Coyote killing chickens

I have never trapped coyotes before. A friend of the wife has seen a coyote kill her chicken on two occasions latley.

WOuld I have results just using a dirthole set footsnare?

Tips or tricks bait, lure, pee??

Pretty hot, mid 80's

I would go with footholds put a couple around a dead chicken, use a stake(not a steak, eat that) to hold chicken in place

Beware using exposed bait. There are laws in many states due to non target catch.

Urine is good all year round due to territoriality. Would look for that or typical dirt hole or flat sets
for your scenario.

If they are coming to a pen to catch the chickens.

Are they enclosed in any way or free range and how many acres?

Usually raising chickens free range means donating to local wildlife.

Are they losing them during day or night?

If night a good coop can do wonders for protecting the stock.

While my experience is limited, I have had success using blind sets with #1.75, #2 and #3 Victors.

With the abundance of vegetation at this time of year, travel ways can be identified. Look for places they are coming under fences or using gates.

If I was going to use a chicken for bait, it would be a live one in a cage with the same Victors guarding it. Put it out only at night and have the traps far enough away to avoid catching owls.

If your coyotes are anything like the ones around here they are more chicken than the chickens. Just the act of walking all over the area and setting traps is often enough to send them to new hunting grounds.

And keep an open mind. Even when a person says they saw a coyote, it often turns out to be a domestic dog or a raccoon.

This is hard to suggest on as we've no idea what equipment you're allowed to use. It is my understanding from years ago that foothold traps are out without getting a special permit. Is that still the case?

What are your snare laws? If you must have a relaxing lock, deer stop, and/or breakaway device then foot snares will be out as well unless you have a special section allowing their usage. Just putting a snare in a dirt hole would have a very small change of success (and again, if the loop cannot close down on the leg it doesn't matter anyway). If the Collarum is legal for you, it may be the best device.

Cage traps can work given time, but you'd most likely need to either purchase or make one as they usually need to be bigger than the average cage.

In the end, you may have to find the trails and set snares or set up a blind and shooting it if either of these options are legal.

Of course, the other option is to have the chickens put up until the coyote moves out of the area. Most likely there is a den somewhere close so if you have them remove the food source, then the 'yotes most likely will move to other hunting grounds.

X2

We lock ours up each night, this year we have net electric fence around the grass area they free range. It moves when we move the chicken house for new grass.
I guess it would depend on non targets ( cats or dogs ) to which trapping method you can use, also the location of there home.
The last info I read on cage trapping coyotes was 17 in over 1000 straight trapping days. Maybe a trail camera to see what is doing the damage.
Kurt Temple