Chickens usually don't need baths. Unless you are preparing them for show or if they are so filthy it would affect their well-being, chickens do not need baths. My two major exceptions were my little white silkie hen, Powderpuff, who got extremely dirty pretty often and needed about 4-5 baths a year. She never really minded too much. She'd sit calmly in my hands as I bathed her in the utility sink in the laundry room. She loved the blow dyer so much that she'd hunker down and purr when I pulled it out. The only other times I bathed my birds were when I had a broody hen with a terrible louse infestation and used flea shampoo for cats. I was wary of using powders when her chick was only a day old, so I bathed her instead. She took it like a champ and neither she nor her chick suffered any ill effects. In fact, her infestation was totally gone within a few hours!
