How much is one coyote worth? Forty years ago when I trapped a few coyotes each winter they were worth about $15-$30 each. I am not sure if they have value now even with today’s inflation, but I know at least one is costing me money. My chicken coop has experienced a terrible rate of attrition this summer.
It all started when many of the younger birds, those about a year old, decided to show off their athleticism and fly over the fence used for their enclosure. In years past when this happened, I would catch them and clip one wing. This made them aerodynamically unstable, and they could no longer sail over the fence. This was necessary since the Doberman I had at the time was an expert chicken catcher. This spring I had a flock of 160 prime egg laying cluckers and had no concerns when they cleared the fence to peck in greener pastures since I no longer had a dog that wanted to find out if the loose birds really did “taste like chicken.”
I did place scissors out by the fence so I could catch each bird and clip their wings. It was useless. I could not catch them; they would escape from me and usually fly back over the fence and hide amongst the other inmates. At first, I thought it was no big deal. Then after a couple of months we realized we rarely had a hen outside of the fence anymore. I was going to have to do a headcount of my girls.
Do you want a fun job at 9:30 at night on a hot summer’s eve? Go into a 7’ tall chicken house with the rafter and perches in the ceiling filled with hens and try to count them. When they get excited, they like to relieve themselves. Let me warn you, this is a job you do before the shower, not after. Also, when looking up and counting the girls, you quickly learn to keep your mouth shut and hum the count of 131, 132, 133.
That was the problem; I was about 25 birds short. When we cut the hay field behind the house, the coyote strolled right by the chicken pen. When we came home at noon, the coyote was circling the chicken pen. When I planted soybeans in the neighbor’s hay field at 7 am the coyote strolled right past the chicken pen to watch me plant. When my neighbors looked at our coop out of their window, guess what they saw?
That was it. I was now convinced I had an unwanted diner who made no reservations for lunch and was not paying for his meal. The coyote turned free range into a free meal. Is this the definition of “dine-and-dash?” I started a policy of “open carry” with my shotgun whenever going out of the house.
3 weeks ago, a new flock of 53 chicks, only 105 days old. were placed in a pen with a 6’ fence next to the laying hens. I wrongly believed their 2’ taller fence would protect them. I now have only 48, 126-day old chicks.
My quick math brings me to the conclusion that the loss of 5 chicks only several weeks from becoming laying hens has cost me about 150 dozen eggs in the next two years. Together the loss of income from the 5 pullets and 25 adult birds is about $1500. No wonder my ancestors hunted, trapped and poisoned every predator they could, and then eventually moved almost every farm animal indoors for efficiency and higher productivity and profitability.
What are my options beside an indoor chicken house? I could get another Doberman, one that also likes to hunt coyotes as much as chickens. I could learn to hunt better, or perhaps rent a roadrunner. That makes me wonder, where do you rent/buy a roadrunner, and would it cost more than this coyote?
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