Dust Baths

[Chick-N-Lover]

how old do chickens normally dust bathe? My RIR didn't start until recently that I noticed her (she's almost 4 months) and I have another different breed chick that's a month old and has dust/dirt bathe already. Is it normal? And is it ok to bathe them with soap and water after a dust bath--b/c we usually do so.

 

[GitaBooks]

With a momma hen chicks will be shown how to dust bathe as early as a day of age. However, they don't really start dust bathing until they acquire some feathers.

Chickens don't really need their feathers bathed unless they are really greasy (such as they got oil on them) or to wash off their feet. They will shake the dust out of their feathers in good time. And they can carry a lot of dust! Sometimes I will call them for treats and they run out weighed down by so much dust they look like a different chicken!

Feel free to ask any other questions you may have.

Best of luck!

 

[Mrs. K]

I would not recommend washing birds on a regualr bases. I think their skin and feathers will get dry and brittle, dull.

Birds are not phyically built to get water next to the skin. The feathers drain and hold most of the water away. I think bathing, where you truly are getting the under feathers wet would be very hard on their temperature control of the body. They are just not built to get those inside feathers wet, and they are built to clean off dead skin cells, bugs and dirt by using a dust bath.

Dust bathing is good for your birds, water bathing is not.

Mrs K

 

[aart]

I would not recommend washing birds on a regualr bases. I think their skin and feathers will get dry and brittle, dull.

Birds are not phyically built to get water next to the skin. The feathers drain and hold most of the water away. I think bathing, where you truly are getting the under feathers wet would be very hard on their temperature control of the body. They are just not built to get those inside feathers wet, and they are built to clean off dead skin cells, bugs and dirt by using a dust bath.

Dust bathing is good for your birds, water bathing is not.

Mrs K

Ditto Dat^^^