What Actually Keeps Coyotes Out of the Yard (And What Didn’t)

Coyotes don’t scare easy, and once they’ve decided your place looks like a buffet, they’re not quick to give it up. You’ll hear a lot of ideas from folks online, but not everything works once you’re actually dealing with them in real life. Here’s what we’ve seen hold up—and what absolutely flopped.

Tall Fencing With No Gaps

A six-foot fence won’t cut it. Coyotes can clear that without much effort. You need something closer to eight feet with no easy footholds or crossbars.

If they can dig under it, they will—so add buried wire or dig guards at the base. That’s what finally stopped them from slipping into our back pasture.

Hot Wire at the Top

Running a hot wire along the top of your existing fence makes a big difference. It doesn’t look like much, but coyotes hate getting shocked—and they remember fast.

It’s a good add-on if you can’t afford to redo the entire fence. It turned into our best line of defense for a big perimeter.

Motion-Activated Sprinklers

We thought it sounded silly until we tried it. Coyotes hate surprise water more than you’d think, especially if they’re not already used to human activity.

It only works in small areas, but we use them near the chicken run when we’re short on time to check fencing.

Leaving Lights on All Night

This didn’t do much. Coyotes around here are smart enough to know what’s real and what’s not a threat. A porch light or a solar spotlight didn’t scare them off.

You might spook a first-time visitor, but any regular coyote isn’t fooled for long.

Hanging Pie Pans or Wind Chimes

Useless. They’ll walk right under them. The first night you might see results, but after that, they ignore it completely.

We took ours down and saved ourselves the headache of clinking metal in every breeze.

Having a Loud Dog

This helped more than anything else. A loud, territorial dog that doesn’t back down will usually keep coyotes from getting too close.

But it only works if your dog isn’t an easy target. A small, barky dog alone won’t stop anything. It’s got to be a confident one with backup from you.

Keeping Food and Feed Locked Up

Leaving any kind of feed or scraps out is asking for problems. That includes chicken feed, compost, meat bones, or trash in open bins.

Once we moved everything into sealed barrels or inside the barn, the nightly visits dropped fast.

Urine Deterrents

We tried coyote urine and even human urine like some forums suggested. It didn’t make much difference. They either didn’t notice or didn’t care.

Coyotes are more deterred by presence than scent. If no one’s around, they’ll still come sniffing.

Trail Cameras for Pattern Tracking

This didn’t stop them, but it helped us understand them. Knowing when and where they were showing up let us reinforce the weak spots.

Once we realized they always came from the same tree line, we focused our efforts there—and that’s when the attacks stopped.

*This article was developed with AI-powered tools and has been carefully reviewed by our editors.