Can chickens eat spiders???

[GallusGal]

A couple of studies have suggested that passerine birds deliberately seek out spiders to feed their young. Obviously the bird isn't aware of it, but spiders are rich in taurine, which is an important nutrient for birds. I imagine chickens would similarly benefit from spiders in their diet. Now, I haven't gone through the effort of deliberately feeding out spiders, but I see plenty of them around the yard and I know that my hens go crazy if a fat, clumsy black widow gets into their sights. I would think that as long as the bird isn't bitten, there would be no real harm in feeding spiders. And generally with how quickly birds glom the little guys down, I suspect the bite risk is minimal.

 

[Figgy]

Ive always been worried about my girls and spiders, we get a lot of redbacks, but since ive had the girls havnt seen many at all! If they have been eating them then they dont seem to have been affected! I saw them all huddled around something the other day and they were tormenting a huntsman spider he was huge, but he didnt get away! Mine have even caught a sparrow, but they wont tell the pigeons to nick off and stop eating their food.

 

[georgiagail]

As a pre-teen I lived on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. We had chickens and doves would nest in the upper rafters of the coop. When the young doves would fledge out of the nest, they'd often flutter down to the floor of the coop. If the chickens were present they'd surround the young dove and peck it to death unless we were able to rescue the poor thing. I was able to rescue a youngster or two and try to save it but it was often useless; if you put it back in the nest, it would soon try to fledge again and the same thing would happen.

It seemed pretty brutal at the time. The chickens seemed to know where to peck at the most vulnerable spot on the dove; around the neck.

Gail

 

[maybejoey]

Yeah, spiders are ok for chickens to eat. I went down to the coop one day and they were chasing after this big triantula, once they caught it it had no chance. So basically as said by other members chickens will eat just about anything.

 

[kareninthesun]

what about black widows? We get a lot of them here. I use Home Defense inside, and outside, but not around where the chickens coop is.

 

[Spoiled1_629]

Within the first 10 minutes that I took my guinea keets and 3 chicks to the coop for the first time, they found a black widow spider that had taken up residence in the wood shavings. I don't think I have laughed that hard in a long time. They were all chasing it around and then chasing each other around trying to grab it from one another. That spider did not stand a chance. After the discovery and quick disposal of that spider they ALL started scratching around looking for more.

 

[itom37]

We had this huge banana spider that kept making its nest in our run. I liked it there, except despite my consistent destroying of its web, it kept building it right where my head has to go when I walk in. So one day, I picked up Rose, my treat-obsessed BR, and held her face up to the spider. It did not last long.

 

[pjknust]

my chickens must be 'prissy' coz Ive never seen them eat a spider. My older hens wont even eat the wasps that fly around the water buckets. My 11 wk old chicks WILL eat the wasps.

pam in TX

 

[yankeedoodle300]

I Think they do... In my yard they eat wasp and Snails ( Still in shell, can they do that? ) and Bees and the list goes on and on...

Mine don't eat spiders but yours might, and i think The Little isty Spiders will be ok inside the stomach of your hens...

 

[kareninthesun]

Just think, if chickens ruled the world, Miss Muffet wouldn't suffer arachnephobia, there'd be no Spiderman movies, and I wouldn't have had the pleasure of four little dimpled pairs of hands fine-tuning small muscle skills figuring out which way fingers mirror when singing The Itsy Bitsy Spider.