[Kate58]

Hi

I am wondering if anyone out there has any idea how to remove dried on yolk from chicken feathers?   We had one of our chickens lay a thin shelled egg.  Some of the shell was on the bottom of the house floor and as I couldn't see any yolk I presumed they had eaten it.  I later found that Fluffy, our little white silky, had been sitting on the yolk which was in the egg box.  By the time I noticed it was baked on hard on her side and wing.  The others keep trying to peck it off and apart from carefully trimming it I am not sure what to do.  She is hiding in the house away from the others and has now started to go broody - again.  I can deal with the broody side of it but some advise about the messy feathers would be helpful.

Thanks

[New shoot]

Will it wash off with warm water?  You would need to keep her somewhere warm, but not hot, until she dried off.  I've had to pretty much wash a chicken all over before (she found some wet fence paint  )  and they look very bedraggled, but fluff back up quickly. 

I dried her best I could with an old towel, then put her in a box with some food and water in the kitchen. Some people put a cool hairdryer on birds, but she was terrified of it, so left her to dry naturally   

[Sue33]

bathing them is fine, just make sure she's somewhere dry and warm to dry off, you can simply don some gloves and use an old flannel, one of my hens used to get a mucky bottom so I did this about once a week 

[ghost61]

I had this problem some time ago. I 'blotted' the yolk with a dampened sponge with a bit of veg soap on it, and then rinsed and towelled dry ( by patting the feathers, not rubbing) . The hen was then able to preen herself, and the next day was completely clean!

[loretta cluck]

Or try some baby wipes....I normally use these to good effect, if I havent time to give a wash and blow dry...

[Kate58]

Thanks very much for your advice.  I have a day off work tomorrow so I will give it a go then.