how exactly do you bath a chicken???

lcw

Songster
10 Years
Jan 6, 2010
734
6
141
southern ohio
what kind of stuff do you need(supplies)?
can you use dog shampoo(i have no idea)?

anything you have let me know...
thanks...cole.
 
I had to give one chick a bath once. She had that poop stuck on her bottom. I filled the sink in the bathroom up about 1/3 of the way and used a mild shampoo that I had, and an orange wood stick to help remove the poo. Oh and I had on a pair of gloves, yuck. When I was finished I wraped her in a towl and then used low heat on the blow dryer. She even fell asleep while I was using the blowdryer. I'm so happy that I never had to do that again though.
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I have a hypoallogenic dog shampoo that I use. I fill kitchen sink full enough to just cover their legs and scrub gently as to not damage the feathers. Wet, wash, then rinse. Paying careful attention to feet and bums. Being very careful around face and eyes. Then towel dry or blow dry if it's cold. If it is cold out I have kept them in a cage in the bathroom until they are completely dry. My silkie love loves the blow dryer. Basically, the same way you would bathe a dog just being extra careful to not damage the feathers. Also, I bathe any new birds I get because it gives me a chance to better asses their overall health and check for external parasites. And I use the kitchen sink because it has the sprayer nozzle which comes in extra handy.
 
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I always wash my chickens w/ a really mild shampoo... maybe a dog shampoo or organic?
I set up 3 tubs, the 1st with warm water and shampoo (possibly bluing?) the 2nd with luke warm water and a splash of vinegar (to get rid of chicky stink!) and the 3rd with colder but not quite cold water to rinse everything off. sponges are good 4 getting all of the dirt off of the feathers and toothbrushes to clean the shanks and feet. Always work in the way of the feathers to not hurt them
Just make sure to always keep their head out of the water...
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To dry them, i just wrap them up in a towel under neath a heat lamp for a couple hours... Blow drying works but I wouldn't recommend it if you are showing them. If you let them air dry then they keep the feathers natural shine but the blowdryer poofs the feathers up and makes them a little more rough looking.
GOOD LUCK! (itll get messy!!!)
 
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I have a RIR hen that has the nastiest, poopiest, stuck-on crappiest butt you can imagine. I would love to give her a bath, but......it's cold out, she's not used to being handled, etc. I also don't want to do it in the kitchen sink.
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I have a laundry room sink with a sprayer, MAYBE......I can work up to courage to try it. Maybe. I just keep hoping all that stuff will fall off!
 
I love to use the tub. I fill the bath full with dove soap and warm water so they can just stand. Then after they wade around in the water for a bit I'll drop a few pieces of dove on them (liquid soap) and get them clean. Then I rinse them under the bath tub faucet. They seem to go limp in my hands when I do this. They seem to love it. I tried it in the kitchen sink and I wound up with dirty water all over so I will not try that again (took me forever to clean up). After wards I wrap them in a towel for a minute let it get wet then get a new one. I tent them and fill the tent with warm air from the dryer (think getting your hair done type of thing). They really relax and enjoy the warm air. It takes a long time to dry them that way. So after the've relaxed form the whole bath stress then I blow them dry on low. They usually warm up to it since they've been listening to the dryer while sitting in the tent. They love it.

Sometimes in the day I bring my birdies in for a foot bath.... I stick their feet in warm water and dry them off. They really love that on a cold day.
 
i use super gentle baby shampoo, with warm water, make sure its a good rinse and blow dry softly on a low heat, if you really want to get into it, you can scrub feet with an old tooth brush and polish the comb wattles and feet with baby oil or olive oil ( lightly) with a cloth, my chickens like the wattle massage haha !
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thank you everyone here are the two that im giving a bath too. they look way worse than they do in the pictures:

daisy:
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sky:
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