Are these mites, lice, or fleas?

[chickens really]

Cedar can be toxic to Birds..

 

[Tortoise]

You can also put cedar shavings in the coup which will kill most anything problematic to your chickens, or you can also use stove ash which will kill off bugs in the coup and give the birds a good place to bath and kill off any potential body mites that they might encounter.

I'm new to chickens but cedar is dangerous to most animals including birds. Personally they shouldn't even sell it for pets.
I wouldn't recommend cedar without explaining the dangers of it and maybe how to use it, like the safe quantity, if it is safe for chickens, most I see it sounds like it isn't, incase the person doesnt know

 

[MountainGaurdian]

I simply bring it up because I have used it a fair bit myself with chickens and livestock and have never had an issue with it. I worked at the local cedar mill for a while and I can get chips without any cost so it has been handy over the years to use with the animals and livestock. I have never had a problem with any of the animals and using cedar, and up until now I have never heard of it being dangerous or unsafe in any way.

It is certainly toxic, when you get a sliver you have to get it our right away otherwise it will cause infection which can quickly turn to blood poisoning as my supervisor found out 4 times over his 30 years at the cedar mill. If there is some danger to using cedar then I suggest either not using it or at least researching it before you do. As I stated earlier I have never had an animal health issue with using cedar before and I certainly haven't used "doses" or anything. I simply filled my dump truck and brought a load home and "used" it when and how I thought best. I do prefer the stove ash over the cedar chips I get here as the cedar chips that I get are full of black carpenter ants and my house is all old hand crafted timber and bat and board, the last thing I need here is to get carpenter ants started in my house or shops or barns. I doubt that is any kind of issue for most cedar as it is likely treated for bugs unlike just picking it up at the mill.