how can I get dirty leghorns clean?

Mine stays dirty for a few hours after her dust/dirts baths, longer if the ground is wet. She is usually fairly white and clean, though, so you may want to wash them once and see how they do, especially if they came from a place that didn't take care of them very well.
 
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As you said they came from a very dirty place. for safety reasons, i would bathe them. you never know what they could be carrying. Even though i dont use special shoes to enter my coop.. if thats a threat, definitely a bird coming from a nasty place is a threat to your flock.


I personally would bathe them.
 
The guy does ok, but with that many animals running around how much can one person really do. I have them quarantined for that very reason, my flock is all dewormed and healthy and I want to keep it that way. After a few days of destressing from moving (esp from free range to confinement) I will try to examine them and see what needs to be done. Funny thing is one of them actually looks dirtier today than yesterday, my quarantine area has a lot of nice dusting dirt. Just wierd how my white cochin was in the same enclosure and always looked so white.
They gave me 1 egg yesterday and 2 today! do you believe that I fed them some corn this morning and it was still on the ground this eve when I got home..my chickens gobble it up right away. I also need to teach them that I am not so scary. Hopefully after the quarantine is over the other hens can teach them how I bring food..good stuff too!
 
Yeah, I'm new to chickens, but apparently the leghorns will lay come h- e- double- l or high water. Mine hasn't missed a day since she started a few weeks ago, and hers are always the biggest. I was told she was an Ameraucana when I bought her as a chick, so I was pretty upset at first that she is most definately NOT, but now I'm loving those nice white eggs every day.
 
When my kids go to 4-H fair those birds have to be washed. We bathe them in dog shampoo. You get three big tubs. One has the water/ shampoo mixed in it, the other two have plain water. You have to hold them by the body and make sure you have the wings until you know how they are going to react. Some like it others don't at all. We have the water a comfortable temp. If you're going for a sparkling white chicken then you can pour a can of sprite over it and let it sit for a minute or two and rinse again in both tubs of water. We then hold them in a towel to get a lot of the wetness off and let them have grain in the grass afterwards as a treat. If yours are flighty be prepared to be wet. I promise that our RIR this year was yelling HELP, HELP. He hated it! But was oh so handsome after he dried.

This is the only time ours get a bath. The rest of their lives they have to give themselves a dust bath on their own. It's also the only time we dust them with poultry dust. It's a requirement for the fair. Good Luck!
 
I am sure they would hate it, I can't even get close to them without the panicked look from them. I am gonna have to hold off on the bath I think...seems like we all agree that they will be dirty anyhow. They will get dusted before meeting the flock though, I am not taking chances with these birds. They are already growing on me
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now to name them.
 
My two leghorn hens, due to their upright tails, always have grease on them, from walking under my desiel pickup. Why even worry about such things?
 

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