A couple of years ago we went to The Grandpa Tiny’s Chicken Show. It’s a spectacular display of beautiful and rare poultry. The finest of the finest in our mid-Michigan area.
At the show, I remember passing a cage among the junior entries with a Silkie in it. This Silkie was among other white birds of its kind, but this particular chicken stood out because it had a slight blue tint to its feathers! Not a natural blue, but like BLUE! At this show, the judges leave comments right on the cage so you can read about how each bird was judged, how it lives up to the breed standard, etc. There was a comment on this cage that read “Too much bluing in the grooming process.”
At the time, it had never occurred to me to “groom” a chicken, let alone to “blue” a chicken. I figured that chickens groomed themselves through dust baths, and primping, and what ever didn’t come off through this process would eventually be shed off in their next molt. Our chickens will sit for hours and fluff their feathers arranging them just so. They run the length of each feather through their beaks and clean themselves, the way nature intended. Occasionally we humans would step in and dust each chicken for mites, wipe a dirty vent, or clip a wayward toenail, but grooming? Ha! How would one even go about grooming a chicken? What would you do give it a bubble bath?
Precisely! The answer to my question was yes, people give chickens bubble baths. When I first heard this, I thought the whole idea was ridiculous, and it kind of made me mad. I pictured these poor show chickens who’s owners care more about their looks than their well being. The idea of half drowning a flapping chicken just to get it’s feathers clean must be dangerous, stressful and un-healthy.
It wasn’t until the following year where we went to a poultry show and I heard an exhibitor asking another exhibitor if she had a hair dryer so she could blow out one of her hens. I decided this was my chance to find out about this whole “bath” thing. (Now, just to find the right phrasing so as to not sound like a jerk when I ask this woman if she is torturing her chickens.) I decided to ask if the chicken “minded being bathed”. Anger in my own mind was answering this question for myself rhetorically. I kept thinking, of course they mind! Poor things! It probably takes three people just to hold the chicken down while the fourth dunks the struggling bird in the water.
The woman smiled and answered that her hen doesn’t mind it at all, in fact she enjoys her bath time. I forced a smile, and nodded to the woman, unconvinced. The label “stage mom” welled up inside me. Images of the show Toddlers in Tiaras flashed through my brain and I pictured chickens wearing veneer teeth and spray tans.
When we got home I decided to do a little research for myself. I Googled “bathing chickens” and found quite a few results. I eagerly clicked on the first site expecting to see images of animal rights activists picketing this horrible practice, but to my dismay, bathing chickens seemed to be well… acceptable. The chickens in the photos seemed to be pretty content. Not stressed. Not drowning.
Still clinging to my initial suspicions, I decided not to believe everything you see in photos, photos can be edited after-all! Let’s see what You Tube has to show!
After watching several “How To Bathe Your Chicken” videos, I realized that I had completely over reacted and that chickens not only didn’t mind being bathed, but they really did seem to enjoy it. Not only that, but it can also be a healthy experience when done correctly. Bathing chickens helps remove mites, it conditions the skin, and cleans them of irritating contaminates.
I sort of put the matter to rest. Satisfied that I could attend poultry shows again without glaring daggers at the mean exhibitors.
Recently, we’ve experienced some relief from this unusually dry summer with copious amount of rain. Because of the wet conditions, some of our chickens look a bit well, …haggard. I decided to give one of our dirty girls a bath, and see once and for all how a chicken reacts to bath time.
This Coronation Sussex isn’t particularly tame so she was a good candidate to see how a chicken truly reacts.
We gathered the supplies which include:
- two tubs deep enough to submerge a chicken to the neck filled with warm, not hot water
- mild soap, we used this gentle puppy shampoo but something like Castille soap would probably work great
- white vinegar
- 1 or 2 towels
- hair dryer
- scrub brush or old tooth brush
- unscented Vaseline
We got the supplies ready before we had the chicken in hand and set them on our outdoor table. It was a nice warm evening so our girl wouldn’t catch a chill.
In the first tub, I added a very small amount of soap to the warm water and swished up some bubbles. Zach, my very tolerant husband, volunteered to do the bathing while I snapped photos…”yes dear, after dinner we’re giving the chicken a bath, won’t that be fun?”…VERY tolerant!
He placed the hen in the “bubble tub” with both of us wincing and bracing ourselves, expecting her to flap and freak out. The first dunk was surprisingly un-eventful. In fact, she sort of spread herself out and turned to pudding.
We rubbed the warm soapy water into her feathers gently with our finger tips, in the same direction that her feathers grow.
We paid attention to to some of her dirtiest spots, under her wings, and around her vent.
With a scrub brush we scrubbed her legs, feet and under her toenails.
When she was scrubbed all over, I added a little vinegar to the second tub and Zach dunked her in the rinse water.
We poured clean warm water over, avoiding her head, her until she was thoroughly rinsed.
