- Mar 25, 2009
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*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.
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.