need advice on washing chickens...

[gumbii]

my pen got soaked in the rain this past week... the pine shavings, poo and water turned into something fierce... so i finally cleaned it all up, but my hens and roo's are filthy... but it's still a bit cold out side... as a matter of fact, my roo henry is sneezing... :facepalm:

i can get a blow drier from a friend... and i can keep them in my room... but my room is still a bit cold at night... but it's not drafty...


what do you guys think..? i should bathe a couple at a time...? like two a day or three a day..? or am i risking it...


oh, and they're filthy on the chest and backs... i guess when they would squat for the roo they would get dirty... literately...

also my silkies... OMG, my silkies are wearing poo hair gel.... how do i get it off of their heads...?


thanks in advance...

 

[fowled-out]

You might want to keep an close eye on the roo, wet pine shavings means MOLD.

 

[gumbii]

i changed out and cleaned the pens out yesterday, so the shavings in there are 100% dry and fresh... the pine shavings were disintegrated in the poo mud... i just got my quarantine cage, and gonna separate/medicate him in a wile when they sleep...

oh man...

it just started raining again... looks like he's spending the night in my room... there goes my good night sleep... i should take out the shavings tomorrow morning... this is dumb... it's not supposed to rain in los angeles... ARGH!!!... when i move the chickens, it's new pens are going to have gutters and be completely rain proof... even their run... it usually only rains 4 days a year, but we got hit by a pretty bad storm... FOR A WEEK!!!! HAHAHAHAHHAjdf;sjfdk;aslfdj;dslf...

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

I see you are not in a cold climate so:

If it were me, I would get some sort of rubbermaid tote in the garage set up with bird netting over it (or dog crate), and put a heat lamp or light bulb over it or shining into it (secured two ways so it is safe).

Then, I would indeed wash my chickens well, and immediately wrap in rags, bring them into the garage, and blow dry them. Then I would put them in that tote with netting bungee corded around the side to hold it on for a couple of hours (long enough to fully dry but not so long that they start to suffer from hunger/thirst).

I recently had to wash a white cochin with mud ALL over one side of her face and all over her neck (she got stepped on by her chicken friend). It was time for bed anyway, so I washed her face/neck and put her right into the heated coop (heated with two 100 watt bulbs since it is a shed) for the night. She was fine.

But if I lived in a cold climate I do believe I would just put food and water in the garage for them for 24 hours so they dried out SUPER well.

 

[gumbii]

yeah he's in my room now... i have no garage... fail...


but it's okay... tomorrow i'll start bathing the hens... btw, i have OEGB... and a lot of them... sigh... it's gonna take me an entire week... but thanks for the info and suggestions...

 

[ChickensAreSweet]

Quote:
Here's a nice bathing silkies tutorial:
https://www.backyardchickens.com/forum/viewtopic.php?id=99105

 

[gumbii]

cool... thanks for the link...