Nits.. Lice? Mites? Or what??

[elasley]

A week and a half ago one of my girls broke her beak. In the process of looking closely at her I noticed that she had some white stuff on the feathers around her neck. I proceeded to check the other girls and found that my black australorpe had a few small clumps around her vent. Of course I googled and looked through anything on this site pertaining to lice. I ended up dusting them with DE but after finding still live bugs the next day (first time I had seen actual bugs!) I freaked out and decided to dust with garden an poultry dust. That was last week Tuesday - I still see nits and I know the dust won't kill them but I don't see any live bugs anymore... Could they be mites and I can't see them? This is my first run in with pests an I'm not exactly sure what to do. The girls still have some nits on their faces and necks and a few on the vent of the black one. Help please?

 

[ChickPrincess]

The poultry dust will not get RID of the nits. You need to retreat 10 days after the first treatment to kill any new bugs that may have hatched.
Even though a nit may be dead, the glue is so strong it can stay attached.

 

[theFox]

And you have to treat more than just your birds. Their entire environment needs treatment and monitoring.

 

[elasley]

We originally found nits then some lice. Everything I've been reading says that you only need to treat the host for a lice issue. But now I'm second guessing it.. Could I have both nits and mites? I know we need to dust again at least once- but I've read so many opinions on how to treat coops and birds that my head is spinning. Does anyone have any tips on cleaning the coop? We have DE all over the coop hoping to keep the bugs at bay. Has anyone had success removing nits? I don't really want to sped my Saturday doing it but I want to get rid of these things! Also- any great way to know the difference between the kits of different pests?