My white bantam chicken has a very dirty bottom , what should i do? We have had non-bantam chickens before and there bottoms have been fine. Should i trim the feathers?

-- stephen (stephen@thebeetroot.com), April 15, 2002

Answers

Yes, i would trim the feathers down there. Is it by chance a cochin bantam? I have one birchen cochin roo that just can't keep himself clean and after every molt i have to retrim his feathers. with a good feather-cut he's as good as new.

-- buk (noaddy@tiredofspam.com), April 15, 2002.

I have a Buff that is pretty dirty,, but they all have been dusting themselves alot,, does it really matter if they are dirty or not?

-- Stan (sopal@net-pert.com), April 16, 2002.

Unless the dirtiness turns out to be a symptom of disease or parasite infection it doesn't mean anything. All chickens will dust bathe if they can. Some of the loose feathered breeds can have problems with manure sticking to their feathers which could possibly become troublesome. As the other poster indicated a quick trim will fix that.

.........Alan.

-- Alan (athagan@atlantic.net), April 16, 2002.