Those are indeed fowl lice. Dust them with Diatomaceous Earth. This stuff works awesome and you can buy it in large amounts at various pet stores. It gets in the pests' airways and they asphyxiate and fall off. Dust them once every two weeks, but be sure to apply the dust directly to their skin...
If I feel that there's a predator outside I'll bring my girls inside and let them sleep in a large dog cage in my room. If they want, I leave the door open and let them sleep on my bed with me, where they feel safe. This works if it is rainy, cold, and windy outside too. Plus mine start...
Chicks will generally start taking dust baths when they feel ready. I introduced my three girls to normal dirt from our gardens right after we got them (they were about 3 months old), and now we are making fences to keep them out of the lettuces :). When they get a little older and start...
Mine generally lay from 8:00 AM to 2:00 PM. As long as it's daytime they will lay whenever... and wherever. If your chickens are free-range like mine, you may find an egg or two underneath a bush or in other closed-off areas in your yard. One time I was worried that my girls had stopped laying...