Live_Wire, That’s awesome! I’ve heard bags with ammonia soaked rags will discourage coyotes. That’s what we use for snakes and it works for them. I also thought of hanging cola cans filled with small rocks (for a noisemaker) on a wire/string along my fenceline.
Wow! Thanks for all the ideas. We’ll put ammonia-soaked rags around the arena and buy an air horn(s). Our perimeter fence is barb wire and around the back yard, there is a mesh fence attached to it. I didn’t realize that coyotes could jump that high. Our cat is an indoor type and she’s about 20 years old. Our chihuahua is about 8 lbs. and the 3 dogs go out at night in the backyard. I usually lean on the deck railing and now I realize that it’s not enough. With the exception of the horses, we don’t feed any animals outside. Our miniature donkey is on the chunky side and I would hate to see him confront a coyote. We’ll consider running an electric line around the arena. Thanks everyone for all the great ideas! We’ll put them to good use.
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I am on the rural fringe of Chicago and just right now had a coyote come up to my front porch, across three acres of open grassland/lawn to snatch a chicken. They are ruthless. We are committed to letting our chickens free range but… when this flock is gone we may need to take a break. We have been doing everything we can as a deterrent, but just like everyone here has said, there is not much to stop them.
YES, please accompany your small, older dogs out to the backyard at night. It is 2PM here and it’s still not safe. My good hen’s name was Agnes, named after a great aunt of mine, and was super, super sweet. Please keep your pup and other small domestic animals safe.
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We have a lot of coyotes where I live, and for the most part we leave each other alone. However, several years ago a lone coyote started stalking our house. It would sneak into the yard when it thought the coast was clear and snatch a chicken. I could see the coyote watching the house from across the pasture, sometimes four or five times a day. For about two months I tried everything to haze it off–I yelled at it, I sicced the dog on it, I chased it with the truck. Nothing discouraged it. I finally bought a rifle and shot it.
In the thirty years I’ve lived here, that’s the only time I’ve needed to shoot a coyote. I don’t hunt them, both because they’re just trying to live their lives and because I think hunting them would only create more problems with others moving in.
I’m glad I have the right to use lethal force against coyotes if necessary. I don’t know what I would do if I lived in a more populated area where that was restricted because of the risk it would create for others. Hazing won’t work against a determined coyote that thinks it has found the grocery store.
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Never mind (I was responding to the fox pic!). Anyway, what I hate with the coyotes is that they have eaten all the foxes. The coyotes do Nothing for rodent control. The foxes however actually control the Blankety Blank. meadow voles.
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@OzarksRider, we shoot when they start stalking on a regular basis.
For the most part, our mama cows will defend the calves and take good care of them. But when we start to see coyotes stalking and hanging out during the day, that is a no go.
Now, I have often threatened my husband that when he has finally annoyed me enough, I am going to tie him up naked to a tree, coat him in bacon grease and let the coyotes have at him. Anyone who knows us knows my plan, so I doubt I will get away with it! 
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I’m surprised that only one post suggested a Donkey.
A “Standard” Donkey will generally take up duties to keep unfamiliar K9s out of his/her pasture. Around here, it’s not uncommon to see a Guard-Donkey in the pasture with Cattle; particularly during calving season. I’m pretty sure people use them with Sheep and Goats as well.
I have observed the same behavior in George, and on one occasion found a well-stomped Fox in his pasture. Even our Dogs stay out of his way. But then Georgie is a very Donkey-like Mule, so I’m hesitant to generalize Mules as being protective. But maybe. I also had a large semi-civilized Grade Mare under my care several years ago that would go after dogs, just FWIW.
Other than that, Coyotes are persistent predators, and not easily intimidated. Most places, you can legally shoot 'em . . .
Edit to comment: In my observation, Coyotes and Foxes do not share habitat; you will have one, or the other. Foxes are much more pleasant neighbors, and can even be semi-tamed if you are so inclined.
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B_and_B, I didn’t know it was one or the other. Based on this forum topic, I would rather have the foxes. I certainly have rats in the barn. Rather than cats, I have relied on snakes. They help; it’s just the rats are still there.
@OzarksRider, Oh no, I thought the coyotes were stalking. I just didn’t know it was true. Thanks for the stalking comment; it confirmed my suspicions.
George_T_Mule, Our little donkey is a miniature and slightly overweight. He’s best friends with our Aussie, but doesn’t tolerate other dogs. You’re lucky to have such great animals.
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Coyotes’ main diet is rodents, along with insects, berries, fish, bird eggs … they are omnivores who prefer meat. Much like foxes.
This morning my dog alerted in the house so I let him out – he chased a coyote out of the pasture and into the forest. My Badger is 65 pounds so a match for a single coyote. The coyote was probably mousing, but I have a young goat I do worry about, and my hens (which are behind electric netting).
