My flock was free-ranging yesterday (1 BR rooster, 8 BR and Commercial Black girls...all 8 months old) which they do every day. I was flipping over debris in the yard for them so they could grab any yummies I uncovered. One of the rocks I flipped revealed a black widow...and one of my pullets ate it! We have tons of black widows here in central Virginia, but I didn't expect to find one in my yard under something I flip over on a regular basis...now I'm freaked out cuz widow's are very poisonous...and since she ate it, I'm worried that the venom found inside the spider is going to kill my chicken! She's fine this morning, but I don't know if she's digested the spider yet. Has anyone else had experience with their chickens eating Black Widow spiders? Has evolution made chickens immune?? Thanks!
I'm just guessing but the Poison may need to get in the blood stream to hurt them. Through the stomach is probably not going to get into them in a way that will hurt. I'd imagine birds have been eating them for a long time.
Mine eat them all the time. I've never seen any ill effects. They usually peck the spider to death before they gulp it down, so I assume it isn't ever able to inject any venom... And they eat the egg sacks, too.
