How old should a silke be to give it a bath?

[Chicken586]

Hello! I was just wondering, how old does a silke have to be or you can start bathing when the look old enough. Thanks!

 

[Lady of McCamley]

Why do you need to bathe your Silkie? Are you planning to show? Is she an indoor pet?

I don't bathe my birds unless there is some circumstance that requires it (covered in blood, muck, chemicals).

Birds take care of their own hygiene with dust baths. Just make sure they have a dry area with plenty of fine dirt, sand, wood ash to roll in. You can even put permethrin dust down so they can further help keep parasites away.

Silkies are definitely more prone to chill with their hair-like feathers, so I wouldn't bathe unless there was a need for it.

My opinion
LofMc

 

[yakitori]

if they're dirty, you can try to wipe them down with a moist paper towel. Sometimes I have to help mine loosen a caked on poop, once it's off, she usually takes care of the rest of the cleaning. I've do give mine a foot bath from time to time, I find it's the easiest way to loosing poop stuck in their feet feathers. After their foot spa, I towel dry followed by the blow drier on low. Most of the time they do get their bellies wet too, so I have to make sure it's all dry before letting them back out to get dirty again .

 

[Lady of McCamley]

I would add that I also don't let my Silkies on free range where they can get trampled by my big flock, snagged by a hungry hawk, or filthy from the muck and guck.

They have a nice covered hutch of their own on nice bark chips. That goes a long way to avoiding Silkie mess.

LofMc

 

[yakitori]

I let mine outside from time to time, other than their feet feathers, they don’t seem any dirtier than when they are inside. of course I guess it does depending on your environment outside too. If it’s all muddy and yuck, the silkies would be a mess, but I don’t have that problem...

I also normally have them in either the run or a covered vegetable garden so the hawks can’t get them!

 

[Chicalina]

I never bathe mine. They preen themselves.