Newbie in New Zealand---lots of questions!

[kimmered]

Thanks again for all your replies! I tried to put a ramp up to the nest box last night, but they didn't seem to know what that was for. So I put on of them in it and petted her until she was calm and I thought she was going to stay there, but..... as soon as I left her she jumped down. I'll keep at it and I'll try putting a perch on the floor and see if that helps.

I have also been looking at some of the posts about poopy bum feathers. One of the hens (Daisy) is really clean and doesn't have messy bum feathers, but the other one (poppy) is really messy. She seems to be the dominant one of the two and I think she's the one that laid the egg. Is it easy to give a chicken a bit of a bath??? I was thinking of trying to clean her up a bit, but I've never given a chicken a bath before and I don't want to scare her now that she's laying eggs. Any suggestions?

Thanks again!