HatTrick Silkies Articles Bathing Silkies

Bathing Silkies
~ Nikki Stetson

I look at bathinig Silkies as a necessary evil. It is a chore I dread but one that is very much necessary if you want them to show well.

I'm going to direct you to Harvst Breeze Farm's page on show conditioning, as I think this is one of the best pages I've seen.

I do have a few thoughts to share with you. These are just my own personal preferences :) Like with most things, keep it simple. For bathing, I use Dawn dish detergent. For washing crests I use a tear free baby shampoo. I rinse the bird with water first. You have to be extremely careful the bird doesn't accidentally inhale water. You DO NOT want the bird to get any water in it's lungs. Then after the water rinse, I do a quick dip in a vinegar and water bath. It's about 1 part vinegar to 3 parts water. This helps strips any excess soap and makes drying the bird much easier.

Don't worry too much about the mass of unfamiliar roosters hanging out on your floor...they are stressed and typically don't look to act roostery until they've dried off. You have some time to work at this point.

Once I am done bathing everyone, then I begin to fluff with the hairdryer. Personally, I like to bathe the birds 2 days before a show. This gives them enough time to completely dry, fluff out and get over the stress of the ordeal. Ya know, before you stress them out again with a car ride, show, etc. But it's all worth it in the end when you have a good showing.

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