How about a chicken / tarantula encounter ?

[outdoorfunblond]

Ok, so I have seen my crazy chickens eat anything after a fun chase.
I wonder about tarantulas... would the chickens eat them too ?
I'm guessing probably... there are quite a few tarantulas here in south Texas
but I have noticed a decrease in my yard.
Probably means the chickens are clearing them out.
Has anyone witnessed a chicken with a tarantula before ?

 

[azygous]

Of course chickens will eat tarantulas. They have moving parts, they're "meat", and they're interesting playthings.

 

[chickens really]

We have nothing like that around here....Lots of Salamanders....Mine only pecked at one and now leave them alone.....They eat frogs and mice......


Cheers!

 

[EggSighted4Life]

Hi, welcome to BYC!

Mine killed but didn't eat a juvenile gopher. They eviscerated it.

I was hoping to see a video!

 

[Angelmom296]

Ok, so I have seen my crazy chickens eat anything after a fun chase.
I wonder about tarantulas... would the chickens eat them too ?
I'm guessing probably... there are quite a few tarantulas here in south Texas
but I have noticed a decrease in my yard.
Probably means the chickens are clearing them out.
Has anyone witnessed a chicken with a tarantula before ?

I am wondering the same thing. There was a tarantula on my porch this morning. And I have two 2 month-old chickens and a temporary cage up here. I don’t know who would win.

 

[GretaGarbo]

I am wondering the same thing. There was a tarantula on my porch this morning. And I have two 2 month-old chickens and a temporary cage up here. I don’t know who would win.

I also have 2 month old chicks and saw a tarantula in their playpen yesterday. It was going in as I was getting them out. Would it hurt them? What happened with yours?

 

[EddieSalita]

Chickens will enthusiastically eat funnel web spiders and black widows. So I doubt most tarantulas other than particularly huge specimens would be much of a problem.
I've seen mine eat many highly poisonous cane toads with no ill effects. I've also seen them eat baby eastern brown snakes, scorpions, centipedes, huge huntsman and wolf spiders. Eastern brown snakes are Australia's deadliest snake, they don't stand a chance if they are small. They avoid any too large to tackle. They seem to instinctively know how to tackle them amd what size they can overcome. Pecking at the head... then at some point grabbing it and shaking it so vigorously that it can't effect a bite. Even if it could.. it wouldn't get through all the feathers or scaly legs.
We do have a brown frog they won't touch, some sort of skin excretion I think. Anything else, dead meat.
They seem ideally equipped with their scaled legs, rock crusher crops, freaky good eyesight and nasty ass beaks to take down pretty much anything that they can fit in their necks.