Can humans get lice from chickens?

A friend mentioned that chicken have lice.

I just wanted to add that not ALL chicken have lice. Your friend's comment seems to imply that they are simply born with them. The fact is, hatcheries today are mainly clean of such parasites and things, so in general, your day old chicks will come to you lice, tick, flea, and parasite free. It is only after they are exposed to nasties such as these, that they COULD get/have them. Keeping good animal husbandry (cleaning regularily and keeping things dry, and tidy) will help to avoid this. Please inform your friend that saying "chickens have lice" is similar to saying "hens only lay eggs if there's a rooster." Neither of which are completely true.

Also wanted to add that MOST parasites and illnesses that poultry, livestock, and even domestic pets can get or carry, are not transferable to humans. The lice you might find on a chicken even looks different than a human louse, and they can not survive on a human. There are some exceptions, like fleas (in some cases) which seem to be able to live on all pets, and through a nuclear disaster! But even in that case though a flea may bite a human and invade our home, they can not LIVE on a human like they would live on a canine. Likewise, you need not fear that your son's lice will transfer to your chickens. He more than likely picked it up at school, other event, or a sleep over were another child had it.

Now about them "ickies".....Human lice are a pain in the butt to get rid of the FIRST time, and if the school doesnt know about the problem, they are even worse to remove the second, third, and any subsequent times. I have had this problem as well, and I made a $30 investment that has saved me hours of combing, washing, recombing, washing again (not to mention much easier on your childs tender scalp)....and I use it to periodically check the heads of my children. Its called a Robi Comb and its a little electronic (battery operated) louse comb that you run throught their dry hair (you can find it at Walmart, Walgreens, etc). No washing, no shampooing, no kids crying because they have to sit in the tub for 20 minutes with poison on their head. When it detects a louse, the constant humming stops so you can clean it out. It zaps them dead on contact and gets even the smallest of the small, AND the eggs. (Most shampoos only kill the largest ones, and need you to repeat a few days later, and shampoos DONT kill eggs.) If I get a note home about an outbreak, I run the comb through the kids hair a few times a week. I am on the PTA at their school and now most of the other parents have bought this life saving tool too, and we have yet to have an outbreak in the past 2 years. Thats good enough for me! $30 well spent IMHO!