FLL, I clicked on your picture and the flowers are just beautiful. The grass somehow got a real good jump on us this year so ours is pretty shabby compared to yours and it is a shame that phlox doesn't bloom all summer. I have the same gripe about sedum. I glad a little of the pressure of worrying about your husband has lessened.
Ferrett, never having raised any of those living dust mops I can't speak from experience; but given that you have checked them thoroughly for lice and mites, and that your birds are healthy I would suspect that your silkies are shedding, I mean molting.