Snow, our all-white Plymouth Rock hen, seems indifferent to the fact that she dirties her bum every few months. It may not bother her, but it certainly displeases us. Let's just say it's not a good look for her.
Her latest appointment with a sudsy bath came on Wednesday, when Liz eased her into a plastic tub full of warm water and dishwashing liquid and worked her gloved hands over Snow's nether regions, to clean the feathers. Liz then moved Snow into a rinsing tub, after which we wiped her down with some clean rags, and even used a hair dryer to speed things up a bit.
Snow tolerates all of this remarkably well. We don't fully submerge her in water; once she's sitting in the tub, the water rises about halfway up her sides. She usually settles right in for the duration, with no fidgeting or squawking, although on Wednesday she bolted from the wash tub and made a run for it, heading for the coop several yards away. Liz outpaced her, though, and plopped her back into her bath.
"It is pretty funny seeing a wet, soapy chicken running down the path" that leads to the coop, Liz said later.
Even after we dry her off as best we can, the freshly washed Snow always looks wet and bedraggled. It takes a while for those fanny feathers to completely dry off. But Wednesday was a warm, breezy day, and long before our three hens called it a night, Snow's feathery backside -- known in chicken lingo as a hen's "fluff" because the feathers back there are small, numerous and fluffy -- was its normal downy self.
We've rarely had to clean up any of our other hens over the years; they normally do a pretty good job of that themselves. But then, Snow is the only white hen we've ever had. Nellie and Hope, our Rhode Island Reds, may get somewhat dirty as well from time to time, but perhaps their coloring does a better job of concealing it.
Snow is our oldest, toughest, loudest, bossiest, hungriest hen. She lays the largest eggs. She has the biggest personality. She experiences the most adventures. Most Likely to Need a Bath seems like just another fitting title.
Snow is our oldest, toughest, loudest, bossiest, hungriest hen. She lays the largest eggs. She has the biggest personality. She experiences the most adventures. Most Likely to Need a Bath seems like just another fitting title.
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| Rub a dub dub, a chicken in a tub |
