Bathing hens

[Crystalcatch]

My 6month old hen has a large amount of poop stuck to her butt and needs to be bathed. It’s about 45 degrees here in Colorado. Can I bath her and put her back in her coop or is that dangerous with the temps? How do you dry a chicken? Any advice on bathing? I’ve never done it!

 

[GracePoultry]

good question!

I have bathed chickens a lot since I do some amateur showing.

I dry them off as best as I can with a towel and hair dryer and if It's under 60 degrees I let them dry off the rest of the way in a cage in my garage. this also helps to keep them from getting super dirty again if they try and dustbathe while they're still damp.

 

[WingItRanch]

Good advice from Ingrid. I had to do this recently and used a hair dryer on low heat and made sure not to get too close to the skin. I also trimmed some feathers.

 

[Crystalcatch]

Thank you!

 

[Jmcintosh23]

how do you bathe never had to bathe before but my 3 yr old hen has pasty butt. its warmer out and ill still use a towel. do i just use warm soapy water?

 

[WingItRanch]

how do you bathe never had to bathe before but my 3 yr old hen has pasty butt. its warmer out and ill still use a towel. do i just use warm soapy water?

I'm sure others do it differently but I just use warm water. If it's really bad, I suppose you could use a very small amount of dish soap. Chickens have an oil gland that they use to keep their feathers clean so you don't want to undo that.

 

[Jmcintosh23]

I'm sure others do it differently but I just use warm water. If it's really bad, I suppose you could use a very small amount of dish soap. Chickens have an oil gland that they use to keep their feathers clean so you don't want to undo that.

oo okay thank you

 

[Jmcintosh23]

okay so i got most of it off tomorrow ill do it again. but she loved it i think or she was just out of energy. she sat there while i cleaned off her feathers. i guess its been a couple days i first noticed her laying in the coop and i thought why are you laying an egg there. and last night before they started going for bed she was already in there im like are you going to bed already.. so hopefully she starts feeling better. i just went out there to check and she was still where i left her. on top of the small coop which was the first one we had since we got chickens. so she hadnt had water for like 3 hours.. unless she took sips from the roof since its raining..

 

[DLA]

I get a container with warm water only-no soap, a rubber glove, scissors. Tuck the chicken under my arm backwards. (Silent prayer that chicken doesn't poop in my face while I'm cleaning.) Trim any chunky parts that won't come out easily. Then I scoop some water with my gloved hand onto the poop and gently try to work it out. It usually mostly comes off after a few times. Another for a rinse then squeeze the water out of the feathers without pulling them too much. At 45 F. I wouldn't bother drying as I try to do it with the minimal amount of wet on the chicken as possible. But a quick blow dry can also work if needed more water or I expect colder weather before they dry. Most chickens seem to like being blow dried in my experience. If chronic poopy but is happening, you may want to check diet that they're not getting to many treats, deworm or check for a crop issue these can cause this. That being said some chickens just have wetter poo for no bad reason. I've had one that's been like that since day 1 and she's a healthy happy layer. Trims and a weekly bum wash is the norm with her. A feather trim for an exceptionally fluffy butt is also an option but I wouldn't trim her bald since that can attract pecking and give her a chapped cold bum in winter. Also, If it's really caked on there you might have to soak her and work it out then blow dry.

 

[WingItRanch]

okay so i got most of it off tomorrow ill do it again. but she loved it i think or she was just out of energy. she sat there while i cleaned off her feathers. i guess its been a couple days i first noticed her laying in the coop and i thought why are you laying an egg there. and last night before they started going for bed she was already in there im like are you going to bed already.. so hopefully she starts feeling better. i just went out there to check and she was still where i left her. on top of the small coop which was the first one we had since we got chickens. so she hadnt had water for like 3 hours.. unless she took sips from the roof since its raining..

Sounds to me like she might not be feeling well. If she doesn't improve, maybe take a picture of her and her poop and post a thread under the "Emergencies" to see if some people can figure out what's wrong and how to help.