How to wash dried egg off your hen

[azygous]

We all have had the experience of trying to wash plates and forks with dried egg yolk on them. What happens when a broody hen lays an egg, it breaks under her, and you only discover this mess after she's slept in it overnight?

This is what I had to face even before my first cup of tea this morning. The egg was plastered well and good on her feet, legs, and underparts, along with pine shavings. Yuk!

I ran a wash basin half full of warm water with a bit of children's Mr. Bubble Extra Gentle bubble bath soap in it, since it requires no rinsing. Plates and forks with dried egg yolk require soaking (I have no dish washer), so does dried yolk on a hen, but how to keep the hen in the soak long enough to dissolve the gunky mess, is the problem.

I placed the soiled hen in the bath, settled her in comfortably, then draped a towel over her so she couldn't see anything, the towel completely covering her head. I went on about my chores and came back half an hour later, and finished the wash job.

The mess had softened, I just had to pull off the bits of pine shavings that were still there, dried her off, and since it's summer, didn't bother to blow dry her. Since Su-Su is first-day broody, it was actually a dividend having her wet since it will help cool down her hormones.

And that's the subject of my next post. What do you do when you have two hens go broody at the same time?

 

[lazy gardener]

I am faced with a hen who is "psuedo" broody. She runs around, all fluffed up, doing the broody cluck, but not setting. I also assume that she is not laying right now. So have been considering that it's time to give her a cold bath!

 

[azygous]

I've had them be slow to go all the way broody before, made the mistake of caging them too early, and then had them lay their final egg in the cage, which usually breaks. This is why I left Su-Su in the nest last night when I saw her there. I figured she would lay her egg sometime during the night, and she'd be ready for the breaking cage this morning. The darned egg broke anyway!

Good luck with the cold soak!

 

[aart]

Oh, the analogy of dried egg on a plate...lol.....a LOT of soaking and still needs working to get it off!!

 

[Michab54]

We all have had the experience of trying to wash plates and forks with dried egg yolk on them. What happens when a broody hen lays an egg, it breaks under her, and you only discover this mess after she's slept in it overnight?

This is what I had to face even before my first cup of tea this morning. The egg was plastered well and good on her feet, legs, and underparts, along with pine shavings. Yuk!

I ran a wash basin half full of warm water with a bit of children's Mr. Bubble Extra Gentle bubble bath soap in it, since it requires no rinsing. Plates and forks with dried egg yolk require soaking (I have no dish washer), so does dried yolk on a hen, but how to keep the hen in the soak long enough to dissolve the gunky mess, is the problem.

I placed the soiled hen in the bath, settled her in comfortably, then draped a towel over her so she couldn't see anything, the towel completely covering her head. I went on about my chores and came back half an hour later, and finished the wash job.

The mess had softened, I just had to pull off the bits of pine shavings that were still there, dried her off, and since it's summer, didn't bother to blow dry her. Since Su-Su is first-day broody, it was actually a dividend having her wet since it will help cool down her hormones.

And that's the subject of my next post. What do you do when you have two hens go broody at the same time?

thank you so much! This was like reading my story!