My chicken may have gotten water in her face and ears! What do I do?!

It's hot here, and I needed to bathe a poopy-butt girl. I have bathed chickens 3 times before, but this time I had too much water in the tubs. I thought it would be ok, but she carried on so in the water that her face, eyes, and ears may have gotten wet! I checked her, and she didn't seem to be wet there. Now I'm really worried that I screwed up, and she might get sick.

Also, do you still have to completely dry a chicken before putting her out in hot weather? Or should she still be dried off?

Thanks so much!

Are you talking about an adult chicken or a young chick with pasty butt? If it's a little chick I just submerge their rear end in warm (not too warm) water until the poo loosens and comes off. If it's an adult bird I can't advise as I've always let them handle that themselves. Why so deep in the water if it's just their rear? But in warm weather, no a fully feather bird wouldn't need to be dried off.

redsoxs said:

Are you talking about an adult chicken or a young chick with pasty butt? If it's a little chick I just submerge their rear end in warm (not too warm) water until the poo loosens and comes off. If it's an adult bird I can't advise as I've always let them handle that themselves. Why so deep in the water if it's just their rear? But in warm weather, no a fully feather bird wouldn't need to be dried off.

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She is an adult, about 4.5 yo. As I said, I knew I had too much water in the tubs, but did it anyway, mostly because of the temp here (I get heat exhaustion very quickly) and the fact that I have a compression fractured disc, fractured rib, torn cartilage between 4 discs...in short, I was in a LOT of pain and didn't want to lift the tubs to tip out water. I had already reached my limit just getting the tubs filled with warm water (did it outside). So, my bad. I didn't expect her to act up like that; she has had a bath before. Anyway, sorry for the long story, but I wanted to explain.

So is there anything I should/can do if she did get her face and ears wet? They didn't look wet, but I'm a worrier.

Thanks for the answer about whether I can put her outside.

My Light Braham can not seem to keep herself clean, she always has poopy butt, so I bath her. Can you just trim some of her fluff around the vent so stuff doesn't stick or is that unhealthy?

Little Fuzzy said:

My Light Braham can not seem to keep herself clean, she always has poopy butt, so I bath her. Can you just trim some of her fluff around the vent so stuff doesn't stick or is that unhealthy?

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I have done that with other birds, and it seems to work fine. Forgot to mention the reason I gave her the bath is that she was sitting in the coop next to the waterer. She didn't try to run when I went to pick her up. I put her down on my lawn and she stood up a bit better and immediately started eating grass. Then I saw her do a runny yellow stream out of her back end. I wanted to check her for possibly being egg-bound (actually, I did this 3 years ago when she just was sitting and waddling around, not egg-bound, it turned out but the bath perked her up.) So I went to do it again today, she's not egg-bound, but now I'm worried that she might have gotten her face and ears wet. What do I do/look out for if she got water in her face and/or ears?

How is this different than her being out in the rain? Mine like to be out in the rain and have suffered no ill effects. I'm sure your chicken will be fine.

Mine chickens also go out and free range in the rain.

If her whole head actually went under water, she may have gotten water in her ears and/or sinuses and/or lungs...not much you can do but see how she is.
I'd be more concerned about the 'runny yellow stream' and what caused it.

Thank you to all who replied to my post!

She never had any problem with head/water thing. Her hind feathers have been clean and fluffy since I gave her a bath.

Now I have another problem. One of my four second year hens has been looking like she's molting. I thought/think it's odd that only one of them looked that way. I've been discovering dampness under the roost for about 4 days. Tonight I finally saw the culprit: it's the same girl who looks like she's molting. Her activity is fine, no lethargy or squatting. Out of 5 laying hens, who all look fine besides her, I've only been getting one egg a day for about 2 weeks. Can anyone tell me what may be going on? Now I'm worried that she's sick, not just molting.

DelBlueHen said:

Thank you to all who replied to my post!

She never had any problem with head/water thing. Her hind feathers have been clean and fluffy since I gave her a bath.

Now I have another problem. One of my four second year hens has been looking like she's molting. I thought/think it's odd that only one of them looked that way. I've been discovering dampness under the roost for about 4 days. Tonight I finally saw the culprit: it's the same girl who looks like she's molting. Her activity is fine, no lethargy or squatting. Out of 5 laying hens, who all look fine besides her, I've only been getting one egg a day for about 2 weeks. Can anyone tell me what may be going on? Now I'm worried that she's sick, not just molting.

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Isolate her to monitor her eating drinking pooping.
Wire crate with smaller mesh on the bottom and crate tray under the crate works great for this.