Coyote Pups Hanging Around Our Farm

Living next to a creek, we expect to see various wild animals coming and going, as this land is their home, too. We've got deer, chipmunks, raccoons, and a wide variety of birds, including birds of prey like barn owls and bald eagles. Once, a black bear was spotted behind our milk shed down by the creek, and our neighbor has seen cougar tracks on the trail that runs behind our house. Occasionally, we get word that someone has seen a cougar along Morse Creek. Even so, we were rather surprised when we spotted five coyote pups hanging out around here. They are not hiding from anyone and are present during the day. If they spot you, they don't run away too quickly, so they aren't all that afraid of people. 

The coyote pups look like small dogs, and they spend much of their time hunting for field mice and other rodents in the fields on and around our property. All five pups were hunting together for rodents in the newly hayed field across the road at Elton's farm. We noticed that this caused all our neighbors who were driving by to stop a moment to observe. We've also seen the pups near the trail that runs by the creek. Neighbors have spotted them about a half mile away near the clubhouse. Yesterday, I chased two of them away from our chicken run (they were standing there looking at the hens but not engaging in any way). Then, this morning, I cleaned up coyote droppings near the steps to our front door.

Even though I am concerned that the coyotes could get into our chicken run and kill our flock, I feel very strongly that since this land butts up to a natural area, we need to learn to live with nature. Sadly, some of our neighbors don't agree. We were alerted by our homeowner's association that one of our neighbors put rat poison in hamburger and left it out in the open along the trail by the creek, obviously hoping to get rid of the coyote pups that way. I'm also aware that if the coyote pups start to harm any of the cows or bulls over at the neighboring ranch, the homeowner there will take matters into his own hands via a shotgun. We've heard his shots fired occasionally in the past, when other coyotes have been in the area. Thankfully, the homeowner's association alerted everyone in our area that to poison wildlife in the way that person was trying to do is illegal, and they cited the code where the penalties were described. I'm hoping everyone will just learn to live with the coyotes for now.

Anyway, we've kept an eye out for these little guys. They are quite cute at this age. Below is a photo taken by our daughter, Eliza. 

Our security cameras also captured them a couple times recently:

We'll keep you posted on what happens with the pups. We have already reinforced the chicken run, adding logs around the base of it to prevent them from digging under. The run is tall enough to keep the deer out, so I don't imagine the coyotes can jump it. I also put another big brick at the entrance and sprayed a homemade liquid deterrent all the way around the base of the run (yup, it was my own pee in a spray bottle). My husband also sprayed vinegar around the entire run. Both types of deterrents were recommended in articles we read. 

I wish it were possible to take the coyotes deeper into the forest, away from humans, so that they would have a better chance of survival, but unfortunately, our area has limited resources to be able to accomplish that.