Amy, my flock matriarch, got her first-ever bath today (and the first bath I’ve ever given a chicken). She’s a lazy pooper, has a lot of fluff, and some of her runnier droppings were clinging and drying on her rear end feathers. Clipping the fluff helped, but there was some caked on stuff close to the skin, so into the utility tub she went. She tried to resist at first, but I could tell the warm water started to soothe and relax her and she let me wash her without any fuss (used Vetericyn low density foaming shampoo; worked great). After the tub drained and towel dry started, she was soothed and relaxed no more and it took two of us to restrain her and at least make sure she wasn’t dripping wet before going back outside. Temps are in the 80’s here in central California so she enjoyed the rest of her afternoon in the backyard air drying while foraging and sun bathing.
