Chicken Bath and Food Dye...

[pixie74943]

So anyway.. I was told giving my chicken a bath would make her like me more...

I'm doubtful, but the next hot summer day... Bath time could cool us both down.


More importantly. My friend used to dye her silkie with food colouring.. Apparently it lasted through a rain or two.

Has anyone tried this? Know of any toxins in food colouring that might make the chooken sick? I'm really tempted to dunk my White Leghorn in food colouring for funzies.. I think it would be rather adorable.


Oh and any hints on how to give a chicken a bath would be much appreciated

 

[joanie_maine]

Quote:
Would make the chicken like you more???

 

[purpletree23]

If I were a chicken and were 'dunked' I don't think I would like you more. Treat them gently and give treats by hand and soon they will follow you around like little puppies.

 

[cheraboo]

The kids give their market birds 3-4 baths in the summer before auction at fair. The chickens do not enjoy it at all

Some of the kids put garbage bags on to help stay dry cuz most of the chickens do a lot of flapping.

On the other hand, I've seen breed birds that don't seem to mind a bath at all. But they get bathed frequently for shows and are used to it. I don't know about dye, but a lady I know who shows/breeds chickens uses bluing on her white birds to make them whiter. She made sure to tell everyone that if you do this to add it to the water and DO NOT put it directly on the bird as it turns the bird blue

I don't know how food coloring would be. I would think if you just put a few drops in the water before adding the chicken it would be ok.

 

[Sonoran Silkies]

It works fine; use more than a few drops unless you only want a very pale tint of colour. BTW, chickens see a much broader spectrum of colours than humans, so expect the chicken and flock to react to the colour change.

The reason a bird dislikes the bath is one of a couple of things--they are uncomfortable: the water is too cold or hot, or they are scared. They need to be held firmly and or standing on their own feet.

 

[EweSheep]

I would imagine blue, yellow, orange, brown, purple would do well but as red, and green might cause them to go picking or killing spree.

I think it would be neat for those kind of colors!

 

[pixie74943]

Quote:
Glad you mentioned that.. I was thinking of going Red, but now that you mention it... that could be bad...

 

[Lollipop]

Only thing I can see that may not work, they may not recognise each other and fight. My passion is gamefowl. When half grown or otherwise fowl get rained on, they don`t recognise each other. Then the battle starts. Kinda like adding a new bird to the flock. Hope it doesn`t work like that for you, but you should be aware that it could.......Pop