For several days last week I noticed something strange every time I went to feed the chickens. For three days in a row, each time I would open the chicken feed bag to scoop out some grain I would notice a thick web spun across the inside of the bag. And each time I would take my scooping bowl, break the nuisance of a web apart, and stick my arm deep into the bag for the feed.
On the fourth day the web was back again. Ugh. I broke the web apart as I had done the past three days, and opened the bag wide so that I could reach in and get some grain. But this time when I opened the bag up I noticed something big and dark sitting inside.
I gasped and jumped back. It was a HUGE black widow! I quickly pulled the whole bag of feed out of the can it is stored in, threw it on the ground, and stomped on it like a mad woman!
For three days I had been putting my hand into the bag right where that spider had been hiding! Man, was I lucky! The thing had a body the size of a grape! That could have gone so wrong. So, now I’m all paranoid about sticking my hand in the bag. I open it very wide and check out the inside of the bags well before daring to reach in!
I never thought feeding chickens could be such a dangerous activity!
A city girl learning to homestead on an acre of land in the country. Wife and homeschooling mother of four. Enjoying life, and everything that has to do with self sufficient living.
I NEVER stick my hand or arm into the back without looking. I often put it into another container. The absolute worse thing was: I put my arm into a feed bag and a RAT ran across it on it’s way out of the bag. I didn’t get bit, Praise the Lord, but it creeped me out majorly!!! It instantly broke me of putting my arm into bags I can not see down into! Feed at my house often is in METAL containers!
So crazy! This same thing just happened to me. I kept sticking my arm in the feed bag, and I am super scared of spiders yet the webs didn’t fully enter my consciousness. I mean I had to break through webs for like a whole week, well one day I scooped out the spider with the food and it was HUGE and ran madly around the container I was holding. I just set it down and yelled for my fiance who came and killed it for me. The fangs on it were so scary and to think I’d been sticking my hand in its web for a whole week. Now I pay more attention. I am planning to get a big rubbermaid garbage can to keep the food in too.
YIKES. My mother was bitten by a black widow a few years back and said it was more painful than childbirth; even morphine didn’t help.
Thank goodness it didn’t get you. From now on, don’t stick your hands in anything without looking first. Don’t put on your shoes without shaking them out (that’s where the one that bit my mother was hiding). Teach the kids how to watch out for spiders (and/or scorpions and snakes and any other nasties that might live in your neck of the woods).
Rubbermaid tubs work well at keeping out the critters, too. Watch for sales – $5 for a tub is a LOT better than the alternative. And they stack!
Thank you for talking about that…you know I’ll be checking out my feed bags now, too! We’ve got a black widow issue here, as well. They are NOT my favorite!
Oh my goodness…That was not good.. My daughter was bit by one of those nasty creatures..She was out doors and I was watching her..She fell to her knees crying..I thought she has tripped and brushed off her knees..She wanted to go in..I sat her on my lap and I saw just under her shorts on her thigh was a huge round circle with 2 bite marks…she was getting hives and was getting listless..She was 4 years old. I put her in the car and raced to the hospital.Didn’t wait for ambulance…I ran in with her and they grabbed her from my arms because they saw she was going down pretty quick..Scariest time in my life..My husband was out of town..didn’t have cell phones then.. They gave her what ever they gave her..Miracle drug…with in 20 minutes she was dancing..You should have seen the doctors dancing with her..I am forever greatful for those doctors…She had to be on benadryl for 6 weeks…every 4 hours a dose…If we missed a dose she broke out in hives..we had to wean her off the bendryl after 6 weeks..When she sees spiders she breaks out in hives and she is 20 now..I just hate those things..That is one thing I do is spray fro spiders all around the boarder of our home…I don’t like them…She keeps bug spray at her dorm in college…Those spiders are so wicked…I am so glad you are alright….Sorry this is long…I do so enjoy your blog…Lisa
Lisa-
Wow! Oh my goodness, I can’t imagine how scary that must have been! I didn’t realize the effects from the bite would be so instant! Now I’m really going to have to be careful where I let the kids play. We are so far from a hospital, if anything like that happened I don’t know what I would do. How scary!!
Wow, I’m glad you found it before it found you! We have ours outside in metal trash cans and I mix D.E. in with my chicken food Luckily haven’t found anything in it yet.
Holy cow – I would’ve freaked out!!
We don’t have poisonous bugs in these parts, but they still freak me out!!
We used to use a trash can for the animal feed when I lived with my cousin. They lived litterally in the middle of nowhere so they had to stock up on it between trips to town. So the 33 gallon trash cans worked really well for keeping creatures out.