So I was out in the garden today and found a big fat horn worm on my tomato plants. Instead of squishing as I normally do, I decided I'd give it to the two week old peepers. I set it beside their crate and rushed in to get my phone to video the chaos sure to ensue. When I got in I got distracted and didn't get back out to the worm and the peepers for about 20 minutes. The worm was gone from where I'd left it (dang!), but I looked around and discovered the crazy thing had crawled up the cardboard I put around the bottom of the crate to prevent drafts and keep the shavings in and was crawling around the edge of the cardboard. I video'd the events in short snippets.
The RIR flaps up to the lip of the cardboard and the worm is within 5 inches of her.
The chicks finally notice the worm crawling around, but aren't quite sure what to do with it.
Someone finally tries pecking at the worm
I put the worm lower down in the box, so the chicks had better access to it in hopes they might get a little more aggressive with the worm.
Still no takers. So I put the worm down in the brooder expecting a little more action.
I stood out there 20 - 30 minutes waiting for the peppers to demolish the horn worm, and they were all pretty ambivalent about it. I just knew they'd grab that thing up, run around peeping and get into a tug-of-war over it. But they were mostly just curious and a little scared and didn't really know what to do with it. In their defense it was their first worm and a doozy at that. Plus no one's modeled how to kill a horn worm for them.
I think next time I may try a smaller caterpillar or something...
Rachel
The RIR flaps up to the lip of the cardboard and the worm is within 5 inches of her.
The chicks finally notice the worm crawling around, but aren't quite sure what to do with it.
Someone finally tries pecking at the worm
I put the worm lower down in the box, so the chicks had better access to it in hopes they might get a little more aggressive with the worm.
Still no takers. So I put the worm down in the brooder expecting a little more action.
I stood out there 20 - 30 minutes waiting for the peppers to demolish the horn worm, and they were all pretty ambivalent about it. I just knew they'd grab that thing up, run around peeping and get into a tug-of-war over it. But they were mostly just curious and a little scared and didn't really know what to do with it. In their defense it was their first worm and a doozy at that. Plus no one's modeled how to kill a horn worm for them.
I think next time I may try a smaller caterpillar or something...
Rachel