California - Northern

Questions on washing chickens:
I'm thinking of doing the 3 tub method (wash, rinse , rinse). Next warm day was thinking of doing it.
1. Do I HAVE to towel dry them off?
2. Do I HAVE to blow dry them?

I thought i could run them all through quick, but if they're water logged and wet i'm thinking not good. Just wanted to confirm.
Thanks for asking this I have two Dels with Disgusting Bum Syndrome and I need to get them cleaned up...White chickens...I tell ya they are the only ones of mine that have ever needed it

I've washed the hind ends of mine on a warm day and not used a blow dryer. Mine get sopping wet in the rain when it's cold outside and never have any problems. I usually do partially towel dry them with a rag. It helps to have a helper! Monet has the job of holding them and I wash and rinse the fluffy butts. That job is on my list to do now that the weather is warmer. It's not my favorite job!

Thanks
Sandy, you know that I have eggs (or chicks) if you ever want them! I'm so curious to see what these green egg laying Pita Pinta/Cream Legbar chicks will look like when they mature. Some of the older chicks are starting to show some brown in their feathers. I personally love surprise chicks! I don't want all of them to be that way but having a few mixed breeds is fun!
I love surprise chicks too. I hatched three mixes last year. Two have gone broody and all three are great layers!

I'm hoping that this cross will lay beautiful big green eggs, develop quickly, and taste good. I'm also hoping that the Pita Pinta in there will make a friendlier bird. My Cream Legbar and CL mixes are very flighty & not very friendly. So far, adding the PP genes has resulted in some very friendly birds. The 6 week old PP/Langshan mixes are so friendly that I can't keep them away from clustering at my feet when I'm in their pen. I can hardly walk through the pen. I hope that they stay friendly.
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A PP/UofA mix would be fun to see!
You are not making it easy for me to wait
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I want friendly mottled mixes!

Chrissyr,
We've washed many chickens. We don't do the third vinegar rinse usually. Most of the birds enjoy them and it's fun each year talking to the kids about how theirs did in the water. The parents always want to know if it's really necessary.

As long as you have nice weather you won't need to blow dry them. We try and get most of the water off with a towel wrapped around them. They will act all indignant and complain that you messed up their do's, ours wander off find a place in the sun and do the melting chicken, lay on 1 side, stretch out a leg and wing, and melt down to enjoy. Some will head for the dust bath area.

They will still be damp close to the body at night but I don't think you are cold enough at night for that to be a problem.
Thank you too. It is supposed to get into the 80s this weekend
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. We hope to finish the new coop and bathe and check for mites...ick
 
So the 4th one that had just pipped overnight is out already
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......another Marans. The 3 eggs left are cheeping so hopefully will pip soon.

This picture is of all the shells from the 4 hatched eggs, plus the intact one that is clear. On the outside right and left are 2 of my Marans eggs. You can see how light the ones that hatched are in comparison ( ans I don't even consider my eggs to be all that dark). The blue egg is on top and it is a very light blue too. That chick I was able to identify...it is almost all black with a yellow spot way back under it's belly near the vent, a small spot under it's chin and yellow wing tips. The Marans are almost all yellow on the underside. I put a blue band the one from the blue egg.

Congrats!!!! I'm looking forward to seeing pics of them!
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The eggs are beautiful! I don't remember, did your friend buy the Marans eggs from a breeder?
 
No improvement for my hen.
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I was really hoping the ointment would help but so far it's done nothing. I'll try to take a picture of her eye today, or see if I can get one off of google to see if someone recognizes the problem.
 
Does anyone know how I can find out when some local poultry shows would be? I'd love to go to one and see pretty chickens. :)
 
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The ones from my previous clutch were shipped from @Chickengirl1304 up in waaaay northern CA. Those eggs were closer to the darker ones here. The light eggs in this picture are ones a friend asked me to hatch for her. We both bought FBCM started pullets from a lady in the nearby town of Oroville, but she already had a cuckoo Marans or two. I am not sure which of her birds these are from. The 3 chicks that have hatched so far don't look cuckoo. I also think her Marans Roo was from a different source. I don't know what she feeds or if they are just free ranging. She has a lot of property down in the valley between Paradise and Oroville. She raises show Corgis, has horses, sheep, a few cows and some standard and Indian Runner ducks.

I was thinking diet might be a factor in the egg color. Mine are on Fermented feed that includes BOSS and a little scratch, but I only started adding the BOSS/scratch in the last several weeks. My eggs seem a little darker since then but were already darker than hers.
 

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