(terry) it's very rare when you have to bathe a chicken. this chicken, in two days, is going to a library with me, and we are going to be introducing about fifty childrento the joys of chickens. she looks fairly clean in this direction,but if you turn her around, she's a mess. i need to give her a bath. i have a large sink in my laundry room,and that's where we are going to bathe her. come on! i'm going to lower her into the water. she will just sit here. i'm going to make sure that old poo on her butt gets soakedso it loosens up and is going to come off.
meanwhile i'm going to get her wet. do you see how water just rolls right off those feathers? it's actually rather hard to get a chicken really wet. i put her in this warm soapy water. i still need... you can't be squeamish either! you've got to get your hand there,you have to get your hand on the manure. i'm going to take an old scrub brush,and very gently scrub. she's handling it rather well.
she looks really dirty right now,but that's just because she is a white hen. when she dries, she'll be beautiful. she's going to get a little bit pat dry,and the next step is to use a blow drier. chickens like this. depending on the bird this can take a long time. a buff orpington, with the really fluffy underfeathers,can take over half an hour to blow dry. she's going to take at least ten minutes,to get her nice and dry all the way through. betsy is still a little bit wet. i don't like to dry her all the way.i don't like to have too much heat on her.
i'm going to keep her inside for the next hour or so. i'm putting her in a travel cratethat's bedded with pine shavings. she will get water and some treats.she'll enjoy herself, inside in the warmth. when she is totally dry,she will be ready to go back out in the coop. clean bottom!now i can take her to the library to meet the children.