Coyotes are opportunistic feeders. They will eat reptiles, rodents, fish, amphibians, birds, insects, crabs, carrion, fruits, and deer. They also eat livestock, for which they are hotly persecuted as vermin. Actually, it is usually only injured coyotes and those with young that take livestock because they are easier to catch than their normal prey. When farmers lay down traps to catch coyotes, they are inadvertently contributing to their livestock's demise by increasing the numbers of injured coyotes.
Coyotes usually hunt at night.
But increases in human persecution has made coyotes all over their range nocturnal hunters. Coyotes tend to hunt in pairs or small groups. Coyotes do not usually roam in packs, but single-sex groups have been observed. These groups are usually related, and are not as tightly bound as a wolf pack. Coyote packs tend to break up and regroup readily.