Our chicks are almost two weeks old and have managed to become filthy. They have old food on their faces and poop speckled over the rest of them.

Should we wash the dirtier ones?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), June 29, 2001

Answers

Fill the bath tub with an inch of water and let them wade through that for a half hour or so. It will loosen the dried-on stuff and then you can bathe them under running water or just wipe them down with a sponge or rag.

-- Shannon at Grateful Acres Animal Sanctuary (gratacres@aol.com), June 30, 2001.

I thought chickens naturally cleaned themselves by dusting. Not so?

-- Paul Wheaton (paul@javaranch.com), June 30, 2001.

If they have something to dust in, they will definitely dust. The best thing for them is ashes. Keeps the mights down, I don't know how much it actually "cleans" them ;) If you do wash off chicks, I would be very careful not to get them chilled. The only time I have ever washed them is just to wash off the pasted up bottoms store- bought chicks sometimes get.

-- mary, in colorado (marylgarcia@aol.com), June 30, 2001.

Are they crowded at all? And is their bedding easy to scratch, clean, dry and fluffy? These can be critical factors in raising baby chicks. Imake sure they are not crowded at all, change their bedding every day or two (rake up dry mowed grass for superior bedding), and make sure their waterers are scrubbed every single day. I havent lost a chick in years. Raised 50 of them this spring.

-- daffodyllady (daffodyllady@yahoo.com), June 30, 2001.