Strange caterpillar may have nearly killed two of my chicks

[azygous]

This afternoon, I found two of my five nine-week old chicks very sick. I picked them up and carried them inside to start treating them. At first, I thought perhaps they had impactions or were constipated since they've been eating kale and chard with the stems cut up small. But by the time I started examining them, one chick was nearly lifeless, limp neck, closed eyes, unable to stand. She was dying. The other was almost as bad, but she could still stand and she was gaping her beak.

Since they were declining at such lightening speed, I made the call to treat them for poisoning. I mixed a slurry of activated charcoal and Milk of Magnesia and syringed it directly into their crops, followed by clear water. They began improving almost immediately. Within half an hour, both were able to stand and walk again, although a bit wobbly and weak.

I mixed up some sugar water and sprinkled some dry crumbles on the floor of their crate, and they began to eat and drink. They continued to improve. I have them in the crate indoors overnight to observe them.

I was cleaning up pine needles outside the run a little while ago near where I found one of the sick chicks and found this critter. It's soft like a caterpillar, and it has these strange white nodes on it. It is so hideous, it's likely poisonous as many caterpillars are. Has anyone ever run across anything like this and happen to know what it is?

 

[pibb]

Wow. Good job helping the chickens. Yes that is a wasp that laid its eggs on the catepillar.
Wasp
I've seen this on tomato hornworms.

 

[azygous]

Thanks. I googled and discovered the wasp angle. Never had seen them before. I found a photo on the internet of my caterpillar but it didn't say what it was.

Is there a chance the wasp larvae are toxic to chickens?

 

[ladyfarmer00]

Following.... I let my chicks free range, even in our garden with the hornworms that occasionally have these eggs on them!

 

[pibb]

I don't know if they are toxic to chickens. I never researched them further than the hornworm thing. Could they have been stung by the wasp and went into shock?

 

[pibb]

Look for a swollen place from a bee sting around the head and neck.
https://faculty.washington.edu/chudler/wasp.html
If it was from the wasp it had to have stung the chicken.

 

[Folly's place]

Can't see the caterpillar for all the wasp eggs. Are you sure this is what they were eating? Monarch caterpillars are toxic, but that's not one of them.
Charcoal and milk of Magnesia wouldn't have helped a wasp sting, but did help your chicks, wonderful!
Strange events out there sometimes.
Mary

 

[azygous]

The wasp that laid the eggs on the caterpillar is long gone. I doubt it was the culprit. I'm wondering if these wasp larvae are toxic or if this brown caterpillar is toxic. The caterpillar appears to be pretty much intact, so the chicks, if they did encounter this guy, didn't consume any of it, but they could have plucked off a few of the larvae on it.

 

[azygous]

Not good. The chicks appear to be suffering from neurological damage. They can barely stand this morning, and they have no appetite. I gave them each a syringe of vitamin E and B-complex and Nutri-drench. I doubt they're going to recover.

 

[pibb]

Sorry to hear that. I hope they make it.