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Friends

of

Fischer Feathers.

Fischer Farm

What we have learned

along the way.

Members of

Heritage Poultry 

Breeders Association

of America

Members of

Wyandotte Breeders

of America

 

Members of

American Poultry Association

Members of

Heart of America

Bantam Club

 

Members of

Ellis Co. 4-H

  1. ​We use 4 empty mineral tubs we used for feeding cattle.
  • 1st Tub-Fill w/ water.
  • 2nd Tub-Fill w/ water and soap.
  • 3rd Tub- Fill with water and vinegar.
  • 4th Tub- Fill with clean water .
  1. Be sure the water is warm.  If it is too cold it could cause them to go in shock and die.  If it is too hot, you will scald them and they will loose their feathers. 
  2. In the summer we set the tubs in the sun to warm up the day before or morning before we start to clean them.
  3. In the winter, we use our garage and space heaters to clean them and use the hot water from the house to fill up the tubs.  This is definitely more of a chore to do.
  4. When washing the chickens, put them in the water slowly.  Be sure to have a good hold of them and not to allow them to flap their wings so feathers are not broken during this process.  It is good to use at least 2 people to wash them in the tubs.
  5. Gently scrub them with your hands on the feathers and skin.  Rub their legs and toes.  You may want to use an old toothbrush for their legs.
  6. Make sure to get all the soap throroughly off of their feathers, rinsing is very important.
  7. When you are finished, wrap them in an old towel.   Be sure to keep them warm.  After cleaning the scales, I will put another dry towel around them and place them in a case and the chicken will stay in the towel most of the time till we take it off.  We'll take it off after 20-30 min to let them preen and shake off. They love to be in the sun after that in a non-breezy area. 
  8.  Now for the tedious part, take  a toothpick, clean our underneath each and every scale to get the dirt and grime out.  This takes a LOT of time.  Trim their toe nails a month or so before the show.  Don't wait for the day before the show in case they bleed, it will be noticible.    (remember, the SLW do have black on the tips of their scales so it is not dirt, it is their color so they are the most challenging on if they are dirty or it is their color marking.​
     
  9. If you do clip their to nails and they bleed, stick them in household flour for a few minutes or you can buy bleed stop from a poultry supplier.
  10. One of the MOST important parts of showing your bird is cleanliness.  If you have an awesome bird and it is not clean, you can lose your chances of winning.  You must have clean birds.  Judges want to see clean birds.  That is one of the biggest complaints is birds being shown  having poor husbandry.

How we bathe our chickens for the show!

Fischer Farm

Check back to our website

as we add more info about caring for, raising, and showing chickens.

 

Here We Go Steelers,

Here We Go!

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