Lice or bed bugs?

[Sarahnicoles]

My chickens have bugs on them. How large can lice be? The photos of young bed bugs and chicken lice look so similar. I found this photo on the internet and it’s what the bugs looked like.

 

[JacinLarkwell]

It's what mites look like

 

[Sarahnicoles]

It's what mites look like

They are about the size of lice or larger, aren’t mites smaller?

 

[JacinLarkwell]

I wouldn't know. I've never heard of bird lice, just chicken mites, so everything crawling on my birds has been called a mite. Some of mine have been teeny tiny, some worrying big

 

[cmom]

It looks like lice to me. Permethrin works great. You can use the concentrate or premixed. I also put poultry dust in my nest boxes. There is no egg withdrawal period so the eggs are safe to eat.