They are delightful--just very clever and omnivorous. I had a friend who raised them--like a cross between a bear, a cat and a monkey. They are incredibly smart and cute when they are young, but destructive and ravenous when they get older. And they adapt well to humans so they move into the cities and get in garbage and attics and generally run amok. They also frequently have rabies. But then so do skunks and bats. Not a good thing to have around when you have chickens.
At least we don't have funnel webs--I hate spiders!
More temptation!
Yep, I don't like spiders, but won't kill them on general principle. In fact, I am just getting over a bite on my shin I got 2-1/2 weeks ago. Don't know what kind but most of us think it was a brown recluse. A little one, I think. But, gone away now.
GG
I don't kill them either, granny. I carefully scoop them out of the bath and put them outside--I don't even kill black widows (I think they are the same family as the red back in Australia), but I can't even watch nature shows on spiders. I do like the little furry hunting spiders though. They are cute with their eight shining green eyes.
Right now I have a big black widow spider web in the bottom section of my chicken coop. Hope no one lays an egg down there!
I would have a problem with something like that, too. We only have northern widows here that I know of. And, of course, we have brown recluse and a "daddy-long-legs" that can and will bite. I have been told that the daddy-long-legs don't have mouths large enough to bite, but since they use a kind of pincer,
The spiders hopefully are gourmet food for the chicks or the guineas when they get big enough to let out to roam the yard. We do have blue-tailed skinks here but I don't know if they eat spiders or not. I do know we had less spiders when we had more skinks, but the cats got a couple of them or else they left from around the house because of the cats roaming the fenced in back yard. We have seen them around the garage lately, so they are on the job.
I just looked the brown recluse up in my wildlife book, and it doesn't show that they are in this area. Of course this book is a 2000 edition, so they may have moved here in the last eight years. Don't know. In fact it may not have been a spider bite, but treated it the same and it responded to the treatment.
GG
GG
Brown recluse are not in CA, but people here are always claiming they have been bitten by them. They are very common in Texas, but you hardly ever see them because they are...reclusive! I know a woman who was bitten by one and it took months to heal and left a bad scar. I am not sure if they are in Michigan--I think they are most common in the lower mid-west, central southern states. It does seem like they could get around in moving vans though.
we only get funnel webs in un populated areas if you have ever seen a map of australia we live on the outside and hardlyany one lives in the middle because it is dessert thats why we have such a low population
We DO have Recluses out here and if an adult gets bit by one, they are looking at very painfull, intense treatment that can involve scraping of the necrotic skin and extreme pain in the affected areas. Children can and have died from Brown Recluse bites. They are small, although many mistakingly think they are larger and often identify the wrong spiders as Recluses.
sounds painful
they are very we have them also.
do u guys get red backs
I have no clue what those are.
looks lik a black widow but has red on its back try googling it
ewwwwww if I have not heard of it I probably dont. I dont do spiders I wont intentionally kill one usually because it runs faster and the other direction that I am going but in my house yes it is a dead thing. That is if i can catch it.
i tread on the poisonious ones and catch the non-poisonous ones and let them free out side
We have black widows in the US which are basically the same spider as a red back only black widows have a red hour glass marking on their abdomens instead of back. They are also called shoe button spiders and a few other names--the ones in CA are huge--the bodies are as big as my thumb without the legs. And the sort of pulsate on their webs. Oh dear, I am getting the willies just thinking about it!
I don't mind spiders, but then again I don't think we have poisonous ones either. Now my kids on the other hand freak out and holler for me to get them out of the bathtub, which I do and then put them outside. Even though they are afraid of them, the have a 'pet' spider they have named Fred. He? has a web under a desk we brought in from outside and the kids catch flies for him and put them on his web, where he then comes out and wraps his offering. Go figure...they are feeding the spider. It helps them pass some of the summer time away so what can I say? : )
Christy
do any spiders affect chickens
OK, i have ONE spangled Appenzeller Spitzhauben.
they are from this town...
http://www.baeren-schlatt.ch/livecam/
they are flighty, don't tolerate confinement, and will roost in trees if allowed. so he will be spoiled and learn to stay with his non-Swiss buddies... or she, they lay 150 medium white eggs a year...
tf
"tick-tock,tick-tock" ...
LMOA You are a definite ENABLER! People like you could be bad for me! ^_^ :-)
and me! tee hee!
definetly a bad influence
on the phone with Racehl....
over hatched DUCKS, by 500....
special is 25 for 2.20 each..
call now, ten different breeds and cresteds. you can request the breed, don't have to get assorted...
1-800-243-3257 x5400
also about 500 asst bantams. all of hte above would ship tomorrow, Wednesday.....
ah man.....$2.20 on ducks........sure wish I could right now. I bet there are lots of folks that need cute sweet adorable little ducklings though.......and at that price......
oh yeah! but i bet they will all be gone by lunch. there are like about four ladies that their job is to call customers to find homes. they always find homes or they keep them, they do NOT eightanize, found that out this morning, isn't that nice to know?
Well that is good to know. So no guilt here!!!!
oh, I'm so glad to hear they don't get rid of the extra's in that way! That is fantastic! : )
so if i got ducks what breeds would i want [for selling]
I have no clue
i will ask on the duck thread. me thinks some people are avoiding me today LOL. she should have their classified ad on here next week. i don't want to get in trouble for helping out...
Since they're hatching eggs year round in the thousands how many chicks, ducklings, whatever can they keep when they don't sell them? That is physically impossible to do. I think they're trying to make themselves sound extra nice but I find it next to impossible to believe that they can keep all the ones they don't sell.
Call me a skeptic!
MollyD
Maybe just maybe they try and sell them locally.
Maybe but usually once they're growing it gets harder to sell them. Notice how the stores around us only sell the cute fluffy chicks and not the mature versions! How many can the local community absorb before they stop buying?
MollyD
she even missed her lunch to keep making calls. she will call all day till they are sold.
i wasn't trying to say they are better. just relieving fuilt in case somebody was oging to buy them just to save their life. that would be a job for a chicken fariy rep with another company. i'll stick with Texas LOL...
"openings availble for chicken fariy reps around the country"
tf
I swear I am coming to TEXAS 25 keets (she got me there) and 75 pullets.........................
These I will keep up at moms. Oh better yet move the bigger ones up there. HMMMMMMMMMMM
So I have a week to get them all moved. Ok I can do it............I am the little red engine I think I can I think I can............
Oh my gosh L2G.....you REALLY did get more?
dern it anyway. I can do this.
what kind of pullets did you het l2g