Considering getting rid of chickens - recluses winning

[Tracyree]

I've had my coop for three years now. It's a 10x16 thing up on skids with wood decking floor. The floor is about a foot off the ground and we put a stone underpinning all around it to make it look nice, like it has a stone foundation. This set up is apparently crazy attractive to brown recluse spiders.

In three days I caught 10 on a sticky trap.

My guess is that they are living under the floor and mass producing.

I'm honestly considering getting out of my favorite hobby ever. Im tired of being fearful and having nightmares.

What can I do?? We only use organic/natural practices. Insecticides don't work against recluses anyway.

 

[satay]

I've had my coop for three years now. It's a 10x16 thing up on skids with wood decking floor. The floor is about a foot off the ground and we put a stone underpinning all around it to make it look nice, like it has a stone foundation. This set up is apparently crazy attractive to brown recluse spiders.

In three days I caught 10 on a sticky trap.

My guess is that they are living under the floor and mass producing.

I'm honestly considering getting out of my favorite hobby ever. Im tired of being fearful and having nightmares.

What can I do??

I don't know anything about that type of spider but wouldn't your chickens eat them? Are the deadly or could make you sick? Try spraying an insecticide around the outside of your coop.

 

[Tracyree]

Brown recluse are only active at night when the chickens are asleep. Brown recluse are venomous and I do not want to get bitten. I can live with a few, but their numbers are so high, I feel like odds are in their favor.

As I said, insecticides don't work on recluse and we use organic/natural things only.

 

[satay]

Brown recluse are only active at night when the chickens are asleep. Brown recluse are venomous and I do not want to get bitten. I can live with a few, but their numbers are so high, I feel like odds are in their favor.

As I said, insecticides don't work on recluse and we use organic/natural things only.

Oops sorry I obviously read it wrong.

http://pestkill.org/insect/spiders/how-to-get-rid-of-brown-recluse-spiders/
I found this article not sure if it's helpful but they do sound like one nasty spider. Hopefully someone will come along with other advise for you soon. Good luck.

 

[darrenschooks]

In the UK we have a spray and powder called smite to kill red mite. I've read on the bottle that it kills insects and spiders too. We don't have get the brown recluse spider over here, so in not sure if it's too hardy for the smite.
But you could try spraying it all down with that, then giving it all a good dusting to stop them returning and to kill off any eggs.

Good luck

 

[satay]

Oops sorry I obviously read it wrong.

http://pestkill.org/insect/spiders/how-to-get-rid-of-brown-recluse-spiders/
I found this article not sure if it's helpful but they do sound like one nasty spider. Hopefully someone will come along with other advise for you soon. Good luck.

https://www.backyardchickens.com/t/214977/what-kills-brown-recluse-spiders

 

[Mtn Laurel]

They're lurking under your coop because they've found a good food source there. Get rid of their food and you'll get rid of the spiders.

I'd personally try Sevin dust to see if it would take care of whatever is under there. Sevin seems to be well tolerated by chickens as it's recommended to use Sevin to treat lice. If you don't want to go with Sevin, I'd give something more organic a try. The point is to kill whatever the spiders are eating so they'll leave and search for food elsewhere.

I'm in the woods and I know we have Brown Recluse as I was bitten. However, they usually stay out of the light. You almost have to reach in to grab them to get bitten. I got mine by digging in leaves without gloves and it was hiding under the leaves.

 

[donrae]

They're lurking under your coop because they've found a good food source there. Get rid of their food and you'll get rid of the spiders.

I'd personally try Sevin dust to see if it would take care of whatever is under there. Sevin seems to be well tolerated by chickens as it's recommended to use Sevin to treat lice. If you don't want to go with Sevin, I'd give something more organic a try. The point is to kill whatever the spiders are eating so they'll leave and search for food elsewhere.

I'm in the woods and I know we have Brown Recluse as I was bitten. However, they usually stay out of the light. You almost have to reach in to grab them to get bitten. I got mine by digging in leaves without gloves and it was hiding under the leaves.

This is a great post from start to finish.
No animal will stay where there's no food.
They're called recluse for a reason, they're reclusive. They don't come out and hunt you down to bite you, they do everything in their power to not be around you.

Is there a reason you can't tip the coop over and manually kill the spiders under there? We've done that with our pump house and black widows. Give each boy a stick and put a bounty on spider guts

Wear appropriate protective clothing and boots and you should be able to have a mass spider execution.

 

[Peeps61]

Donrae makes a great point! Brown recluse bites ARE nasty and can be quite difficult to cure if they get out of hand. A student at the high school where I used to teach was bitten on the foot, and it ate such a big hole in his foot that he nearly lost it. Fortunately, he recovered. We have both BR and BW spiders here in NW Florida. Getting rid of the food source (insects) is a good idea.

 

[Chickie13]

Organic doesn't work, get the chickens out and use some proper chemicals!