When I first got on here and read about bathing chickens, and barnyard chickens not show chickens at that, I thought, "These folks are just plumb crazy.". Then my cochin Coochie got a messy bottom and then a couple more fo the really fluffy bottomed girls got messy. So I brought them in, one at a time, and like someone else said, put a towel in the bottom of the kitchen sink, put on my rubber gloves and drew some warm water into the sink and started bathing. To my shock and delight, they LOVED the warm water and attention. I've never had to have someone hold them down, they get in that warm water and hunker down and practically fall asleep. I let the water loosen up the poo, then I wash them with soap and by the time I'm done with that any leftover stuck on poo is pretty loose and I can remove it with my fingers without pulling too hard (remember the rubber gloves!). After rinsing them thoroughly, I wrap each chicken in a fluffy towel and we go have some cuddle time while the towel soaks up the excess water. Once they've been wrapped up a bit, then I finish them off with the hairdryer. I thought the hairdryer would FREAK them out but they actually like the warm air blowing on them, again they relax so much until they practically fall asleep again. I skip the drying step in the summer but fall/winter, they LOVE it.
