Paint on my chickens... advice?

[ash_en_em]

Painted my propane tank yesterday evening. My girls are usually up front rooting trough the flower beds for snacks in the shade this time of day. Of course, since I was doing something out of the ordinary, they had come to inspect my work. Now I have 4 australorps with sky blue spots on their feathers, and one of them has it on her wattle.

Should I wash it off, or will my curious girls figure it out on their own?

I'm just glad I chose blue so it's not a pecking target...

 

[EggSighted4Life]

I'm just glad I chose blue so it's not a pecking target...

Red doesn't actually make them pecking targets as some believe (IMO)... if this were true then how come they aren't always going after each other's combs and waddles.

Chickens, in my experience will peck at ANYTHING out of the normal to investigate. If it happens to reward them with rich tasting blood like so many scabs will... they get excited and go for it.

But I have seen some hatcheries pour red food coloring right on top of chicks heads to identify them in mixed orders... and didn't see any issues with pecking. But let them see a mole or a freckle and they think it looks like a bug... AND I have SEEN a specific bug with red on it's back that my chicken will look at but NEVER attempt pecking it even from the first sight of it... How and WHAT do they know about that bug without tasting it before?!

Anyways, I had a hen get a white paint spot on feathers... left to it's own it eventually wore off, not too long later.

So... sounds like the chooks approved of your color choice?

 

[Chickassan]

It will just wear off between preening and dust batheing. I painted nearly a whole comb this spring when a goofball ran under my brush and everybody had white feet after recoating the ramp. I have to think they seek out wet paint on purpose.

 

[ash_en_em]

It will just wear off between preening and dust batheing. I painted nearly a whole comb this spring when a goofball ran under my brush and everybody had white feet after recoating the ramp. I have to think they seek out wet paint on purpose.

I think you may be right. I have to put another coat on the tank today, maybe my blue australorps will literally be blue by the end of this

 

[Ridgerunner]

I agree, don't worry about it. I've gotten spray paint on my chickens before. Those specific feathers may get brittle and the vanes shatter leaving the shaft. Or down may get brittle and shatter. But that is not a problem as long as you are not showing them. Feathers are damaged anyway, without paint. That's why they molt, to replace natural damage to feathers.