Some of my hens are very muddy, should I bathe them before a freeze?

[LA~Poulet]

Please pardon my ignorance... our temperature normally only dips below freezing once or twice a year, and oddly enough, it will be freezing for 4-5 nights in a row this week.

We have had awfully wet weather for a couple weeks; the entire yard is like a big muddy sponge, and several of my hens are really muddy (I think from the roosters forcing them down into the mud?) So much so that in places their feathers really are caked and I don't think they are well insulated for the cold to come.

So my question (and I'm serious, I don't want to lose a hen b/c her feathers couldn't insulate, please don't laugh!) is if I should take the muddy ones inside tomorrow and bathe them to get the worst of the mud off. Our high tomorrow will be in the low 50's, and then it will drop to freezing tomorrow night.

I'm hoping the mud shouldn't bother them but I don't want to leave them to freeze if it will.

 

[Tala]

Mine take "mud baths" and I hear ya about all this rain! Anyway, even the white Leghorns manage to preen the mud off of their feathers by night.

Are they getting clean and then dirty again the next day? Do your birds just not clean themselves??

 

[Cindiloohoo]

I would be careful to make sure they are dried thouroughly and cooled down a bit before turning them back outside. blow dryers get hot, and the transition would have to be slow. Well, that's my opinion

ETA: Lake Charles is a beatiful place! Well, not when ur stuck on I-10 in mid summer heat, but I did enjoy my stay