My suggestions would be not to kill them. What you heard sounds very normal. They are usually out at night/early monring so my suggestion to you is to keep your dogs indoor once it starts getting dark. Things that will attract them is other animals especially a female dog that is in heat and garbage. Keep your dogs inside once its dark, kids supervised and make sure the area around your house is free of any garbage.Surrounding farms with chickens and other animals will also more likely to attract them to your area. Those are some good preventative measures.
I hear coyotes all the time, I see them cutting out in the road in packs as well. This summer we even a single coyote that wanders our field in the day time (this is not usually a good sign). I have gone out there and the thing seemed very skidish and was aware of every little noise in the surroundings, I kept my distance of course and it just wandered off. It had a beautiful coat.
My kids are both in college - but there are neighbors with small children. Additionally there is a cow farm through the woods where I hear the coyotes. My land borders the cow fence. They used to have a donkey - haven't seen or heard it in a year. I have heard that a donkey will rasie the alarm at something like a coyote. They also used to have guinea hens - I'll have to listen to see if I still hear them.
