AChickenBoi
Songster
- Oct 13, 2019
- 123
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I don’t know if this fits on this thread, but there wasn’t a category specifically for feather care/ grooming.
My Silkie hen is 4 years old, going on 5 by next May. She’s perfectly healthy, but can’t seem to reach her vent to groom her butt. It’s to the point that she gets irritated by the feeling, and falls backwards trying to groom that spot.
In the past, what I did was soak her in warm water and kind of pull off the chunks of poop sticking to her bottom. After that, I towel her dry, set her down on the outside table, and trim her feathers back to where she’s nearly bald around her vent. It kind of worked in the past, but it left her with a very barren bottom, and since it’s getting cold, I don’t want to mess with her insulation.
There has to be a more efficient way, right? Would it work better if I put something in the baths? As far as I know, silkies naturally struggle with dirty bottoms, as all of my past silkies had dirty bottoms while still being perfectly healthy. I’d really like to hear an answer from other chicken owners, as I don’t want her dirty bottom to cause parasite or infection issues.
My Silkie hen is 4 years old, going on 5 by next May. She’s perfectly healthy, but can’t seem to reach her vent to groom her butt. It’s to the point that she gets irritated by the feeling, and falls backwards trying to groom that spot.
In the past, what I did was soak her in warm water and kind of pull off the chunks of poop sticking to her bottom. After that, I towel her dry, set her down on the outside table, and trim her feathers back to where she’s nearly bald around her vent. It kind of worked in the past, but it left her with a very barren bottom, and since it’s getting cold, I don’t want to mess with her insulation.
There has to be a more efficient way, right? Would it work better if I put something in the baths? As far as I know, silkies naturally struggle with dirty bottoms, as all of my past silkies had dirty bottoms while still being perfectly healthy. I’d really like to hear an answer from other chicken owners, as I don’t want her dirty bottom to cause parasite or infection issues.
