Can it be lice in baby chicks?

Where did the chicks come from? Another person give them to you? Ordered through the mail? Hatched them yourself?

Where are you brooding them? In the house? In a coop? In the garage?

What are you using for bedding? Cedar? Pine? Paper?

 

Personally, I would put them on paper towels or puppy pads until they are at least a week old. Don't know about the scratching though.

 

Mine didn't have any problems on pine shaving.

Good Luck

 

You ever try growing feathers? They ITCH! Birds spend a huge amount of their day taking care of their feathers. Preening, grooming, zipping them together, fluffing them up, etc. etc.

How's the humidity? We get itchy in the winter when it gets too dry. Not too much of a problem in the rainy spring.

Bird lice will be visible if you look closely, but they can move. Check the base of the feathers and look for small clusters of eggs. The grown-out feathers can look pretty scruffy, if they have the feather-chewing kinds of lice.

Oh, and don't worry about catching them yourself, lice are nearly species-specific. Humans get their own kinds.

 

I agree if you are worried about them eating the shavings put some down in the bottom of the brooder and then cover with paper towels.....I did this with my new babies. They learned to eat their food and that the shavings were not food. I learned that here! It worked great for mine. They are now on shavings and they don't eat it at all.

I did hear it wasn't good to put down newspaper....It's too slippery.

 

We tried putting paper towels over the shavings but my little rooster still couldn't stand on it. He kept slipping and sliding so that's why my chicks went straight to wood shavings.