Then we wrapped her in a towel and patted as much of the water out of her feathers as we could. I have to say that at this point she was so relaxed, she was dozing off in her towel.
I plugged the hair dryer in for Zach and set it on the low-warm setting, not hot. And he began to blow dry her. (Eventually I took over dryer duty.)
Again, she thoroughly enjoyed herself. I thought the noise of the hair dryer might startle her, but the only complaint she made was when I had to repeatedly make her stand up to dry her underneath. She was perfectly content to just lay on the table having her feathers blown about with the nice warm air. Standing was a bit inconvenient thank you very much.
When she was dry, we rubbed a bit of Vaseline on her feet, nails,
comb and wattle to moisturize and protect against parasites like scaly leg mites.
And off she went, smelling fresh and clean.
In the end, the decision to bath your chickens really has to be a personal choice. With fifty chickens, I don’t see myself doing this on a regular basis, but it’s good to know the option is there. It’s a great way to really give your chicken a thorough cleaning and examination, especially in the blow drying process. I was able to see each feather shaft, look for mites or eggs, and examine her skin for parasites or bites. One of the nice things is that she was so relaxed that she let us handle her all over. It was a great time to check her feet for problems or clip and file her nails.
While I’m now convinced that chicken bathing is not detrimental to a chicken’s health, here are just a few common sense precautions. I wouldn’t advise on bathing too often, as it might dry out the skin. Also, only bath in warm draft free areas as birds can catch a chill. Keep the water temps warm but not too hot. Dry thoroughly, but watch the hair dryer settings, also warm but not too hot. Keep the dryer moving at all times, and don’t hold it too close. Also, don’t pour water over the chicken’s head to rinse and avoid getting soap near the eyes.
Let me know if you’ve ever given a chicken a bath. Share your experience with the Community by leaving a comment below, or visiting the Community Chicken’s Facebook page.
20 Comments
I came across this while looking for info on what shampoo I shouldn’t use to wash my babies. I have always used baby shampoo but was hoping for something better smelling since the baby I am bathing today sleeps on my chest and rests his beak beside my nose. (We raise pet breeds and have mostly outdoor chickens but also have indoor babies that wear diapers to bed and for all hours of the day that they are not outside playing in their protected area.). Eventually I found that Palmer’s makes a tear free shampoo and body wash and my husband is at Wally World trying to run that down as I type.
Anyway, I just wanted to share my experience with bathing chickens.
Now, we didn’t always raise pet breeds. We started out with Ameracaunas, Orpingtons, Plymouth Rocks, and the likes. At one point we even had a pair of ducks (m and f) that actually hated baths, go figure. The chickens have always loved baths and hated showers (yes, I have even tried taking them in the shower with me, we learned through trial and error and lots of reading books). One thing we always found to be true was that even the wildest chicken would calm down for a nice warm bath.
With our pet breeds, Silkies and D’uccles and any bird that is a barnyard mix of one of those breeds with one of our full size birds, we found that bathing these babies early in life helped form a bond of trust and relaxed them around us for life. For instance, I have a clutch of Silkies that are a couple of months old waiting to move outside. They are all sweet as sugar, but are still skittish because it’s difficult to spend quality and quantity time with seven babies and their extremely demanding and jealous for attention parents on a daily basis. At one month old, I needed to pick one pullet to live in the house full time. (Just to clarify for skeptics, most people cannot tell sex of a silkie until they crow or lay an egg around four to six months, or see some sign through comb. However, after so many, I have learned to spot differences in posture after around three weeks, in most cases. I have one stubborn one currently that has been the most gender confusing to date. My husband swears by another method that can only be done while they fit in your palm on their backs.) I picked one, gave her a bath and cuddled with her after drying and grooming, for about an hour. Since then, I’ve pet them on occasion, picked them up a few times and I talk and sing to all several times a day. My earmarked pullet that’s had a bath already is the only one that does not shy away from me or my husband. She is also the only pullet that doesn’t try to nip at my husband when he’s around. Which is hilarious to me because he’s the food and water person, he loves all over these babies and talks to them a lot too. I’m just the hugs and kisses and songs and chatter and baths person. You’d think they’d nip at me instead. LOL
I just bathed my 4 day old chicks today. I wasn’t sure I should but we googled it and sure enough its a thing! I wouldn’t have bathed them so young but the fermented chick starter (they love that stuff) was all over them and they were rather crusty instead of fluffy! I didn’t use soap though, I just rubbed the water into the feathers and broke up the crusty stuff. They cheeped alot, probably a little cold despite the warm water and bathroom but they loved the dryer!
I have a question, are the first eggs small to start, then get a little larger as they lay more eggs?
Loved this article. Thanks for sharing!
