Coyote COntrol - Ask Extension
Hello
This morning at 8 am, we heard a lot of noise from our chickens and when I looked out the window I saw a coyote making off with one of our h...
Knowledgebase
Coyote COntrol #927728
Asked April 07, 2026, 1:03 PM EDT
Hello
This morning at 8 am, we heard a lot of noise from our chickens and when I looked out the window I saw a coyote making off with one of our hens. We had a night time attack about 2 weeks ago when some of the hens did not go into the coop at night and 3 were taken, 2 were damaged and had to be euthanized. We have run our fence line and sealed off two places where they have dug under, but obviously we have become a delicatessen for the locals. What can be done? Trapping, poisoning (that will not endanger pets)? Obviously we need to run our fence line and improve weak areas, but ??
Marion County Oregon
Expert Response
Particularly because the coyotes have now learned that this is a reliable source of food, investing resources and effort in making durable adjustments will be paramount.
First, making sure the chickens have a secure coop in which to roost is a priority. It sounds like a couple of the hens perhaps need some refresher "training" on getting into the roost, which might involve really active management such as enticing with treats & herding them in for a few nights in a row.
For the yard fence, you could run a single electric hotwire along the top - or even better, an "outrigger" strand along the outside near the top of the fence, plus the top line. For the digging, it really depends on how much fenceline, your soils, etc. There are retail-available sets of metal stakes, such as DigDefence, but you also could DIY trench down and out to install an undiggable L-shaped "apron" of welded wire fence (NOT chickenwire).
Other designs for a coyote-excluding fence have the hotwires outside the fence at 10-20inches of height plus the topwire, and/or an outrigger with plastic pipe around the cable to create "coyote rollers".
Coyotes have multiple management classifications (furbearer allowed take via trapping and hunting, but require appropriate license) and can be lethally removed trap & shoot or shoot by landowners as a nuisance - HOWEVER, neither traps nor firearms are allowed inside city limits. Federal USDA-APHIS agents are the only ones who can access lethal poisons for coyotes and they do not deploy those tools in populated areas.
So in summary, prevention and mitigation of the conflict via protecting/securing the chickens, durably excluding the coyotes, and then following up with some hazing (noise, lights, or even a motion-sensing water scarecrow) to help break their habituation to getting food from your house/yard will be the best strategy.https://myodfw.com/articles/living-coyotes
First, making sure the chickens have a secure coop in which to roost is a priority. It sounds like a couple of the hens perhaps need some refresher "training" on getting into the roost, which might involve really active management such as enticing with treats & herding them in for a few nights in a row.
For the yard fence, you could run a single electric hotwire along the top - or even better, an "outrigger" strand along the outside near the top of the fence, plus the top line. For the digging, it really depends on how much fenceline, your soils, etc. There are retail-available sets of metal stakes, such as DigDefence, but you also could DIY trench down and out to install an undiggable L-shaped "apron" of welded wire fence (NOT chickenwire).
Other designs for a coyote-excluding fence have the hotwires outside the fence at 10-20inches of height plus the topwire, and/or an outrigger with plastic pipe around the cable to create "coyote rollers".
Coyotes have multiple management classifications (furbearer allowed take via trapping and hunting, but require appropriate license) and can be lethally removed trap & shoot or shoot by landowners as a nuisance - HOWEVER, neither traps nor firearms are allowed inside city limits. Federal USDA-APHIS agents are the only ones who can access lethal poisons for coyotes and they do not deploy those tools in populated areas.
So in summary, prevention and mitigation of the conflict via protecting/securing the chickens, durably excluding the coyotes, and then following up with some hazing (noise, lights, or even a motion-sensing water scarecrow) to help break their habituation to getting food from your house/yard will be the best strategy.https://myodfw.com/articles/living-coyotes
