6 week old chick attacked by a spider

[ParrotsNPullets]

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Ditto. The triple-antibiotic is safe from what I have read and what I have practiced, but I'd definitely do a quick BYC search to double check on the pain relief potentially being dangerous.

 

[BettyR]

My son found this Wolf Spider on our patio in the spring. She had babies all over her back and I couldn’t believe it but she let him pick her up and bring her in the house and we took pictures of her. Then he took her back outside and let her go.

Wolf Spiders are not aggressive but like any other animal they will defend themselves if they are attacked.

 

[gritsar]

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I live by a very simple rule - all creatures get to live on this farm as long as they don't harm me or mine. That includes the coyotes, the coons, the opposums, the bobcats and more. Mr. Black snake was re-located twice, even though it was a big pain in the rear to move him. When he came back and was not only too close for comfort to my chicks, but also helped himself to the swallow chicks that were in their nest under our carport, he had to go.
These rescue meaties are just learning to forage, having had the instinct bred out of them. I won't take them to that section of the yard again, but if they are out foraging in another area and come upon a spider, the spider will die before I have another chick harmed.

ETA: We have another spider, I forget what type, that lived under the eaves of our shop. She or her descendants have created their web there many years in a row. Beautiful webs, very elaborate weaving. We take great pains to make sure she isn't disturbed. We have even "fed" her bugs.

 

[lleighmay]

At my house spiders can stay, unless of course they are brown recluses or black widows. Wolf spiders come into the house in the fall and I drape a washcloth over the edge of the shower pan so they can get back out if they get in there. I've never had a problem with any of them and have only been bitten once (years ago by a jumping spider I was trying to rescue barehanded from one of the cats.) It bled like crazy but did me no harm. Like any other animal they will defend themselves the best they can under attack.

 

[backwoodsman4life]

 

[Brindlebtch]

Ew.

 

[annageckos]

If a huge monster tried to eat you, you would fight back, right? Wolf spiders do have large fangs, and like all spiders are venomous, but normally harmless. The bite will sting, just keep it clean and your chicken should be fine. It may swell up a little, depending on the bird's sensitivity to the venom.

 

[BettyR]

Quote:
I live by a very simple rule - all creatures get to live on this farm as long as they don't harm me or mine. That includes the coyotes, the coons, the opposums, the bobcats and more. Mr. Black snake was re-located twice, even though it was a big pain in the rear to move him. When he came back and was not only too close for comfort to my chicks, but also helped himself to the swallow chicks that were in their nest under our carport, he had to go.
These rescue meaties are just learning to forage, having had the instinct bred out of them. I won't take them to that section of the yard again, but if they are out foraging in another area and come upon a spider, the spider will die before I have another chick harmed.

ETA: We have another spider, I forget what type, that lived under the eaves of our shop. She or her descendants have created their web there many years in a row. Beautiful webs, very elaborate weaving. We take great pains to make sure she isn't disturbed. We have even "fed" her bugs.

I am exactly the same way and I applaud those who try to live with nature instead of against it. My mother always killed every snake she saw no matter what kind it was. I've tried more than once to tell her that snakes eat rats and other nasties that you don't want around your house but for some reason she just couldn't seem to grasp the concept of leaving a snake alone.

While I was standing at the kitchen sink doing my dishes a week or so ago I looked up and saw a coon coming up over the top of the tractor shed with the biggest rat I have ever seen in it’s mouth. It ran across to the nearest tree, climbed down and off into the woods with it’s prize. I didn’t know that coons would hunt during the day but so far…knock on wood…I have never had a coon try to go after one of my chickens during the day while they were out foraging. But they are sure welcome to all the rats they can eat.

 

[noodleroo]

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When I was first divorced and really broke (20 yrs. ago), I had a 'Writing spider' that made a web under the eves of my house. I didn't have money for entertainment but every evening my son and I would look for grasshoppers to feed the spider. I'd let him toss a grasshopper into the web and the spider would run to it and wrap it in a web to save for later. My little son said he liked to watch her 'wrap it in Saran Wrap'. Its actually a sweet memory for me...

 

[gritsar]

Quote:
When I was first divorced and really broke (20 yrs. ago), I had a 'Writing spider' that made a web under the eves of my house. I didn't have money for entertainment but every evening my son and I would look for grasshoppers to feed the spider. I'd let him toss a grasshopper into the web and the spider would run to it and wrap it in a web to save for later. My little son said he liked to watch her 'wrap it in Saran Wrap'. Its actually a sweet memory for me...

That does sound like a very sweet memory.

I can't remember the name of the spider we have under the shop eaves. I'll have to look her up once again. Last year, another batch of spiders, a large one and smaller ones that appear to be offspring made their webs starting at the elm tree in the front yard, beautiful elaborate webs with the anchor strands going to the other side of the yard. We measured once and that's a distance of more than 50 feet.

By the way, we also have a black widow under the eaves at the front of the house. DH pointed her out to me yesterday. I would like her gone, but he says she is not doing any harm up that high. It's not her, but her offspring I'm worried about.