I gave my hen a bath two days ago. quit laying.

[chickydoos]

A couple days ago I have my tufted araucana hen, Lucy, a bath. She has not layed an egg since... Ughh... And I was just beginning to collect her eggs for the incubator... Any one have any suggestions? Or reasons why that would have made her stop laying?
Thanks in advance!

 

[Mountain Peeps]

She might be scared! I'd give her a couple days and see what happens.

 

[Mac14]

It might have upset her a bit, and that probably stressed her out. She likely will just need some time...

 

[cstronks]

Why did you give her a bath?? Chickens are kind of like cats - they do their own hygiene. As long as they are dustbathing and preening properly, then there is no reason to change the system. Even when they get lice and mites the recommended treatment is to spray with a feather protector and then add either DE or other solutions to dirt and allow them to dust bathe. Bathing a chicken with water and soap is probably terrifying for them. The stress more than likely threw off the cycle.

 

[chickydoos]

Drats! To be honest I seen someone on here talking about giving their hens baths. I only started doing it last year and thought I'd start doing it once every year. Just to get the ladies shined up. Guess I won't be doing it anymore

 

[cstronks]

There is a feather coat protector that you can spray onto the birds. That is the extent that the coat can be played with ( I don't even do that ). Chickens do a very good job of keeping themselves clean.