I am quite new to breeding chickens but I too have already had problems with parasites. My cockerel had lice and they looked very similar to what you have, lice live on the chicken and tend to lay eggs at the stems of the feathers so i decided to give them a good dusting with lice powder every other day just to make sure i killed whatever came out of the eggs, mites are like vampires, they hide in the cracks of the wood in your shed, especially under felt roofing and any little gap they find then come out in the night and suck the chickens blood ( you should notice that your chickens are very distressed in the mornings if you have red mite though ) red mite hate anything oily but if you try to prevent with something oily think about how it may affect your chickens first. If your parasites always stay on the chicken then they could be lice. My neighbour taught me a neat little trick about parasites, If you clean the bedding down to dust everything (including the chickens, rub it right into the skin and quarantine the affected chickens) put all the bedding into a clear bag and leave it tied up for a couple of days, take a look at the top of the bag and you will see the parasites rising to the top to try get out and you can see how badly affected your coops and sheds are and you can get a really clear look at what it is. I am a beginner breeder and had a problem with parasites so this is what I have been told by others but thought you may be able to make use of it.
