nearly all of my chickens have very dirty behinds...if you know what i mean. they're covered in poop and i'm sure that's not good for them. i'm not sure how to do it and i don't want to try anything that could make them sick.
On the delicate cycle, warm rinse only. If these are chicks and we are talking about pastey butt, just use a warm, wet wash rag and gently wipe their butts, you may have to rinse and re-do several times.
For baby chicks you can hold the rear end under some warm running water and wash the poop off. Older chickens - well you might have to pop em in the bath tub or sink. Make sure you keep them nice and warm till totally dry. If its baby chicks (I suppose adults as well) you can put a little oil or vasaline or some such on the rear to prevent future sticking - if they have really feathery bums, you might trim lightly, and very carefully, those feathers so they're away from the little bum.
If your coop and run arent gross and wet, which I'm sure they are not, then their feathery butts will get cleaned off just naturally. I'm not sure there is ever a reason to wash a chicken, unless it has a wound that needs to be cleaned for health reasons. We may love them dearly, but they are animals. IMHO if they don't feel a need to be "clean" then we shouldnt bother them with our own human ideas about bodies, y'know?
I agree with you chickybaby. I never wash mine and if they have a poopy butt one day the next they don't.
I agree with the other posts. I take a nice warm wet cloth and wash their butts. I have had some poop that had dried on and wouldn't wash off, so I clipped off the butt feathers. The feathers grew back fine and you can't tell who it I clipped. The chick's I do only if it is persistant.
With poopy butts, I have DH hold them in the deep sink while I clean/wash their butt feathers (I wear latex gloves ). Then they get a trim and a blow dry. I've only had one hen that really needed a frequent booty cleaning and clipping.
