Tips for getting a white bird show ready?

[Debbie]

Anyone have tips for getting a White bird ready to show ? He had a bath and nails trimmed on Saturday when I did my other colors.  He, however, already has black smudges in his feathers ags in. Do I bathe him again Thursday for Cooping in Friday, and how do I spot clean him right before judging? Or am I over thinking it?

[Mike Gilbert]

A week ahead of time is way to soon.   They are bound to get dirty spots within a week.   I do mine on a Thursday afternoon or evening for a Saturday show.  The best thing I have found to get a white bird clean is the laundry soap Tide with Bleach Alternative.  This is probably overstating the obvious, but after a bird is washed it should go into a clean pen with deep litter to avoid re-soiling itself.  If you put it in a bare pen or a small pen on grass it is likely to defecate and sit in it.   Chickens are not the sharpest knives in the drawer. 

[Debbie]

Thank you! After I bathed him I thought to myself, "I always bathed my grey horses the night before the horse show. Doh." I moved him into a clean freshly bedded coop, but it's little. About the size they used at the shows (its from Kieppers coops). Iem think he is laying against the wire and getting the black oxidation from the metal one himself? Another bath it is!

Do you bath all your varieties the Thursday before a show, or just the white? I did a couple shows a few years ago, and fumbled my way through it, but really hate looking like an idgit in public I'm pretty nervous!

[Mike Gilbert]

Not everyone washes their birds if they are reasonably clean.   I told myself a long time ago I would not enter more birds than I'm willing to wash.    That does serve as a deterrent!   Washing gives them an edge in the showroom.   But be sure to wash in time for them to thoroughly dry and preen. 

[Russ]

I wash a day or two in advance, white meat chickens (4-H Birds) are bathed with whitening dog shampoo, I have heard people using Blue shampoo. Like Mike said DEEP Litter, I do not use wire at all after noticing feather damage. My conditioning pens all have plywood sides and floor with a roosting pole (keeps them from laying down). I use a kitty litter slotted scoop thing to remove all poo as needed several times if needed. I also change there feed to all scratch grains several days in advance to reduce and firm up the droppings. I could go on if you like lol