Black widows and chickens

[BorderKelpie]

Chickenwhisperer,
You are an interesting person.

I love spiders, btw. Cute little things. I am a bit jealous of them, I only have two feet and can manage to trip myself, they somehow or another move so gracefully with all eight of theirs and I have yet to watch one trip itself. Not fair!

Pictures would be awesome. hint hint.

 

[tammyd57]

Quote:
For a spider that does NOT want to bite me I sure have been bit by a lot of them.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

Seeing as I have had widows run AT me when I was trying to clear out webs or kill them, I would say that they very much CAN be aggressive. I very much dislike scorpions, but widows SCARE me; I'll take the scorpions any day over the widows (shudder!)

 

[Gallo del Cielo]

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They don't "know" you are there, they simply don't have the sensory capabilities to chase you down. It was just chance that they ran towards you. I certainly understand why so many are phobic with all those black legs moving.

 

[darkmatter]

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I don't have the black widows, but I do get the funnel web spiders in the Coop. I've always just left them alone, they do seem to target the vents where they catch flies. I have seen the chickens eat the wolf spiders and others that move. The only bug I haven't seen them eat is hairy caterpillars, they look at them moving, then ignore them.

 

[Liamm_1]

we used to have quite a few black widows every year in the yard. Ever since our chickens have been out there, they've taken care of that problem

If you see one, don't kill it, get it on a stick and give a treat to your smallest hen, that's what I do

 

[funnybirds]

Quote:
Thank you for posting your information. We have a lot of them in Northern California too and I am always curious about my other pets safety. I've seen my cats hunt them and after removing the spider am always curious about how toxic they are to our four legged pets. Any idea how cats and dogs fare with a bite?

 

[galaxyflyer1]

Nice writeup chickenwhisperer.

But I will pass on your video

I believe what you are saying is true, but most people don't want to take any chances. It's a mental thing too. Most pesty insects that widows control usually can't harm us, compared to what the widow could do.

 

[ssbs]

Video please!!!

Anyways.. You'd be surprised (or scared) if you knew how common black widows are in the US, but think about it. How often do you hear about someone getting bitten by one? I've only heard of it ones, on TV of course. "Venom ER"

The things won't hurt a fly ( K, maybe they WILL) but we don't have a lot to worry about. Although I admit that the ones we catch around here do end up in casting resin, we are working on perfecting the art.. Black widow necklace charm anyone?

 

[tammyd57]

Quote:
Um, actually, I have been bitten, several times. It wasn't on the news for everyone's viewing pleasure, nor did I go to the emergency room.
It was very unpleasant and painful but not what I would consider to be an emergency.