Scatt or S76 (first time owner)

[sarehptar]

So I've had my finches for a (little) while and everyone seemed relatively healthy (except for a brush with egg binding, scary!!) but I noticed more and more lately that one bird in particular--my hen named Blotch--has an increasingly ragged and messy looking facial area.

Here is a picture of her taken today:


And here is one taken the first day I got her:


She had some similar raggedness when I got her, as you can see, but I assumed that was from a bit of plucking, as she was clearly the "least favorite" of the group. However, since I split my four birds into two separate flights, I've noticed that she's not being plucked at all (even despite the fact that she's been in a cage with The Devil--see this thread). Instead, the raggedness continues to grow and get worse looking despite The Devil working hard to preen poor Blotchy.

So I can only assume Blotchy has some kind of mites (either scaly face or feather mites maybe?) or some sort of deficiency? Since this is the very first time I've owned finches and all of the birds came from the same cage at the store, I didn't know that I would need to treat them with anything in particular.

Now I think I need something more than regular mite spray (which I do have and have used--but maybe not enough? When the directions are pretty much "Spray the cage with birds in it," it's really hard to judge!!). I have read many times on this forum that Scatt/s76 are pretty much a must for mites and parasites.

However, reading through all the material on them is making my head spin. I have four birds and they PANIC if I so much as attempt to catch them, so I'm worried that Scatt will be difficult to administer, and is it effective on external parasites, in case it's feather mites and not scaly face? I have conflicting answers on that. On the other hand, is it sensible to get s76 and put it in the water for however many days are required if all I have is four birds?

Advice very much needed!

[DanteD716]

I think a mite & lice spray would work just fine, but if you assume she might have ASM, either scattvor S76 can be used on all four. Btw, beautiful shafttails!

[finchmix22]

I'd put the S76 in the water since they're flighty. She could be molting? If that's the case, she needs calcium, via eggfood and cuttle bone.

[Sally]

Scatt and S76 are not only for air sac mites (which is not the problem with your bird), but they are also effective against external mites, such as feather mites and scaly face mites. Scatt would be the choice if you catch and individually treat each bird, S76 is preferable if you don't want to catch them.

Your birds may panic when you try to catch them, they all do, this is natural. One drop on the inside of the thigh for Scatt. Or for external mites, you can put S76 in the bath water (same dilution as for drinking) and let all the birds have a bath. Or your hen could just be molting.