Mites/Lice on chicks

[Chik-N-Crazy]

I am concerned that my 2 week old chicks may have mites/lice. They seem to scratch themselves a lot and have some white flakes on them. They have not been with any other chickens, I hatched them in the house and they are still in here! I have added shavings to the brooder that were stored in the orginal bag inside the hen house. I am not sure if critters could have been in them or not. So my question is, how young can they be around seven dust? I was thinking since the brooder is a plastic bin that I could put a light dusting down and then some clean shavings rather than dust them down since they are so young. What do you guys think?

 

[enola]

I would make SURE they have bugs before I put anything on them. You might want to get some new shavings to use only with them to prevent bringing bugs in the house if you have not already !

 

[crazyhen]

Mine have flakes too but it is from the shavings. They will scratch a bit because they are having the feathers grow in. That itches too. Look at the little pooper and see if you see any bunches at the base of the feathers, is any thing moving. I would not want to use sevin on anything if possible. There is a special dust for chickens. In a plastic containner every thing that has vapors is worse too. I have been a little concerned that even the soft wood shavings have vapors that might bother them. With the light over them even that is worse. I hope this helps some. ;Jean

 

[bigzio]

I think that the white you see is prolly only dander, and the scratching you see, is prolly only preening, a natural way of spreading important oils in the skin and keep the feathers fluffed....

Mites and lice you can actually see...I agree with sevin for the best results, however I think you are just learning chicken behavior, and they are just being peeps.

~ bigzio

 

[Chik-N-Crazy]

ok, I'll check them over good and wait a little while. I just didn't want a small problem to turn into a nightmare for my little ones! thanks for the help!!