Can chickens eat spiders???

[starforever61]

We keep finding wolf spiders in our garage. They are probably poisonous. Can chickens eat them if we take them into their pen??????? Will the spiders hurt them because they are quite aggressive...any ideas??

 

[TennesseeTruly]

My chickens LOVE spiders especially wolf spiders! Our coop is built inside our old barn so there are tons of wolf spiders all over the place. You should see the chickens when a spider enters the run!

It's the most hilarious thing to watch! One will grab it, the rest will chase whoever has the spider. It turns into a free for all. The spider is ALWAYS the loser.

BTW, our chickens eat snakes, mice, lizards, you name it. If it enters their run and its not bigger than them, its FOOD!

Laurie

 

[PortageGirl]

My chickens LOVE spiders, they chase them like CRAZY... no idea if wolf spiders would hurt them though.

 

[jtbrown]

I will care for my hens til they reach old age as long as they eat wolfe spiders. In this house, you can hear their little Spider footsteps as they cross the basement floor. I know they are good for the garden, but I shreak unbelievably loudly if one of those spiders gets near my hands. It is involuntary, I swear. I would rather deal with mice and snakes. I know it doesn't make since but it's just me! I cant wait for the girls to get their spider groove on.

 

[kareninthesun]

Just think, if chickens ruled the world, Miss Muffet wouldn't suffer arachnephobia, there'd be no Spiderman movies, and I wouldn't have had the pleasure of four little dimpled pairs of hands fine-tuning small muscle skills figuring out which way fingers mirror when singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider.

 

[starforever61]

Quote:
yeah the shell is calcium lol

and holy crap what a spider!!!

set down the camera and kill the spider!!! :O

 

[kareninthesun]

That's one big spider. Wonder if it is real. looks like a tarantula, but next to the chick, I'm thinking it is fake or photoshopped. But thanks for the fodder for unhappy nightmares ; )

 

[fordmommy]

Wolf spiders are not poisonous, but they pack a heck of a punch. Hense the name "wolf". I have had a lot of them around my house I use Home Defence which you can buy just about any where. I do not use it by the chickens and they do not free range. But once it is dry it is safe for children and pets.

Yes. Chickens LOVE to eat spiders. My 2 DS catch speders for the chickens all the time. They just don't catch wolf spiders. But they would taste pretty meaty to a chicken, I would think.

 

[starforever61]

OK, thanks guys. I've heard a lot of different theories about wolf spiders, though. I've heard from 2 smart, reliable people that they weren't poisonous and from 4 smart, reliable people that they were poisonous. It's really hard to tell, I'm not gonna take my chances getting near those things...

 

[barredrockmama]

I wondered this myself, until I found out that chickens are "opportunistic feeders" as my husband likes to say. As a new chicken mommy (I've only had my girls for about 6 months), I had no idea how "opportunistic" they really are. One day I saw all six hens fighting over something slimy. I thought it was a worm, but upon closer inspection, I realized it was the entrails from a gopher carcass left in the yard by my cats! Yuck. They truly will eat anything that doesn't pose a threat to them.