My girls and one guy have mites….a couple came with scaly legs and I though I had treated that well so they joined the flock. Now some of my originals have scaly legs, including our favorites. So, I think I will try to bathe them, then Vaseline them, and I have been treating the coop with a fogger system. The combo should eradicate the mites. Wonder if I can bathe my ducks in the same manner……
I’ve never understood where the phrase “Madder than a wet hen” came from. The first thing I do with any new chicken is give it a nice warm bath. This way I can deal with any potential leg mites or issues before they ever meet my other birds or come into contact with my pens. They act like I do when I get into a hot tub, just melt right into it and go half asleep.
I’ve heard of people giving them a soak in warm water and Epsom salts for bound eggs too. Never had an egg bound hen to try that out, but they say it helps a lot.
Vinegar removes any residue and helps feathers maintain their shiny appearance. That residue from the soap not only dulls appearance, but it aids in collecting dust and whatever – so removing it helps the feathers stay cleaner longer. It also works on human hair; people used to do a vinegar rinse on their hair in the old days, before hair conditioner existed. I wouldn’t use vinegar on waterfowl, however, as the oil in their feathers is necessary.
Thanks for this tutorial! I didn’t think you could bathe a chicken at all, and there have been times I’ve really wanted to with my girls.
Why the vinegar, just asking. And we live in Hawaii so do I need to dry her off or do you think the air dry will do, since I don’t believe she will be chilled.
I never bathed one of my chickens, but one hard winter, someone dumped an old Muscovy duck on my property. They really must have neglected this poor girl. Her feet were frost-bitten, swollen, black and blue, and had some dead tissue in the webbing.
I started giving her “soaks” every day. Washing her feet, letting her hang out in the basement tub filled with warm water. She not only allowed me to soak her, but she also allowed me to clean off the dead skin, towel her dry, put medicine on her feet etc. She would fall asleep almost ever time.
She turned out to be one of the nicest birds I have ever met.
I am going to try bathing my chicks, who are about half size now, and get them use to it!
Our family has been in 4-H Poultry projects for 10 years and we always add another tub of water with either Downy fabric softener or human hair conditioner/cream rinse in it to make the feathers nice and soft and also to add a little oil to help repel water if they are out in the rain. Trimming the toenails is just like when you trim your dogs’ nails. Trim only the tip and not the quick (beginning of fleshy part beneath the nail). If you happen to get too close and cause some bleeding, use blood stop powder or flour to stop the bleeding. We find it best to trim nails after the bath several days to a week in advance of a show so that any bleeding stops way before you want them to look their best. Also, if you are bathing white chickens, you’ll want to avoid soaps that have dyes in them, such as green as they can cause a tint in the feather color.
This was a great story! I am so happy to hear that chickens like baths. My brahma is filthy and I’ve been wanting to clean her up and see what she would look like all nice and shiny. I will give it a try this weekend since we’ve been having some warm weather here. Thanks for the great info!!
One moment, I’ll post mine soon. just wanted to say I love your new site!
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I found how to make my own outside chicken dust bath here: http://www.automaticchickencoopdoor.com/make-a-chicken-dust-bath/
I let them bathe themselves in it. I like the more natural approach. They also had other information for my about chickens health that i found very interesting too. http://www.automaticchickencoopdoor.com/manage-chicken-health/
We will be starting 4H next year and I really needed to look into this, THANK YOU for all the info and the step by step!
I gave one of our hens a bath, as she was adopted and was muddy/filthy. She did the same thing, relaxed and dozed off 🙂 She loved it!
I recently bathed my first chicken when I realized her messy butt was inspiring some other hens to feather-picking. I found it to be surprisingly easy–even with this particular hen, who is quite large and not the tamest of the bunch. I was able to do it single-handedly in less than 15 minutes!
I used dog shampoo I had on hand (my favorite–Cuddle Coat by Kiehls) and her black feathers were absolutely gorgeous, shiny and beetle-green, once she dried! I was afraid how feathers would dry, and if she’d have to spend hours preening, in order to get them all smooth again…but she didn’t! I can’t say for sure, but I think she felt quite good after her little spa treatment!
We bath our chickens for county fair. One thing to remember is their body temps run around 102-104* so make sure your water is warmer than that. Ours always relax and get sleepy. One little hen kicks and clucks happy sounds!Lol. Its funny because its like she doesnt want to get out when its time..
Great detailed info!
I was just wondering about trimming their claws.(What do you know about trimming a rooster’s thick 3″ spurs?)
I have 7 cochins (feathery) hens that get poo on their back end frequently – how one might go about ‘trimming’ those feathers around the vent without leaving a ruffled relationship. Perhaps this could be included during a bath routine, but it looks like bathing is a job suited for 2 people better than 1. I do not have a helper and even though you make it looks easy, I am a bit apprehensive about trying this alone.
Thanks for your blog! When I first got my white silkies, they had mites and so I gave them all a bath. Needless to say my mom thought I was crazy! But they liked it and like your chicken, they turned to pudding and loved the hair dryer (which I myself was alittle worried that they would freak out) but they didn’t mind it at all.
Keep a cluck’n!
This is a really awesome blog you know so much!! Excited about your blog. Thank you for sharing.
xox
Ash
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