another one was sitting in its place, so that made two. Ignored em, we have a lot of foxes. Then the cats started hissing like mad, and when I went to leave through the barn door I saw a VERY big VERY scary critter that literally at first I thought was one of deer. Then I wondered maybe loose husky. He was pacing RIGHT outside the mini pen, while his buddies were laying down on the other side... all of them staring at me. Of course I'm quite sure they were after the kitties, but it didn't help that 4 kittens were clinging to me. I kinda don't ever want any critter to look at me like that again! BIG DOGGIE! When he sat down his ears were level with the minis' fence. But everything looks scary when you've got 3 predators looking at you like you're lunch AND you can't see them well because it's after midnight. (And you neglected the research you were supposed to do and have no clue if wolves are native around here, or that coyote's come in wolfie colors.) And they are surrounding your exit just perfectly so that I had to scare the little one off to make a mad dash to the back door. Very BOLD little sucker, nothing like the pipsqueaks in LA. I don't like em, even if I'm sure they wouldn't try to hurt a mini, I like my kitties and little doggies in one piece. Gonna try to keep them out. I drove around with the truck after that, scared em away for now. I dont like em, I don't like em at all.

 

[HGFarm]

Coyotes have always been a problem here, but I dont take any chances with my Minis. I have high 2 x 4 wire around the perimeter of the property, and two large dogs in the back. Then the horses areas are within the back perimeter fencing. Even though the dogs are in at night, the fence is not really that easy for a coyote to get in- they would have to dig under or climb over (they dont seem to like to have to work at something- they want a QUICK entry and exit) and then they would have to work more to get into the horse's lots as well.

 

[Miniv]

Here's another TAKE on Coyotes ........ (Don't FLAME!)

I think every area has their own issues with this predator. Some places are overpopulated and some aren't necessarily. Coyotes are survivors and will go for "easy" prey, especially when hungry. (Wouldn't we all?)

It's important for each of us to try not to make our chickens, goats, and mini foals EASY PREY.

In OUR general area, the coyotes prefer to hunt the rock chucks, the awful ground squirrels who dig in the pastures....and clean up the calf placentas the lazy neighbor doesn't pick up. They don't mess with our minis at all. (We also take some precautions as I posted before.)

As long as nature is providing food to our coyotes here, they are living within the natural cycle and helping to control OUR PESTS. And as long as they work within that cycle, we aren't going to disrupt it.

Probably and eventually we (MAN) will mess up things around here (when more development starts happening), and the coyotes will most likely become more aggressive. When that happens, we WILL protect our own.

 

[chandab]

Here's another TAKE on Coyotes ........ (Don't FLAME!)

I think every area has their own issues with this predator. Some places are overpopulated and some aren't necessarily. Coyotes are survivors and will go for "easy" prey, especially when hungry. (Wouldn't we all?)

It's important for each of us to try not to make our chickens, goats, and mini foals EASY PREY.

In OUR general area, the coyotes prefer to hunt the rock chucks, the awful ground squirrels who dig in the pastures....and clean up the calf placentas the lazy neighbor doesn't pick up. They don't mess with our minis at all. (We also take some precautions as I posted before.)

As long as nature is providing food to our coyotes here, they are living within the natural cycle and helping to control OUR PESTS. And as long as they work within that cycle, we aren't going to disrupt it.

Probably and eventually we (MAN) will mess up things around here (when more development starts happening), and the coyotes will most likely become more aggressive. When that happens, we WILL protect our own.

MA, I'm with you, this is where we are with coyotes, they pretty much stay away. Yes, they occassionally go through our south pasture, and hit the bone pile now and then (gotta do something with the calves that don't make it in the spring, its 1/4 mile or so west of the yard, and seems to keep the coyotes out of the actual yard, as do the dogs). And, my husband will put the run on them, if they do get too bold. I don't like them, and do what I can to safely contain my minis, but we really haven't had too much trouble from the coyotes.

 

[Dona]

MA, I'm with you, this is where we are with coyotes, they pretty much stay away. Yes, they occassionally go through our south pasture, and hit the bone pile now and then (gotta do something with the calves that don't make it in the spring, its 1/4 mile or so west of the yard, and seems to keep the coyotes out of the actual yard, as do the dogs). And, my husband will put the run on them, if they do get too bold. I don't like them, and do what I can to safely contain my minis, but we really haven't had too much trouble from the coyotes.

I agree. We have lots of Coyotes around here too....but we also have an abundance of "prey" for them (rodents, rabbits, deer, wild cats, etc.) I believe they are pretty well fed, and it would take some who are starving to want to take on bigger prey such as Minis. I have two Pyrenees to protect our Minis, and the minis are always kept up in the barn in their stalls at night. But, I've been told over & over by old-timers around here, that if you have coyotes and they AREN'T causing you any problems, leave them alone. If you get rid of them, another group WILL replace them, and they just may be more agressive!

 

[Connie P]

Has there ever been any confirmed attacks on minature horses from coyotes?