Tomato hornworm tragedy

[chickentales]

The turkey really is a character! He imprinted on me and now follows me everywhere. I adore him.

I thought the hornworm must of killed him because of it's size but I never thought toxicity would be the culprit

Thank you so much Illia.

 

[ziggywiggy]

Quote:
That's interesting. I pull them off my tomato plants and offer them to my chickens and they won't have anything to do with them. Yet, they love centipedes.

 

[longranger]

I have fed both chickens and turkeys tomato hornworms with no obvious effects other than me laughing as they chase each other around ripping them apart.

 

[jacobballou]

This is my first post, one of my 5 EEs swallowed a whole hornworm yesterday and I found one dead this morning. I am not sure if it was the same one but it seems odd. Most people don't seem to think this is the problem but I am really curious. They are about 4 months old. Any advice would be great!
Thanks

Just realized the area for this going to move it to the emergency section.

 

[Frosty]

I know that Monarch caterpillars are toxic to birds because the milkweed that they eat is toxic, so...

Tomato plants are in the nightshade family and are poisonous, as are potato plants... my adult turkeys eat potato bugs all of the time with no ill effects.

Maybe they are more toxic to the little ones than adults?

 

[Indy acres]

We have 8 healthy geese and we let them free range with the chickens, ducks, and the turkeys during the day, I don't even know what a hornworm is or what it looks like can someone fill me in? We live in Indiana and the only thing that I have seen so far is a big fat green caterpillar that was on our apple tree and on one of our pepper plants.

 

[Frosty]

I found another BYC post on the hornworms, it includes a picture (but in the wild the hornworms blend in with the plants they are on):
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?pid=4378143

 

[Tunastopper]

I have also heard of deaths from tomato hornworms. Sorry for your loss.

 

[TobaccovillePeeps]

Wow!!! So glad I came across this post. Today I found a tomato hornworm on my tomato plant; gave it to my chickens but they only pecked at it but didn't seem that interested in it. So I searched online "Chickens and hornworms" and it sent me to this post. After reading all the posts I went outside and removed the hornworm from the run. Whewwww I feel better now. lol I've only had my hens just over two weeks so I'm learning alot.

TobaccovillePeeps

 

[racuda]

Thanks for reviving an old thread. It is good and timely information.

I knew tomato leaves were poisonous, but my brain didn't make the connection that tomato hornworms eat tomato leaves, therefore are themselves poisonous.