Do chickens like a bath?

[bills]

So will chickens actually bath in a shallow container of water, like wild birds do in a bird bath??

I know when I had a budgie, he loved it when I put a bowl of water in his cage. He would get completely soaked, but seemed very happy.

I always wondered if chickens would like it. Perhaps a large dishpan with only an inch of water? Surely they couldn't drown in such shallow water.

Anyone try it before??

 

[Mahonri]

I sprinkled my chicks with the garden hose in their run this evening and they seemed to enjoy it. It got up to 113 today and the water was nice and cool.

 

[chickensforever]

I had to give one of my hens a bath once to soak her bum enough to get some caked poop off. Long story short, she didn't like it. They love dust baths though, and as long as they have access to loose dirt, they will use it to get parasites out of their feathers, you can also add sand to help with this.

 

[S0rcy]

Tried it. The only thing my chickens did was drink from it. Then they went to wallow in the shade of the oak tree! Same thing with Henrietta, my new 3 year old. Went directly to the wallow and dug in for five minutes then flapped around, really getting that dust in, and spent forever preening.

I have to assume that water bathing is not their style

 

[ibpboo]

They rather take a dirt bath, I haven't seen any of mine ever bath in water on their own.

 

[bills]

Wow, three posts all at exactly 9.21PM. Is there a conspiracy...

So the consensus is, that they like to play under the sprinkler, but they don't like baths. Sounds like my Grandkids...

 

[Davaroo]

I'm having a hard time seeing that. Chickens aren't "bathers," AFAIK.

Oh they can be bathed, and many people do so prior to taking them to a show.

But do they enjoy it,"Take me away Calgon," enjoyment? I'd say no.

Now, someone will come out and say theirs DO....

 

[Chickenaddict]

LOL elderoo your right! My black cochin bantam hen LOVES baths, she likes them sooo much she falls asleep in the tub while im washing her. I have to make sure to keep a finger under her neck so she doesnt dunk her head in the water. I tried it with her the first time because she had a really nasty butt and it needed to be soaked for quite awhile in warm water. I haven't however tried it on any other chicken yet but im seriously thinking about it. You just have to make sure they stay nice and warm while they dry off.I put her in a cage in the bathroom with the door closed and a space heater on for a few hours then left her in the house overnight just to be sure she didnt get chilled. I also put out galvanized steel dishes in the yard full of water to either drink from or to dip their feet in when it gets tooo warm for them outside, mostly they just drink from it but the clean legged roosters love to stand in the water. Every chickens different so i suppose some might like a nice warm bath and some may not.

 

[Davaroo]

It takes all kinds, even chickens.

 

[patandchickens]

Yeah, when I was giving the late Matilda warm 'sitz baths' last fall when she was eggbound, she seemed to REALLY enjoy it. She'd fold up her legs so she was sort of half-floating in the warm water, and lay her head on my hand and fall mostly asleep. I think it felt really nice.

OTOH that is a far cry from the cold shallow splashy 'birdbath' type bath that the original poster was asking about

Pat