How to Keep Coyotes Away from Your Yard

Thousands of coyotes now roam suburban and urban yards and neighborhoods across coyote2smallAmerica. News reports about coyote attacks on pets and other small animals are becoming more common. People are struggling to find ways of keeping them away. One completely natural, yet innovative solution is the use of wolf urine to repel coyotes.  According to the Wikipedia article Coyote: Interspecific predatory relationships, wolves are one of the few natural predators of coyotes and can compete for hunting habitat.

“The gray wolf is a significant predator of coyotes wherever their ranges overlap. Since the Yellowstone Gray Wolf Reintroduction in 1995 and 1996, the local coyote population went through a dramatic restructuring. Until the wolves returned, Yellowstone National Park had one of the densest and most stable coyote populations in America due to a lack of human impacts. Two years after the wolf reintroductions, the pre-wolf population of coyotes had been reduced 50% through both competitive exclusion and predation. In Grand Teton, coyote densities were 33% lower than normal in the areas where they coexisted with wolves, and 39% lower in the areas of Yellowstone where wolves were reintroduced.”

When coyotes believe wolves are in an area, they will move to a less hazardous habitat. By applying wolf urine around the perimeter of a yard, the homeowner can create the impression that wolves are nearby. The scent of urine is one of the primary ways an animal is warned of the presence of a predator and the smell of the wolf urine tells coyotes that this area could be a dangerous place. The coyote’s instincts kick in and they move to a new territory. In addition an added advantage to using wolf urine is that it is completely natural and safe to use around pets.

Until I find more words. . .The PeeMan

Protect Backyard Chickens from Foxes

Fox in the hen house? Whenever you think about predators of chickens, foxes have to be at the top of the list. As long as people have kept hens in enclosures, crafty Mr. Fox has been trying to get them. How do you know if you have a fox problem? Well, unlike other chicken predators, the fox tends to only leave behind feathers. The fox hunts 2 hours after sunset and 2 hours before sunrise. They are usually more active ifoxn the Spring when they are trying to get food for their litters. But, they will attack throughout the year. They tend to kill more than they can eat but unlike the weasel, they don’t waste the food. They store it away in caches for a later meal. They are able to dig below and climb above which make them an even more formidable foe. Usually, a fox will take as many hens as it can carry off.

So, what is to be done? Well, as with so many other predatory threats, it is crucial to make sure that your coop is secured. No holes, no possible access points from above or below. Once the coop is secure, the final measure of protection is a natural deterrent such as wolf urine. Wolf urine? Really? Yes, the fox is genetically programmed to fear the wolf. There do not have to be wolves in the area and the fox never has to have been exposed to a wolf to exhibit the fear response.

So, confirm fox threat, secure the coop, create a perimeter with wolf urine and rest easy.

Until I find more words. . .The PeeMan

Protect Backyard Chickens from Weasels

In the literary world, the weasel family often gets a bad rap. Consider that in children’s books such as the Wind in the Willows and the Redwall series the members of the family Mustelidae are always the bloodthirsty villains. Why do these animals with debatably cute faces get cast as the vermin warlords and thieving good for nothings?WWE_weasels Well, it is clearly drawn from the fact that in the natural world, there are few predators of a similar size that can wreak such havoc so quickly and create a scene among its hapless victims that would make even a horror fan cringe. It is not just that the weasel tends to viciously attack the head, neck or jugular of its prey but that it seems to at times be overcome with bloodlust and will often massacre anything within its immediate radius. The weasel often kills more than it can eat and leaves behind bloody, mutilated carcasses in its wake. Here are some other weasel facts:

“Members of this family(Mustelidae) are generally characterized by long bodies and necks, short legs, small rounded ears, and medium to long tails. All have scent glands, generally used for territorial markings but in some animals for defense.”

http://www.encyclopedia.com/plants-and-animals/animals/vertebrate-zoology/weasel

There are two types of weasels commonly found in North America. The short-tailed weasel and the tiny least weasel.least_weasel_by_sergey_ryzhkov-d86t3ox

As you can clearly guess if you haven’t experienced it first hand, weasels can be a very destructive chicken predator. How can you determine if you have a weasel around? The best way, unfortunately, to confirm this is after an attack has happened.short_tailed_weasel If birds are dead and not eaten, if multiple birds have been attacked at the jugular, head, and neck, internal organs have been eaten and/or eggs have been broken in at the ends, a member of the weasel family is probably to blame.

http://articles.extension.org/pages/71204/predator-management-for-small-and-backyard-poultry-flocks

Once you have identified the predator, then you must make sure your coop is secure(no holes in the wire, gaps or other potential means of access). Then it is time to use the natural predator-prey instinct to keep the weasels away for good. How? Wolf urine! The wolf is a natural predator of the weasel and fear of this predator is programmed into every weasel even if they have never been within miles of a wolf.

So, identify the predator. Secure the coop. Create a pee-rimeter around the area you want to protect and rest easy.

Until I find more words . . .The PeeMan