Woolly Bear Caterpillars are they poisonous!

[Yvonneg]

Have no idea. but will they kill your chickens...possibly.
We had a woolly bear caterpillar in our chicken coop, they would look at it but not touch it. Then our black Silkie and 1 of our Speckled Sussex decided to share it. 10 min after consuming looked like they were having some respiratory issues and became lethargic. Not much we could do, they had no problem going in for the night and roosting. But in the morning found them in the nest boxes and they had passed away. So are they poisonous, do not know but do they have difficulties after consuming ...most definitely.. Hope this helps others

 

[llombardo]

I wonder if they choked? I have saw them and removed them. A couple weeks ago I came home at lunch and my boys comb was purple and he collapsed in front of me. First thing I did was stick my finger in his mouth, then rubbed his neck. His comb color came back and I've been watching him ever since. I firmly believe he ate something to big and now I'm wondering if this was it.

 

[Chickassan]

No not poisionous in the least, just wooly. They don't have venom, don't cast spines. The worst they could do is maybe make you itchy and that would be a long shot. Was not the wooly worms that killed your birds.

 

[arrowti]

No poison, completely cute. I love the little fluffies.

Unfortunately wooly bears do have some 'stiff' barbs mixed with their hairs. These are to make it uncomfortable or painful for anything to eat them. I'm not sure if they could cause actual damage to a chicken's throat, but perhaps it's possible it got lodged somewhere in the poor bird's throat? The only way to know would be to check, unfortunately.

My chickens and ducks have never gone for the wooly bears, which is good, because I like to watch them.

 

[WthrLady]

i have a video from last year of a chicken sitting on a 2x4 and a wooly bear marching towards it at full speed on the same 2x4. The bird jumped down, out of its way, and got back on after it passed. LOL.

They eat nasty smelly plants and stink themselves. Mine also wont touch tobacco/tomato worms, or swallowtails pillars.