Lice/mites on 5-day-old chicks

[Three Silkies]

Hi. I have a silkie hen who hatched her first batch of chicks five days ago. She hatched six chicks. I rehomed my roo, so it's just my hen and her chicks. Today, I discovered that they are all absolutely crawling with lice or mites (I don't know the difference). I'm worried that the chicks are far too small for putting any sort of poison on. I do have some food grade DE. This is my first time owning chickens. Can anyone help with some advice please?

 

[cluckcluckluke]

I found out a great little tip for chicks with this problem.

Get olive oil and rub it all over their feathers with a paper towel.
This is what I did and they went away a treat. I didn't even have to treat again but you should 1 week later. Also dust you mother hen and any other flock members and clean out any material and dust that all.

 

[Three Silkies]

This is my hen and her chicks. My hen's puff looks funny because back in winter, she dug around in the mud and caked her puff in it. I could never get close enough to her to wash her because my roo was really aggressive. And now he's gone, I still don't want to take her out for a wash because I don't want to separate her from her chicks while they're still so little.

 

[Three Silkies]

I found out a great little tip for chicks with this problem.

Get olive oil and rub it all over their feathers with a paper towel.
This is what I did and they went away a treat. I didn't even have to treat again but you should 1 week later. Also dust you mother hen and any other flock members and clean out any material and dust that all.

 

Thank you. Won't the olive oil make them cold/their mum not want to touch them? Also, when you say "dust", do you mean with some kind of poison?

 

[cluckcluckluke]

Quote:
I had no problem with the oil and cold. It just dries and you do absolutely drown them in it. Just cover.
Dust with either proper lice and mite dust or your DE should work ( worked for me ).