When people find out I have a flock of chickens, they are immediately surprised and intrigued… then slightly repulsed.
I see that semi-disgusted look on their face as they ask, "Aren't chickens dirty?"
That is comical to me since those that ask the dirty chicken question eat chickens on a regular basis. Do they ever contemplate the 'dirty chicken myth' when they bite into chicken that is breaded and deep fried?
Now that I am a seasoned chicken farmer and have been raising chickens for a while (almost 2 weeks today…), I can honestly answer the question with an absolute, "NO! Chickens are not dirty (but those that keep them might be)."
If left on their own, chickens would choose to graze on grasses, weeds and bugs during the day and at night would rest in the trees to avoid ground predators. If chickens were wild, their dirty doo would never be a topic.
Why don't people ask if hawks or bluejays are dirty? Or cardinals that swoop through the air and leave their doo trails to fall or splash where they may (my sliding glass patio door)?
It is the coop and those that don't clean up that coop (often enough) that perpetuate the 'dirty chicken' myth. It is the factory chickens that have to live in filth because they don't have enough room to be a real chicken that are accused of this dirty myth. Factory chickens may appear to be dirty chickens, but it is not their fault.
No chicken would choose to be dirty in my opinion. Especially the Chix in the City.
If chickens had no coop to collect their doo, no one would ever say chickens were dirty again. But the way of the 'kept chickens' keeps them cooped up and since the coop is basically a bathroom and the chickens sit in the bathroom for a large part of the day, that nasty "dirty birdy" assumption has taken root and the chicken has been wrongly accused ever since.
So… hear yee, hear yee! Chickens ain't dirty. Nope, not at all.
In fact, my Chix take regular baths every week… without being asked. 
