Whether you are getting your chicken ready to go to show or thinking your chicken just needs a little extra special treatment these chicken spa days tips will help you make your bird look and feel better.
Sometimes chickens need more than a dirt bath to keep them clean and healthy. An occasional bath, manicure, and moisturizing can improve your bird's health. We like to make sure our chickens have a great start for summer during early spring. We have a chicken spa day where all of our chickens get special treatment. Of course, we have a lot of chickens so this process sometimes takes us a couple days to accomplish but if you only have a few chickens you can get it done pretty quickly.
Things We Do On Chicken Spa Day
Lady Silkie (2017). Chicken Heaven On Earth
Bathing:
Every chicken in our coop gets a bath in warm (not hot) water with Dawn original dish soap. We also use a hair conditioner to make their feathers very shiny. Then we put them in a warm room without drafts until they are dry.
Trim their toenails:
All toenails are clipped and filed to a smooth edge. Be sure not to clip the blood vein as this will cause profuse bleeding.
Trimming Rooster's Spurs:
Trim or remove roosters spurs to prevent damage to hens and to prevent damage to other roosters if they get into a fight with each other.
Vent feather trimming:
Trim vent feathers (around their butts) regularly to prevent fece build up which can cause fungal and bacterial infections.
We use petroleum jelly (Vaseline) or coconut oil, and apply a light coating to their comb, wattles, legs, feet, and vent area.
Pest Control:
After the birds are dry we spray them with permethrin (a synthetic insecticide of the pyrethroid class, used chiefly against disease-carrying insects). We make sure that all of our cats are put up during this process as permethrin is deadly to cats.
Cleaning the chicken coop:
All bedding is removed from the chicken coop and put in our compost. All roosts, walls, windows, and nest boxes are washed with hot soapy water.
Preparing the coop:
Fresh food, water, and bedding is placed in the coop and nest boxes.
More Pest Control:
We use Food grade DE and sprinkle it all over the chicken coop, in nest boxes (under bedding) and place a shallow pan of it at the entrance so they have to walk through it to get in.
Returning the chickens to the coop: After all birds have been dried, trimmed, treated, and groomed, they are returned to their fresh clean chicken coop. See more information and go to step by step grooming video's (below).
Every chicken in our coop gets a bath in warm (not hot) water with Dawn original dish soap. We also use a hair conditioner to make their feathers very shiny. Then we put them in a warm room without drafts until they are dry.
Trim their toenails:
All toenails are clipped and filed to a smooth edge. Be sure not to clip the blood vein as this will cause profuse bleeding.
Trimming Rooster's Spurs:
Trim or remove roosters spurs to prevent damage to hens and to prevent damage to other roosters if they get into a fight with each other.
Vent feather trimming:
Trim vent feathers (around their butts) regularly to prevent fece build up which can cause fungal and bacterial infections.
We use petroleum jelly (Vaseline) or coconut oil, and apply a light coating to their comb, wattles, legs, feet, and vent area.
Pest Control:
After the birds are dry we spray them with permethrin (a synthetic insecticide of the pyrethroid class, used chiefly against disease-carrying insects). We make sure that all of our cats are put up during this process as permethrin is deadly to cats.
Cleaning the chicken coop:
All bedding is removed from the chicken coop and put in our compost. All roosts, walls, windows, and nest boxes are washed with hot soapy water.
Preparing the coop:
Fresh food, water, and bedding is placed in the coop and nest boxes.
More Pest Control:
We use Food grade DE and sprinkle it all over the chicken coop, in nest boxes (under bedding) and place a shallow pan of it at the entrance so they have to walk through it to get in.
Returning the chickens to the coop: After all birds have been dried, trimmed, treated, and groomed, they are returned to their fresh clean chicken coop. See more information and go to step by step grooming video's (below).
Featured Video: Chicken Spa: Kingston and Celine
What to Do If Your Chicken is Sick
Signs, symptoms, and treatments for various types of chicken illnesses. Go to Sick Chicken Treatments
References: Chicken spa: Kingston and Celine. (Dec. 30, 2015). Youtube.com. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rP0d_tl1iXM
