paint all over a chicken-will it hurt her?

[ktsmom]

My neighbor is painted their house and moved out...but not before he painted my chicken! After work yesterday, I went out to check on the chickens and ducks as I always do after work, and noticed one of my barred rocks chickens had some awful brown feathers on her. (she was in the coop, at the lighting is not good in there) When I started talking to the girls, they all came into one of the pens and then I realized that those brown feathers were not really brown feathers, but something was all over her. The new owner of the house, who has had chickens all his life, came over to see if he could figure out what was on the chicken, and we determined that it was paint that the other people had used to paint the house, and it was all over my fence, on the chicken wire on the top of my pen, on the ground in the pen, and all over one chicken, and spots of paint were pretty much on all of the chickens (the ducks did not have any on them, but they may have gone swimming while it was still wet). The paint is a latex, otherwise, that is all i know about it, and the paint on the chicken is dry. She does not seem bothered by the paint as much as I am, and the other chickens do not seem to be picking at the paint. I cleaned up the paint from in the pen. Since it was dry on her, I did not try to wash her off, as dried paint is really hard to get off, and i am not really sure, but I don't think a chicken would much like a bath! Plus, I didn't want to wet her in the evening, as it is getting into the upper 30s at night here already.
Does anyone know if the paint will cause a problem or if I should try to wash her off? If I try to wash her, can I dry her with a hair dryer and keep her under a heat lamp for the night? (so she doesn't get chilled) I don't know why a person would intentionally paint a chicken, but the man does drink alot and that could be how this happened. He moved so is not my neighbor anymore. He never said the chickens or rooster or ducks bothered him in any way, and I do ask my neighbors if the rooster or ducks are too loud for them...I really don't want to annoy my neighbors...the ducks are pretty loud (the two girls anyway), but for a rooster, he's actually pretty quiet. He's a bantam japanese black tailed buff rooster, and doesn't have a loud crow, doesn't start too awful early (daybreak), and doesn't crow constantly...anyway, he always told me they didn't bother him, and he never even heard them unless he was outside. I tried to see if I could get some of the paint off of the chicken today, but I felt like if I tried much harder, I would pull her feathers out. The paint is all over her back and chest. The other chickens have it on them, but they look like they just went to where the paint was and rolled around in it...not much on them. My white chicken with paint on her concerns me, but so far, the other chickens haven't noticed the big brown spots on her to start picking at them. She is my largest chicken (a white rocks), by far, as well as the number 1 chicken in the flock..so maybe they won't mess with her. She also happens to be one of the sweetest toward the others.
One more question...new to all this chicken stuff...everyone tells me that my rooster will get mean. He is 7 months old, tries to mate with his 11 chickens (10 of which are standard size chickens, only one is a bantam like him), clucks and crows, and does his little mating dance for his chickens...yet when my daughter talks to him, he comes running...so she can pick him up. He just loves her and comes to her...ever since he was a baby, she held him (and all of the chickens) often, and when we discovered he was a rooster, she held him just a little more then the girls...and he seems to like it. (a hen has taken a liking to me and must be under my feet constantly...when I check on them daily, she sees me coming and immediately starts clucking and goes to the door of their shelter and waits for me to open it to put in food...and she jumps out, dances on my feet, rubs on my legs, and follows me everywhere I go...after a few minutes though, she starts pecking around on the ground and when I am done tending to everyone, I pick her up, which she doesn't mind at all, and put her back in). Will he one day get "mean"? Or is he an exception??

 

[lovemychix]

Most paint is non toxic these days. I painted my henhouse and my red stars wouldn't leave me alone and I noticed they got a little on them....and they are all fine. They are so nosey!!

 

[seminolewind]

I told my Jersey Giant, Mariska, not to touch the barn red paint. Well, nosy as she was, she got it all over her feathers. The only bad thing was that there is still red paint on her here and there. It didn't hurt her, it was only the feathers.

Not all roos are mean. I can hug and kiss all 4 of mine. So don't worry now.

 

[ktsmom]

thanks for the replies. The paint is only on her feathers, not underneath on her skin. I was pretty sure it wouldn't hurt her, and I thought a bath would hurt more!!

thanks again

 

[Andora]

One of my Ameraucanas got yellow paint on her tail feathers when I repainted the coop. She wouldn't quit begging me for treats while I was trying to pain, I think she thought there was food in the pain can.

The yellow paint is taking forever to wear off of her black tail feathers, but it doesn't seem to have bothered her at all.

 

[AK-Bird-brain]

I got a couple of big drops of spray insulation on the light brahmas. hasn't seemed to hurt them. it'll either ware off or be gone after the next molt.

 

[silkiechicken]

Yeah, I have a black hen who has been wearing red barn colored paint for two years in a row, didn't learn the first time not to walk under a freshly painted coop, and did it again by leaning against another.

 

[cjeanean]

Don't worry about it! As long as the other chickens aren't pecking her or trying to pull her feathers out then just leave her be. Latex paint is non-toxic (at least standard latexes, DTM and the other industrial coatings have some pretty funky stuff in them even though they're waterbased) so don't worry. Our dogs have been painted several times, and they have short hair. My hubby and I have gone months COVERED in the stuff because of our painting jobs, and we survived. I know you're being a good chicken mama, but put your mind at ease! She's not gonna die! LOL!!! Pics would be nice, though....

 

[crtrlovr]

It's not a "given" or automatic that a rooster is going to turn mean. He may go through a hormonal surge and act out a bit, but that's not "turning mean". Read roosterred's page on roo behavior (good source of information) if you're concerned later on, but just enjoy your sweet boy! I have 3 and aside from the occasional pecking order squabble, they are fine, and they are NOT aggressive to me at all, even the big Alpha roo, Sarge.

 

[dlhunicorn]

I believe a product I use to clean old (dried) paint (including acrylic latex whatever) off my paintbrushes (what can I say...kids and doing ten thousand things at once ... I am horrible at caring for my brushes with the exception of my fine varnish ones) ... that is "The Masters Brush Cleaner and Preserver" and most art suppliers and craft stores will have it (perhaps many paint stores also)... it really does work a treat though you may have to lather up and rinse your bird a couple times to remove it all (the stains will probably remain but I would still make the effort to remove it as your bird needs its feathers for thermoregulation>needs to be able to "fluff" them out which it is not able to do properly when infused with dry paint). Here is a link with a pic so you know what it looks like:
http://www.fineartstore.com/Catalog...el/a/Default.aspx?SortField=UnitCost,UnitCost