How to Give a Chicken a Bath
Yes, I am serious. We do give our chickens baths here at Happy-Days-Farm.
Why do you ask? Simple, it looks better, they have to feel better, and it helps prevent fly strike.
Fly strike is a condition that chickens with a poopy butt are more susceptible to. The flies locate the warm, wet area, and proceed to lay their eggs there, knowing it will be a good environment for the eggs to hatch. Once the eggs hatch, the maggots proceed to eat on the waste, as well as the flesh of the chickens, causing horrible sores that if not caught early, can lead to the death of the chicken.
Do your chickens ever get a case of ‘Poopy Butt?’
There is nothing wrong, but when they have so many fluffy feathers, they tend
to collect poop over time. I know, we have been told to trim the feathers a bit, but
when the weather is very hot anyway, we take the opportunity to give the chickens a
butt bath. We never completely drench them, we simply stand them in a few inches of water, and clean off their rear ends, and feet. This also gives us a chance to do a good check for bumblefoot.
One more tip is to do this early enough in the day for them to be good and dry before going to roost for the night.
(Yes, that is Chachi, a rooster getting a bath, it is possible!)
We only use a few inches of water, and add a bit of dawn soap to it.
We use gloves, and work the water through the feathers to remove any crusty dirt.
If they have ‘poopy butt’ and take dust baths, it tends to make it clump together at times.
Then, we just let them run around, and the feathers slowly dry off and fluff up, all on their own.
(If the weather is cool, and one really needs a butt bath, we will use a hair dryer, and do this in the garage.)
