We were just out on the deck and had been feeding the chickens some treats and my daughter was holding one in her lap and she had barely sat down with her when I saw like 20 or 30 bugs all over her pink t-shirt!!! They were elongated with a brown head and cream colored body. I had been holding one right before that and thought I could feel something crawling in my hair...thought it was just my imagination but apparently not! We immediately took our clothes off, threw them in the washer and both took showers. Are these mites or lice?? I would think if they were lice you could not see them with the naked eye. We just changed out the shavings in the coop two days ago. However, we were down to three hens and a couple of weeks ago bought 13 more. I have noticed that the three we had have been losing feathers on their chests and one of them on her neck but it has not gotten any worse but the feathers have not grown back either. Do I dust the hens with Seven dust or is there a better alternative? Any ideas what kind of mites these are, if in fact, they are mites? Can these spread to our dogs and cat or us??? Thank you for any input!
