New pullet, maybe lice?

[MidNight Wings]

Three days ago I got a supposedly ten week old EE pullet. (She looks to be more like seven or eight)

I put her in with the other chickens thinking I wouldn't much have to worry about spread of anything because I got them from the same farmer.


Long story short she was not doing very well, (IE not drinking/eating/pooping) so after 25 HRS of this I put her into my bedroom in a large clean dog crate. (just to keep a better eye on her)

After six or seven hours of LTC she started drinking and eating.

But I have also noted she does some odd things:
She is an OBSESSIVE groomer... never stops.
She does do a LOT of scratching her head and chest.
She has a bald spot on her chest. (not very big and not red at all)


I don't know if this is normal so I wanted to ask here if it was lice or mites.
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[Fred's Hens]

Perhaps a light dusting is in order, but often this behavior grows into sort of walking backward and holding the head almost always downward as if pecking the chest area. Watch for this.

Treatment is to take off medicated feed. (thiamine blocker) and enrich it's feed with Vitamin E. You can find them in the vitamin section. Usually they are capsules. Carefully cut open the capsule and administer to the chick. It may not like the taste very much. You can put a few drops into a small individual water supply, you can pour some on its feed and stir it around. You can even dilute it with a bit of water and eye dropper it into its beak.

Not saying this is going to happen, but if you notice this symptom, be prepared to take action. Sometimes it takes weeks of this for the behavior to stop.

 

[MidNight Wings]

So do you think it's lice? Or what?

And she's never been on medicated feed; she was raised on non-medicated and is now on California Bar-ayl.
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