Black widow invasion

[shortgrass]

Yes, they can eat them, they have to be bitten for the toxin to work... Little known fact, the daddy Long legs is actually the most poisonous spider, they just don't have fangs lol THOSE can cause problems if ingested...

They are probably looking for moisture, like aart said.. And they like dark places for rearing young. Coop is perfect. I don't see too many anymore, we have wolf spiders to take care of them

Permethrin should be okay but take the chickens out first

 

[Kim95037]

Yes, they can eat them, they have to be bitten for the toxin to work... Little known fact, the daddy Long legs is actually the most poisonous spider, they just don't have fangs lol

THOSE can cause problems if ingested...

They are probably looking for moisture, like aart said.. And they like dark places for rearing young. Coop is perfect. I don't see too many anymore, we have wolf spiders to take care of them

Permethrin should be okay but take the chickens out first

I had heard that about daddy long legs before, but I didnt think about them being bad if the chickens ate them. I have a ton of those, one chicken coop has quite a few of them. Yikes.

 

[shortgrass]

I had heard that about daddy long legs before, but I didnt think about them being bad if the chickens ate them. I have a ton of those, one chicken coop has quite a few of them. Yikes.

I think they would have to eat a whole bunch to hurt them; they're so small it takes a lot to get enough toxin... But if you watch the chooks, they avoid certain things, like they already know its not good for them. Mine don't dine on spiders at all, it seems... They have a couple of big wolf spiders in the coop, sharing fly duty (and wolf spiders DO eat daddy Long legs)

 

[centrarchid]

You are expereincing an outbreak, I would simply ride it out. Chickens put a dent in the spiders maybe not by direct consumption but rather habitat disruption (scratching up ground and removing spiders prey). The black and red warning coloration I think is used by many animals to warn birds. My chickens will not tough any critter with red on it, even when neither toxic or poisonus. They have too many such colored critters on table that are not worth the effort.