Grooming silkies for show

luckychik said:

Thanks so much! I needed to know this! Just wondering if you keep your show silkie away from the others? My son has a beautiful silkie that we will be showing and I caught her rolling in the dirt. Then I thought maybe I need to put her in a very clean area.......

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Just bathe your chicken the night before and keep indoors/in a very clean space over night and there will be no danger of getting dirty.

Just discovered this the hard way and thought I would share my new knowledge. Chickens and fly paper DO NOT mix. Chickens with crests? Double the NOT!

Let the kids out this morning - couldn’t find Einstein, my Polish roo. Counted noses last night so knew he had to be there somewhere. Found him in the furthest corner of the coop behind the nesting box. Poor thing was standing there like a statue with fly paper ribboned around his head and in his crest. Apparently yesterday’s storms knocked the paper from its hanger and Mr. Curiosity had to check it out.

Lesson learned – The paper can be gently worked out of the feathers without having to cut them. Dawn will get most of the sticky residue out of the feathers. For the really tough sticky spots? Vegetable oil. Yep. Worked like a charm.

Poor baby is clean and dry now, eating his breakfast and sharing his horror story with the other chickens.

blipit007 said:

I have a question... so I have been shampooing Marbles on the occasion she gets messy. She enjoys it, even fell asleep in my hands as I was holding her body under the water stream. I never got her head wet though. I was afraid to. Not sure about ears? I cant see any...

Will water go in there? And about their nostrils, how do you protect all these holes from filling?

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I tilt their heads back and avoid the nostrils, but I don't worry about getting water in the eyes or ears. I haven't had a problem.

luckychik said:

Thanks so much! I needed to know this! Just wondering if you keep your show silkie away from the others? My son has a beautiful silkie that we will be showing and I caught her rolling in the dirt. Then I thought maybe I need to put her in a very clean area.......

Click to expand...

I don't. If your going to show them though you will want to set them up in a crate 6-8 weeks before the show and keep them clean.

NOLA Chicks said:

Just discovered this the hard way and thought I would share my new knowledge. Chickens and fly paper DO NOT mix. Chickens with crests? Double the NOT!

Let the kids out this morning - couldn’t find Einstein, my Polish roo. Counted noses last night so knew he had to be there somewhere. Found him in the furthest corner of the coop behind the nesting box. Poor thing was standing there like a statue with fly paper ribboned around his head and in his crest. Apparently yesterday’s storms knocked the paper from its hanger and Mr. Curiosity had to check it out.

Lesson learned – The paper can be gently worked out of the feathers without having to cut them. Dawn will get most of the sticky residue out of the feathers. For the really tough sticky spots? Vegetable oil. Yep. Worked like a charm.

Poor baby is clean and dry now, eating his breakfast and sharing his horror story with the other chickens.

Click to expand...

yikes!

Thank you for that tutorial! My granddaughter is just starting out with Silkies for show. I had no idea how to go about giving them a bath. We'll have to make do with just a regular hair dryer on cool. I have everything else as we also show horses and use a lot of color enhancing shampoos. Wish her luck at her very first 4-H show next Friday.

My concern is also the ears. Our 4h leader (my daughter will be showing her 3 birds this summer) has warned several times in the bathing process to avoid getting water in their ears and how it can cause health issues since the birds can't get the water out. The rest of this tutorial is perfect. We have the black shampoo (thanks to owning a black schnauzer) and I will need to pick up the whitening for my splash roo.

What type of file are you using for nails and beak?

Thank you so much!