Lizzy and Bonnie have a bath

 

You know, I've found that over the last 25 weeks I've found myself talking about bird butts, bird poop and the.. erm, love life of birds a lot, lot more than I ever thought I would..

We've given a few chickens baths before, and to be honest I quite like it, it's not a normal way for a chicken to clean itself but once in the water they usual settle nicely.
Chickies usually dust bathe to clean their skin and repel bugs, and watching them writhe around flicking dirt in all directions is quite entertaining! but every now and then an extra dirty butt will present itself, it can be a sign of issues like lice or mites, egg laying problems or maybe just a particularly fluffy bottom.
A neighbours' hen had a bad case of poopy butt, but she had egg peritonitis. Towards the end Roo had a few baths as he was loosing strength to poop so it would get on his feathers, and Whitney duck had a bath after laying half an egg on her second day of laying.
In the case of the first two, a lot of poop can attract flies which can lead to fly strike, plus urates can burn a birds skin, if they aren't cleaning it off themselves it can be a good idea to help them get clean.
In Whitneys case I was unsure whether all the egg shell had come out and nice warm water can help a hen relax if they are having issues laying. Her egg had a soft shell but she was fine and it was all out.

Sitting in the yard watching the crew run around searching for treats I noticed Lizzy had a bit of a dirty butt, nothing serious, her enormous fluffy bloomers just had a tiny bit of poop. her sisters all have very clean bottoms. Blue, Lacey and Lizzy are all very interested in the jeans I wear lately and come over to peck at them or perch on my legs, but Lizzy is not the type of girl who just lets you pick her up. When they settled in to roost for the night Miss A helped collect her, a quick rummage through her fluff uncovered no signs of bugs but we brought her inside for a bath to clean off the cecal poop she was hiding (yay! the stinkiest of all poop!)

Lizzy puffed out in her tub of Epsom salted warm water and with gloved hands we carefully rubbed her feathers clean, rinsed her and with a hair dryer fluffed her up. She handled the bath well, and gobbled up meal worm treats but it was well past bed time and she was so unimpressed!
Thankfully she's managed to keep clean, but the next day (Thursday) Miss A texted before I was due to leave work to say Bonnie Duck was sitting alone in her pond, uncomfortable and straining a bit.
Bonnie has only been laying a few days so we were worried she was having trouble passing an egg, by the time I had raced home Miss A already had her floating in a warm bath. No egg with her, but she had pooped and perked up a lot! after treats she rushed off to her friends and all seemed well.

Normally the duck ponds are cleaned every second day but knowing they wouldn't get to swim Friday night anyway, I put it off until Saturday morning when this little friend was discovered

 

A big rubbery ducky egg with a.. tail? we are unsure whether a few days in the duck pond made the shell dissolve or if she just laid a squidgy egg. Either way it solved the mystery of poor lonesome quiet Bonnie duck. The egg had a single yolk and weighed 75 grams, which is about 30 more than the usual for them. It also sprayed the bench with water when I poked it to pry the shell open and check the insides.

The flock are enjoying foraging in the early morning frosty grass, emerging from the paddocks with wet undercarriages and in the case of the ducks, wet grass covered faces. I've been watching the hens for reddening combs and waddles

Lizzy has the palest comb at this stage

Sunny has the brightest pink comb of all the pullets and her waddles are the biggest. She's also the only girl who doesn't enjoy attacking my pants

 

Miss Blue is the biggest girl with the flattest comb, her size is probably thanks to her being the only blue laced lady.

 

 

Lacey here stepped up to the duck pond to check it out, (don't worry they never go in) she has a pale comb similar to Lizzy.
None of the pullets are squatting or interested in nesting and are still confused with Chuck's cockerel dance so there probably won't be eggs coming from them anytime soon