HEALTH

First, thank you for taking my question. Can the irritation from mites cause finches eyes to close up? Yesterday our two shaft tail finches came out of their nesting box (they have a couple eggs in there) and their eyes were closed tight. They were floundering around the cage completely blind. I took them and cleaned thier eyes, removed them to a "hospital cage" and observed to make sure they were able to eat and drink (they showed no other symptoms of illness). Throughout the day they improved. This morning their eyes are open and they seem to be doing well. I inspected the nesting box and found quite a lot of mites present (at least that is what they look like to me based on some of the photos in your book). The female shaft tail is new to our cage (about 3 weeks) and came with some partial feather loss on the back of her neck and rear underside of her body (possible Epidermoptic mites?). I am planning on treating them, the flock and the cage according to your book with S76, Coopex, and KD baths). Am I on the right track, or is there something else I should be looking for and treating?

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