Can chickens eat spiders???

[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.

 

[Uzuri]

*ALL* spiders are venomous.

But not all venom will poison you or your chickens. It's there to help kill or stun their prey, usually much smaller than you are. Wait, did I say usually? Unless you live in a B-movie, ALWAYS much smaller than you are. Some spiders, due to some accident of nature, have venom that will kill things many times their size.

If you (or your chickens) are bitten by a wolf spider, you might have a reaction to them, much like a bee sting. I react pretty badly to spider bites -- I always know when I'm bitten; get a nasty looking bump, sometimes with purple streaks -- but I'm still here. Chickens (and other animals) have different reactions to things that people. What bothers you might not bother your chickens, and what bothers one chicken might not bother another.

From the bit of research I did, it seems that North American wolf-type spiders, at least, aren't much threat. They'll hurt if they bite you, and it may look nasty, but we're talking bee-sting, not necrotic wound.

 

[starforever61]

Ok, this is all making a LOT more sense now.

Thanks to Uzuri the spider expert

lol

Thanks to everybody who posted!

 

[TinyBirds]

Our turkeys love to eat scorpions! (even with the scorpion stinging them while they're trying to eat it). It's pretty cool to watch, since we have lots of scorpions around here (both big and small) They also love to munch on the biggest spiders they can find. Juicy and delicious from the looks of it. I haven't seen many roaches around here lately either, so they must love those too. The porches were swarming with them when we first moved to this house, but not any more! Birds are perfect pest-control. Too bad they don't eat mice.

 

[woolymama]

Quote:
Oh I've seen chickens go for mice! And lizards, frogs......pretty much anything smaller than them that moves! (and we have guineas that go for the snakes!!!)
It's freaky and I always worry and want to intervene when my chickens go after something, but then it's hardwired into their nature, right?
I do worry about the black widows and brown recluse we have here - but hearing that turkeys eat scorpions........makes you wonder.

 

[kagedgoddess]

my chickies Love spiders, i hate spiders! i d Rather have mice. i m trying to let my girls out of the run so hopefully they can take care of our over population of spiders here. ( i swear my home is cursed)

 

[ksukristin]

Quote:
OOh as I was reading this thread I was wondering about roaches- I live in the city and we only have the roaches that live in the sewer but I have seen a lot more of them lately and I'm getting some chickens this weekend

(I am SO excited) and I was wondering if they would eat the roaches- it sounds like they will!!! I hope!

I don't like those buggers!

 

[NYREDS]

http://www.ento.okstate.edu/ddd/insects/wolfspider.htm

 

[woolymama]

Those wolf spiders get HUGE here in VA. I'd love it if my chicks ate them.
*shudders*

 

[naakte]

just a minor correction, there is no such thing as a poisonous spider/ snake. they are venomous, or not....... many venomous spiders can bite you without injecting any venom. This is called a dry bite. even a non venomous spider bite can give us a bacterial infection. We get a horrible looking orange and black spider every fall here in missouri. They seem to love to hang off of the eeves (sp) they can make a huge web in one night. They are gonners this year with my ladies!!!