Clean Chickens

Some books say that ducks are easier to raise than chickens.  One of the reasons for this is that it is easier to keep ducks clean.  All the pet owner has to do is provide deep enough water and the ducks will do the rest.

Ducks bathing to get rid of parasites on their body.  You can seen Abigail in the back of the picture
brushing invisible things off her feathers and Amelia in the
front is shaking water all over herself to wash her feathers.  

Chickens, on the other hand,  need to bathe for the same reasons but they choose to do it in dust not water.  According to the Chicken Chick's website, "Chickens care for their feather and skin by digging shallow ditches in soil, mulch, sand, even pine shavings, then tossing it onto themselves.  The dirt coats their feathers and settles next to their skin, absorbing excess moisture and oil.  It also serves to repel parasites that would otherwise set up housekeeping among the feathers, causing skin and feather damage, irritation, weight loss and interfere with egg production and fertility.  At the end of a dust bath, the dirt is shaken off and the chicken proceeds to preen and groom its feathers back into place."  

I as a concerned chicken owner, wondered how the chickens were going to dust bathe when the ground was frozen?  So I built them a dust bath in the chicken coop.  Actually I built three.  These are picky chickens.  By the time I found a dust bath that met their specifications they had taken to digging up the chicken coop floor and using all the dirty pine shavings to bathe.  

Winifred finally taking a
dust bath in the right place.
In the picture to the left, you can see how
she displaced the sand to make an indentation
for herself in the the bath.
Earlier I saw her rolling around working
the sand and peat moss into her feathers and skin.

Here are the dust bath rejects.  I think she likes the new bath better because it is bigger and I disguised the sand by putting black peat moss on top.