Washing hens "hair"

[minxabroad]

Hi, This is not an emergency really so I hope it's ok to post in this section. I was not sure which section would be most appropriate.

I have an elderly Appenzeller hen imaginatively named "Dot". She has a considerable crest, like a fancy hat, on their head. Dot has often struggled to keep the hat clean from tiny insects but usually a dose of DE or louse powder helps.

However I noticed this morning that there is a considerable build up of "muck" on her head between the feathers of the hat and lots of mites- I am assuming they are mites though they look even smaller to me! She has had these on and off almost all her life in her hat only, never on her body. They just seem to love the "hat". The DE and Gold Label louse powder work to keep them at bay but after awhile they will start to reappear. I used to dust her hat more regularly but let it go for a bit as she didn't seem to be having the issue quite as much or so I thought.

She really needs a bath in order to remove the heavy build up of "lice" muck but as it is on her head I am wary to do so. I tried once before to "wash her hair" and even though we tried to keep water and soap off her face and eyes she seemed terribly stressed by it all and though she eventually was fine she appeared very unwell after the "hair wash" and I just held her in a warm towel until she improved.

So my questions are: Is it safe to give baths to hens, particularly focusing on the head? Are the allergic or sensitive to any soap/shampoo product in particular? Is there anything anyone would recommend about washing dot's hat safely? Is it normal for a hen to have such a stressed out reaction to a wash?

Thank you!

 

[nightowl223]

Well, they won't like water around their heads, period, so her freakout is understandable. I've heard Dawn is the only safe soap to wash chickens with, and it's all I've ever used, when it's needed, but you have to be certain to rinse it all out. If you can cover her eyes while you do the washing, and try to calm her first by having her upside down for awhile (the blood rush to the head sorta puts them in a stupor), then keep her on her side or back as you do the dirty deed, so to speak, it might prevent as much of a freakout. Just be VERY sure not to get water or especially soap in her nares [nostrils], or it will be breathed and go straight to her lungs, and that's VERY bad news.

Just realize that water is NOT what chickens tend to bathe in... they usually go for the dustbathing instead, LOL! And you might be better off just trying a little flea comb to carefully brush out the muck you're worried about, instead. She will certainly enjoy it much more than the water bath, guaranteed.

 

[minxabroad]

Thank you @nightowl223. A human comb may get into the hat feathers somewhat but there would still be a lot of muck and some of it is stuck on so a comb would probably pull hard. I suppose it would save some "scrubbing" though which she would probably not cope at all with. It is really quite yucky looking- my fault for not checking sooner really. I did consider putting her in a "trance" ,as I like to call it , and then perhaps just laying her supported head over the edge of the sink to gently bathe it though I suspect she would snap out of the trance as soon as the water touched her.

Does anyone else have crested hens? Do you have problems with mites in the "hat"? If so how do you deal with it?