Chicken Dag Spa

Today I washed a chicken for the first time.   The big fluffy bottoms are my favourite bits on chickens, but Ginger didn’t have her normal beautiful bottom, she had a fair bit of crap encrusted on the feathers instead. I am not sure why she got so dirty as her poops look normal, she is laying every day, and she looks well in herself with a bright red comb and bright eyes.  Maybe she just couldn’t be bothered or sat in something she shouldn’t.  Some websites said to leave it up to them to clean themselves up, so I left her for a week, but she didn’t seem to do anything with it, so as it was was a warm sunny day, I pulled out the warm soapy water for the Dag Day Spa.  The websites I checked said to use 3 buckets – soap, vinegar and clean water – but I just used two, one with a couple of drops of dish washing liquid and one with a bit of apple cider vinegar.  I was surprised at how co-operative she was, as I have only picked her up a couple of times in the 18 months she has been here.  She settled down pretty quick in the soapy water, although she stood as tall as she could to keep her tummy out of the water.  I just scooped the soapy water up and gently massaged the crusty poo off…… yuck.  She chattered away to me and I made constant clucky noises to keep her calm.  There was one bit that was rock hard that I didn’t get off before she started flapping to get out, so I dunked her in the Vinegar bath to rinse her off then got her on the towel to dry her off.  This was where she surprised me. She tucked her head under my arm and stuck her bottom right up in the air  as if to let me get the last bits off.  She stayed perfectly still in her downward dog pose while I worked away at the dag until I got it out.  I patted her dry with the towel then let her go to dry off properly in the sun.  She walked away exactly how I would if I was wearing soaking wet trousers and started grooming herself.  She was all dried off when I put the girls away at 4.30. I will keep any eye on her to see if keeps herself clean.