Giving a chicken a bath?

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according to my Vet, Dawn Dishwashing Detergent is the best thing to use on dogs or any animal. It has a very safe ph factor for their skins.
 
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My understanding is Dawn Dishwashing Detergent is great for degreasing birds that are contaminated in oil spills, etc. It IS MILD, & will remove grease, oil etc.

BUT, with Show Chickens you don't want to remove the natural oils on the feathers, as they lose their shine & lustre.

Many people who show chooks use a Show Shine Spray on their birds on the day of the show.

I prefer to use a mild Baby shampoo that removes dirt & poop from their feathers, & I feed my birds a heavy dose of Black Oil Sunflower Seeds starting 3 weeks before a show, & wash them 2 days prior to showing.

To each their own, I'm just offering what I do to wash my chooks.
 
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I'm not going to argue baby shampoo is completely wrong to use but the arguments I always hear do not hold water. They've been torn apart on several guinea pig and rabbit forums. Practically everything is tested on animals unless stated otherwise.
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I also doubt a human shampoo is tested as much on animals as an animal shampoo since it's used specifically for them frequently by hundreds if not thousands of owners. PH balanced also first isn't that big of deal. There are a few studies online where the ph of several dog breeds' and humans' hair and skin was tested and found to be in quite a range, not one ph and many were outside the range that most human shampoos aim for. Unfortunately the last time I had those links was an operating system and 2 clean reinstalls ago. Second thing with PH is that human shampoo is set to human PH. Means nothing about whether it's good for a specific animal. Unless someone has tested the ph of your specific animal (not just species) it's unlikely any shampoo matches exactly. After being shown various studies and facts the ph balanced claim on shampoos seemed rather silly to me. It's just gotten into so many people's heads (and even vets) that a shampoo must be ph balanced when noone even knows the proper ph. Maybe it was true when older and harsher shampoos and soaps were used for washing everything but today most shampoos are pretty equal when it comes to ph.

What does have to do with whether a shampoo is mild or not isn't the ph but the detergents or surfactants used. This is where my knowledge ends. I've seen chemical names and shampoo ingredients thrown around many times when this argument comes up but I don't remember which ones were which. I do remember the results of those discussions put baby shampoo as harsher and stripping more oils than shampoos for small pets and horses or the more natural dog/cat shampoos. Not the cheap dog/cat/kitten/puppy shampoos you get at walmart and most petstores.
 
She is actually doing great! I know what you mean though, after reading all the posts here at BYC, I thought she was doomed.
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The big thing I think is that when we're home, she's out and about so she camps out on the cement right by our back porch stairs where there's a good breeze and it's cool even on hot humid days.
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TY for asking
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Edit: I forgot to mention that she gets to "visit" us in the house once in awhile too. We have her b/c of my daughter's preschool egg-hatch project...she wanted to bring a baby home hence, we got Chick-Chick.
 
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