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Yes and no. In CT (where I live) there have been a lot of studies about white footed mice and control. White footed mice are the primary vector for Lyme Disease, they breed prolifically in Japanese Barberry thickets, our major woodland invasive until recently. It turns out that our native Grey Fox is the best control for White footed mice, even in dense Japanese Barberry thickets. The Red Fox (which may or may not be entirely native) is pretty good. The coyote? yes, it catches them…but not in dense thickets and not nearly as well overall. Which makes sense. The coyote is fundamentally an open savannah/plains species. The Eastern Grey Fox can and does climb trees!
So. I love my foxes.
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I have wind chimes set up for noise but cola cans would work just as well!
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Oh, I love that idea too! I’m getting some.
I think I am guilty of regional bias. Where I hunt, coyotes are certainly considered fair game, but red fox is the preferred game. It’s widely considered that coyote push out the fox, and are therefore considered a threat. That’s why I couldn’t imagine a hunt importing coyote. But if there aren’t any foxes in the territory, it makes perfect sense. One professional huntsman told me he believed that fox and coyote can co-exist, but when the coyotes are out hunting, the foxes don’t come out.
I always assume we’re on coyote when the run is fast and straight; in fact, if you’re not close to the hounds when they hit on coyote, you don’t have a chance of staying with them.
I have also heard, strictly anecdotally, that if coyote stay in a fox hunt territory, they will start to run like a red fox, running a large loop rather than a long straight point.
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I got a bit of a surprise yesterday just before dusk. Riding out around a large fenced pasture, as I trotted up the hill between the pasture fence and the neighbour’s fence my horse went full-on periscope head. “MUST SEE!!!” Hmm, ok, the rest of her is remaining calm so I’m not likely about to be dumped. As I’m working out whether to let her finish the hill in periscope mode or to bring her back and have a discussion about ridden manners, a big 'ol coywolf (ON, Canada, so yeah, likely not pure coyote here) hopped out of the shrubbery that borders the fence and trotted off. “Ok, so we’ll just keep trotting in periscope mode until we round the corner, tyvm.” Next thing 5 more popped out and trotted after the first one.
We often hear a startling number and sometimes from several directions at once, but yesterday was the first I’ve seen more than one at a time.
How to get rid of them - I have no idea. The previous place I boarded had several folks in the area who hunted them year round and (even though it’s not supposed to) it seemed to keep numbers fairly low. Also ‘gun broke’ all resident horses pretty quickly. Fireworks and deer season were never an issue 
It was rare to see any there - once in 6.5 years for me and I often rode at dusk.
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Wow! Glad your horse stayed calm. We’ve been on this property 6 years and this is the first time we’ve seen them. In our arena 2-3 times, in the pens 3 times and in the creek once (the creek was the whole pack).
It goes, our backyard, fence, barn and then arena. The coyotes can see our backyard and all 3 dogs. They’re stalking! I put ammonia-filled rags in zip lock bags around the arena fence where they have been coming in as well as cola cans filled with small rocks (as noisemakers if they come under the fence. I also ordered a windchime - all great ideas that posters suggested. Good luck!
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Yeah, she’s very ho hum about most wildlife. She wants to know, she wants to look, she often wants to stand and watch in the case of deer. And then there are squirrels gathering nuts in trees in the late fall. Those things are definitely out to get her, she’s sure of it.
I’m definitely definitely re-considering which paths and trails I will be using at dusk/dark though. I definitely don’t need a surprise encounter that ends up with me on my old ass.
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We have both. I have many times seen a fox on the edge of the woods hunting rabbits, and we hear the coyotes as the cross the field at night.
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I can highly recommend the book, Coyote America by Dan Flores. Fascinating read full of tidbits about this resilient animal and how it came to be part of, well, everywhere.
https://www.amazon.com/Coyote-America-Natural-Supernatural-History/dp/0465052991
"The howl of a coyote at dusk is one of the chief symbols of the American West, but in recent years, weve been hearing it farther and farther east. Even New York Cityabout as far from the Southwest as one can get, both geographically and figurativelyhas been the site of a rash of coyote sightings for more than a decade. From Central Park to the Aleutian Islands, Los Angeles to Bangor, Maine, coyotes have been found in places theyve never been seen before: one was even discovered riding a commuter train in Oregon.
The coyote, it turns out, loves the American people. This is ironic, given that since the nineteenth century, Americans have been at war with the coyote. Nevertheless, the coyote has not only survived our onslaught, it has thrived, using the streets of our cities as springboards for a takeover of the continent…"
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I had a camera at the back of my property, when I lived backed up to the forest preserve.
Only once in 3 years did I see two foxes together. The one I saw consistently had a very set schedule. You’d see him every night, marking the territory, at 1am on the dot.
Never did a see a coyote alone. They were running in 3s at least, sometimes more. Inconsistent schedules, lots of activity early mornings.
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