Bath your chicken?

"are people mad? - you will never catch me doing that"
My exact words some 18 months ago.  Now I have to hold my hands up (not whilst the hen is in the water you understand) and admit, I have bathed my hens.

Purely for show purposes you understand, and it was a very good decision.  From a distance, they looked fine, a little dirty on the legs but nothing a quick wipe would not sort out.  Upon closer inspection, I think they have been involved in a mud wrestling competition.  On the edges of their wing feathers the white lacing was brown.

So following the recommendations of Grant Brereton in his new poultry book, Breeding for Success, I  prepared the sink with warm water and washing up liquid, a bowl of clean warm water, laid out a towel and plugged in the hair dryer.
I plugged the hair dryer in with some trepidation, as the last time I touched one, it promptly blew up spraying springs and pieces of plastic everywhere - Not in my hands but the wife's. That is story for another day.

Quite surprisingly, the hens really enjoyed the experience.  Although the second in for the full works, decided flapping the wings when totally drenched was a sensible idea, so I ended up with a shower in dirty chicken water.
That said, it was a very nice experience, bizzar as it sounds, drying the birds with a hair dryer gives you a great opportunity to look them over and check for any problems or faults.

I could not bring myself to put them back in their permenant home, so temporarily they are being housed in the top half of the quail pen.  They have plenty of room for the next day or so, especially if I let them have a run around the garden.
They look a million times better, and I really hope it helps when at the Welsh National Show this Sunday.



Thanks for Reading