Had a few of my Cornish cross die at 6 weeks old and I bagged them and threw them in the freezer for coyote bait this fall. Any thoughts on making a big dirt hole and stuffing the whole bird down with it wired to a stake to hold it down ? Maybe scatter some feathers around ? Better to cut it up in pieces ? Just thinking.

In my experience there's been a lot better bait than chicken for coyotes. I think you'd do okay with fox or coon. Some guys down south swear by them, but they don't do much good here.

straight food as bait seems to work a lot better when it gets cold and everything is frozen. even with all that fur at below 0 temperatures a coyote must burn a lot of calories to maintain body temperature and food is harder to get. straight bait will work year round but not nearly as good as it will in bad weather. even big bait piles work better in bad weather.

most prepared baits being sold could just as easily be called lure. stuff added to a meat base to get animals working your set even when they are not hungry

I'm sure they could work I'd just be concerned about any exposed bait laws here in Montana it needs to be a pound or less if exposed at a trap to cut down on catching non target birds.
When setting snares I prefer to use whole cows a very large bait and set snares a very long way back and away from it then sharpen my skinning knife because I'm about to get very busy I'm sure you will to.
Allan