Sage’s Patented Beer Can Coyote Alarm

Tired of coyotes snagging my poultry, I came up with a cheap way to keep them out of my yard

My discount Coyote Alarm setup

Where I live, coyotes are a common problem. Over the years I’ve lost a couple dozen chickens and ducks to them, so I have to be really diligent about making sure they’re locked in their coop at sunset, and not let back out until well after sunrise.

For the past couple of years, I haven’t had a problem with them, so I got careless and stopped paying attention to signs that they’re out and about.

Then, a few nights ago, I was awakened by a ruckus in an area behind the coop enclosure where I had segregated a trio of ducks that were having problems getting along with the rest of the flock.

I went out there with a flashlight and saw two of the ducks huddled up against the fence, but saw nothing else. I checked the gates and the perimeter, but didn’t see anything, so I went back to bed.

The next morning, I came out to feed and water everyone and there was only one duck behind the coop.

Suspecting the worst, I went down to the edge of our fence line where there’s an oak-lined valley that separates our property from our neighbors, and, sure enough, there was a pile of duck feathers scattered under one of the trees.

Coyote.

I went back up to the coop area and started inspecting the fence more closely and found an area directly behind the coop, partially hidden by ivy where the fencing had been bent downward. The coyote had snuck in through my neighbor’s yard and used the embankment on that side to climb the fence and grab my ducks.

Knowing that once a coyote finds a food source, it’ll come back until either there’s no more food, or there’s something unpleasant there to meet it (like a big, angry dog), I knew I had to do something to make it not want to return.

Making a Coyote Alarm

Building a taller fence in that area of the yard isn’t an option. The neighbor’s yard is upslope from mine and probably two feet higher than on my side of the yard. My chicken coop is 6-1/2 feet high on the back side, so raising the fence behind it just makes the short hop to top of the coop’s roof all the more appealing. Rather, what I had to do is make it so the coyote wouldn’t want to go in that area at all.

I actually have a wireless security camera with night vision motion detection that will trigger lights and a siren, but there are so many warm-bodied things moving around out there at night – opossums, skunks, raccoons, etc. – if I use the motion sensor, it goes off a dozen or more times a night.

My $25 WiFi security camera

I was sitting on my deck having a beer and thinking about how to put some sort of alarm on the fence, when Hercules, our dachshund puppy came flying through the dog door, and crashed into the recycling bucket, knocking it over and sending half a dozen empty beer cans rattling across the deck.

And there it was. The alarm!

I went a got a small basket, loaded it with some empty beer cans and hung it on the fence with an S-hook through a handle on the side of the basket.

So, coyote comes over fence, knocks the cans out of the basket making a racket, noise detector on the camera picks up the cans crashing to the ground, and sets off the lights and siren. Coyote gets scared. Coyote runs off and doesn’t return.

My only problem was when I tested my alarm, the cans falling into the dirt below didn’t really make much noise. Not enough to set off the noise detection anyway.

Wandering through my garage and thinking, how to make the falling cans louder, I came across an old 3-gallon aluminum pot and lid. The lid is a little flimsy and warped so it doesn’t sit on the pot neatly. It does, however, rattle like a metal drum when struck.

I took the old pot, put it on the ground under the basket, and tested my alarm again.

This time it worked perfectly. The cans clanging down on the pot made enough of a ruckus to set off the noise detection, lights, camera and siren. So, I reset the basket and waited to see if it would work on the coyote.

How the beer can coyote alarm works

Sure enough, that night at 2:33 AM, the duck-eating coyote returned. This time however, cans crashed, pot rattled, lights and siren went off, and that very freaked out coyote fell backwards off the fence and dashed off into the darkness.

Coyote be Gone

It’s been five nights since the coyote alarm went off, and there’s been no sign of the critter since. I know it’s probably still lurking out there in the darkness, but it’s not going to come over that fence anymore.

One small win for me. I just wish it hadn’t cost two ducks. Fortunately, however, our ducks will make more little ducks and the flock will be restored.