When Hornworms Attack

Yesterday morning I headed out to pick some peppers and I found this.

Sad leafless pepper plant.

As I'm looking around for the culprit, my son hollers that it's time for him to go to school.  It took me until the afternoon to get back out there and I found the bugger.  It was a Tomato Hornworm, who's apparently not as picky as the name suggests.  I grabbed it, after getting some gloves and nippers because it gives me the heebie jeebies, and tossed it to the chickens.  Who were very happy.  And then I decided to check the tomatoes, because what are the odds there's just one in the yard?

Not very good.

Dot got that one.

And had to run because the others wanted it too.

I finally stopped taking them one at a time.

The best Hornworm is the one getting peck by a chicken's beak.

I found over a dozen last night.  Various sizes, but there were quite a few that were really big.  This guy below was a little one.  And I happened to catch him shedding.  He was almost done by the time I got the camera, but I thought it was kinda interesting that the poker sheds too.  And then I fed him to the chickens.

Live and let live?  Not on my tomato plants.