She is a old chicken with no toes and is pretty small. My b/f's uncle found her one day when his dogs brought her up on the porch and now she is ours with a nice pen inside *and yes it gets stinky so we clean her pen out daily*. Well, I would like to give her a bath to help keep her clean and happy. Any suggestions for during and after bath care for small indoors chicken with no toes?
2007-11-19 07:06:46 · 5 answers · asked by Celestial 2 in Pets ➔ Other - Pets
Chickens dont take water baths. Although it wouldnt kill her and it would probably make her smell nice to give her a bath, there is a better option that is healthier and will make your chicken happier. Chickens naturally take dust baths, in fine drydust or sand. They scratch out a hole in the dirt and wallow around in it and let the dust sink through their feathers onto their skin. They let it sit for a while and then shake all the dust off and preen it out of their feathers. This helps control lice, mites and keeps the feathers in an overall healthy condition.
So my advice would be to give her a large, deep tray full of sand or fine dirt and put it in her pen so she can wallow around in it and be happy.
Also remember that chickens are happiest with lots of space and sunlight, so if you want your chicken to be happy why not take her outside?
2007-11-21 11:21:02 · answer #1 · answered by Mary M 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Chickens do not do well with getting wet. Our chickens back home would give themselves sand baths. They would find a nice sandy patch and get in and throw sand up on themselves. The oil in the chicken's feathers would stick to the sand. The chicken would then get up and shake the sand off. This is also a trick to cleaning your hair while camping. Granted, it is not a perfect cleanliness but it is better than nothing.
Chinchillas also clean themselves like this. Here is a link that discusses this. People who own chinchillas need to get the right kind of dust for the animal to clean itself in. Maybe this kind of dust would work for the chicken.
http://www.chinchillas.com/resource/dust.htm
2007-11-19 15:32:37 · answer #2 · answered by A.Mercer 7 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Don't Bathe Her It Will Mess Up Her Feathers. Just Put I Little Dish A Warm Water Next To Her And She Should Do It Herself. ou Could Dump A Little On Her Just Don't Rub Feathers Up.
2007-11-19 15:11:12 · answer #3 · answered by Julia 3 · 1⤊ 2⤋
Just put a bowl of water big enough for her to go in it and take a bird bath herself. Do not attempt to give her a bath like you would a dog. Unless they take baths themselves, birds do not like baths.
2007-11-19 15:14:36 · answer #4 · answered by SnuggElbear 6 · 1⤊ 0⤋
Bathe her in a pot with low flame salt and pepper, YUM YUM!
2007-11-19 15:12:59 · answer #5 · answered by Rick G 4 · 0⤊ 3⤋