All About House Finch Eye Infections and MORE

[@oh_k8]

This is the most thorough video about this illness.

[@nesthollow5159]

Well thank you. We sometimes over-research and then bore people, but I guess we like when videos really teach something, so we try to put a lot of effort into it. And that makes your comment all the more meaningful ❤️

[@ROBYN_ONEIL]

This video was exactly what I needed! Thank you so much for helping me through a mild outbreak here in Western Washington State. Hopefully I'll help stop it from spreading even more during a long afternoon of deep cleaning everything. I sure am going to mis seeing my birds for a couple of weeks! Keep up the great work on your channel - it is really special.

[@nesthollow5159]

Sorry to hear about the outbreak. But I'm glad you were able to take action and help. Finches are such a cheerful bird. Thanks for the support too!

[@jsc8960]

Thank you. Very helpful video. I just noticed an outbreak in my local flock of House Finches 30 miles north of Houston Texas. Taking my feeders down immediately.

[@simonederobert1612]

I am in North Carolina and still fairly new to birding so still learning. The first year I had bird feeders, I noticed a few finches with eye disease. At that time (again, being new to the whole bird-feeding thing), I never took feeders down or cleaned them. Since then, I have learned, and for the past two years have made it a point to limit how long feeders are out before cleaning. The routine I now follow: Whenever I put out a full feeder, I will let it be totally depleted, then refill once. At the emptying of the feeder the second time, the feeder is brought in, and totally cleaned by taking it apart into its various parts, put the parts in the dishwasher on the highest heat. After the dishwasher, the feeder is put back together and then soaked in hot water with chlorine bleach and soaked for at least one hour, then rinsed off, dried, put back together, and put into the rotation for the next time. The bird feeders following the first set have, previous to being filled, already gone through the dishwasher/chlorine bleach soaking/rinse/dry routine. Since taking care of my feeders in this way I have not seen any eye disease. Thanks for this video, I am still learning.

[@nesthollow5159]

This is perfect! Excellent for keeping up with it all too! Thanks for posting your advice and process.

[@rayellebishop8168]

Comments was off on your blow method, I understand, thank you for that video.

[@HOMERDisk0123]

I live in North Carolina, and I see the disease rise in mid-summer when the combination of heat and humidity is at its peak. So far, I have only seen house finches with this disease and usually by now nearing Autumn the ill ones are all gone. I believe one factor that makes them more susceptible is how long they sit at the feeder to eat. All of the local native eastern songbirds will grab a bite and fly off with it. They will not sit on the feeder for long periods of time and eat away. But what I see is that the house finches will do this. Which can make them more susceptible to getting infected by continuous exposure to the contaminated area.

[@nesthollow5159]

That's a good point about feeder lingering. Goldfinches linger too (mostly at the nyjer seed feeders) and cardinals linger. From the table, both had higher cases, with Goldfinches being really high. It's probably several factors at play here, but feeder lingering is probably part of this whole issue too. Thanks for noting that insight!

[@Backyard_Birds_NC]

I caught 2 of them off my feeder here in NC. I tried an human eye antibotic for 4 weeks and it didn't work. The one died as I think with the other issues it had that it may have been at the end of it's life. I wash the feeder 2x a week. They are all gone now till spring.

[@HOMERDisk0123]

@@nesthollow5159 Yeah that is why I started using screened feeders w/out perches. It helps keep them from lingering on the feeder.

[@vickianger4633]

Thank you ❤