Coyotes?

Has anyone had any issues with coyotes trying to get your minis?

I've been considering getting a mini and have one that I'm really leaning toward, but I've got a pair of coyotes that live in the area and they've come fairly close to my house. My dog (mastiff) chases them off and I actually haven't heard them in about a week so maybe they've moved on.

I don't have any small animals outside that would attract them so I don't know why they were hanging around. I live on acreage, but I'm in town. However south of me is all farmland with several farmers that have cattle, but diagonally across the street is a housing division, I have a street with a row of houses to my north abutting my property, and 2 blocks further to the north is a major grocery store and gas station, with a WalMart maybe 1/2 a mile away.

They obviously don't give my full size horses any issues.

I do have a stall that I can keep her in at night....but I was just curious if anyone has had any issues like this??

We have a pack of coyotes that hang around some times and in the year I'v had my mini no issues.

I've never had an issue with them with foals. But if I saw one I'd probably shoot it anyways, especially in the yard.

Coyotes diet consist mostly of mice and other small rodents.
They eat a lot of insects and vegetation.
A mini foal might be easy for one to take.
We have never in the generations of owning this farm ever had a coyote attack or kill a horse or cow. They are generally too large and coyotes are oprotunistic they like their prey to be as easy as possible.
There are lots of minis and mini donkeys pastured in this county without ever being bothered by coyotes.
I would not worry. Shalom

We have one, for some reason, that hangs out with the big herd.
As long as they stay out of my yard. My Pittbull would tear them apart but not my Chihauhaus. I already fought an eagle off!

At the farm we have a den about half a mile from the house. At dusk we here several pairs or packs get vocal in different directions.
Now small dogs and the feral cat population at the barn are at risk. Sheep and goats are magnets for coyotes. Get a large dog or a donkey. The coyotes and any dog soon learn that a donkey will not tolerate a predator.
I saw this first hand when Billy one of the donkeys stomped a stray dog to death someone had dumped near our house. Shalom

Never had a problem with coyotes and horses. One tried to take my pup and was fairly persistant about it, so I had to shoot it.

We have a pack that runs around the house after dark. I've yet to see any of them but they are out there. When I was a kid we had a wild population of peacocks in the area from a farm or whatever that they either escaped from or had been abandoned. I used to see them all the time. I haven't seen one since the coyotes moved in.

Well I saw them both in my yard tonight ...I figured out why they've been hanging around. I had thrown some dog food that my dog didn't eat out in the yard for the birds to eat.

Well just happened to look out the window and there they both were in the general vicinity of where I had thrown the dog food. Guess I won't be doing that anymore!

They are both small - maybe 40-45lbs?

I don't plan to have any mini foals and have no other small animals. I just didn't know if they would go after a mini horse.

Thanks for all the replies!

It's about the pack mentality.
And now they have an excuse now to be hanging around. Once they find something to eat they will expect more to be there sooner or later. They may be fine with your mini for years and then all of the sudden, you go out one morning...
And that goes for anything really. Raccoon, opossums, hawks...
You can buy a live trap and catch them.

Trap them. They like dog food - use that for bait in the trap.
Shoot them.
A pair will mean more later.

One dog is ok to have. But two dogs might be better. I have been told by many people that a single dog had been baited away from the house/barn by coyotes and the pack killed and ate them.
Llamas and donkeys or a mule would be even better to have.

I had recently found out that a breeding pair of wolves were released only a couple of miles from our farm. I *swear* we heard one last fall. It was not a dog. It was not a coyote. It made the hair on the back of my neck stand up.
If I catch them within sight, they will be dead too. But that is the trick, seeing them.

Danielle

Depends on where you live, the farther east you get the more wolf dna they seem to have and the larger you get. Pack of coyotes have killed calves in Gloucester County Va, I don't imagine the same ones would have an issue with a mini.