McChooky
Free Ranging
A rooster I rescued gave all my chickens lice and mites years ago so no more local birds for me.I can totally see your point, in hindsight. These were my very first chickens ever, so I didn't know what I didn't know. She was like this when I got her, a bit disheveled, but I assumed it was a molting thing then. I am hoping to hatch out my own chicks for any future additions to the flock.
6 months of daily dunks and weekly treatments for mite finally got rid of all the mites and hatchlings
I even painted the coop and made new roosting bars.The mite my chickens had live on the chicken underneath the skin in the feather shaft so I had to use ivermectin to kill them.(They also had scaly mites)Their eggs live a year
Edit: During the treatment 2 of my hens died