Birdie Smell?

[Mindy4birds]

So...I am a life long bird lover. I've had many birds, but I've recently adopted my first bird with my husband, who does not share my absolute love of everything feather related. He is saying that the room now "smells like a bird". Huh? I wasn't aware birds have a smell! Now, my red lore amazon had a smell. Her name was Peanut and I used to say it was "That great Peanut-y smell". To me, she smelled good. However, she is the only bird I've smelled.

I don't smell anything on my little Green Cheek Conure. He's only been around for about 2 days and his cage is clean and he's been spritzed. Has anyone else run into someone whose nose is attuned to the smell of birds? I'm trying to figure out if it is the food (right now he's on a Kaytee seed/pellet blend) or the bird and if there is anything that can be done for it. My husband says he smelled the same smell at my parents house when he met me and all of their birds were on a Zupreem pellet diet. Any ideas? I just want everyone in the house to be as comfortable as they can be, if possible.

 

[Phlox]

I think birds have a smell, even little conures. I can't really describe it except that it's feathery. Every living thing has an odor in my experience.

 

[RavensGryf]

Interesting that he noticed a smell in the room, and also at your parents house was the same smell! I never noticed, but maybe we're used to it?

There is a smell when you sniff a bird close up, and different species have a different smell. Amazons and Pionus even emit a puff of odor upon excitement as you noticed when you had the Amazon. But a "bird" smell so strong that you can smell it in the air I don't know!

Does your husband think it smells bad? Is he complaining or just commenting?

 

[witchbaby]

The only time I've ever noticed a strong bird smell in the air is around multiple cockatiels. It reminds me of a chicken coop. Of course, that might be a dust/cleanliness issue. I've never picked up on a smell from just one conure.

I can't be the only one who's noticed that tiels and chickens have a similar smell... right??

 

[Peepers]

My dad says my amazon Aly smells but I like her smell. I don't notice it on any of my other birds, just Aly. Oh and my teils have a SLIGHT smell.

 

[strudel]

My galah smells like a baby or something like that. It isn't unpleasant and it's only when she's up close. I like the way she smells. I have a sensitive nose, but I can't smell any "bird smell" around the place other than that.

 

[4dugnlee]

My Sassy has a smell that I'm now finding out from the forum is natural for Amazons (thanks guys, I feel much better knowing it's normal) but it's only when you are close to her that you can smell it. Chico sometimes has a smell but it's when he is right in my face talking to me and it smells like popcorn?? But no bad smells that we've noticed.

 

[Phlox]

I have to guess its the feather powder, now that I've really thought about it. My bird area does smell powdery maybe even when its just fresh cleaned? Its not a "stink" but a faint birdy odor, or at least one I associate with birds. But I have a dove and they are as dusty as cockatoos.

 

[ShaunaR]

I am new to parrots but yes my Caique's cage every morning smells very faintly of vinegar and rotten fruit. (I don't leave any fresh food in her cage) She eats every fresh meal on her special TV tray so it can't be from food that has been dropped inside the cage. I have a very sensitive nose too so I clean her cage twice per day when I give her the fresh food. Pixie herself has a clean smell aside from when she drags her tail through her poop. I find that a warm water rinse of her tail every morning takes care if any odors.

 

[Dinosrawr]

I definitely find that my birds have a distinct smell! Avery doesn't have a very special smell per se, but she smells like... bird. Shiko, on the other hand, almost smells like a nice male cologne. It's so weird! He has a very distinct and pleasant smell to him, and it's very masculine and very perfume-y. I love smelling my birds, haha!

 

[Taw5106]

They have a smell, lol. When I got Buddy I noticed a musty smell about him and read how people loved the zon smell. I don't think Buddy had bathed in years and two weeks ago I got him in the shower with me. We nicked named him Pigpen along with a plethora of other names. After the shower, I experienced wet bird smell ( Good Lord), but since he's been showering twice a week, the stink is gone and he has a light, musky scent that is comforting in a way and his feathers look brilliant.

You should ask him to describe the "bird smell", it may not be bird related at all, lol!

 

[SilverSage]

My husband kept saying "she stinks" about Flick when we first got her. I sat him down and said, "no, she smells like a bird" I explained that no matter how often you bathe a dog, cat, or horse, they maintain a scent that is identifiable, and you know what you are smelling. Same with people, I said "I smell like me, you smell like you" I could tell his smell on a shirt from anyone's in the world even if he was clean and hadnt worn any scents. We talked this through, and he no longer says she stinks, or any of the other birds we have!

 

[morpheus]

..... he no longer says she stinks, or any of the other birds we have!

Smart man.........:54:

 

[strudel]

and he no longer says she stinks, or any of the other birds we have!

I think we adapt to "normal" smells and stop noticing them. The 2 dogs I used to have did not smell "doggy", I was just lucky with them. When one of them died and I adopted another dog, that dog would smell "doggy". I really noticed it when I first got him. No doubt he still smells of "dog" but it isn't something that I notice any more. I'm sure somebody like me meeting him for the first time would notice "dog" on him. I would disagree with anybody saying that all dogs smell because my first dog never smelt of dog, ever. I agree that smells can vary between individual pets.

I'd taken by pets to the vets over "wrong smells" about them. The vet said he had a poor sense of smell and couldn't smell it, but my dog definitely smelt "funny" when there was something going on with her. As well as the animals varying in how they smell, how they smell to others and how noticeable a smell is to somebody can also vary. Somebody might smell something that somebody else can't smell at all.

Interestingly, they are training dogs to detect cancer in blood samples - the samples of people with cancer smell different to dogs. It's a fascinating topic, the sense of smell.