- Jan 19, 2014
- 14,247
- 222
- Parrots
- Red Bellied Parrot /
Ruppell's Parrot /
Bronze Winged Pionus /
English Budgie
I've NEVER noticed this before, because most of my bird keeping life I've been able to have the birds in a living room (bigger space)...
But since June of this year, the 4 birds (well, 3 parrots and 1 tiny Budgie) are now all together in a bedroom 18x11'. OMG the DUST problem is out of control :52:!! *imagine hazy cloud enveloping the room* LOL ...okay not THAT bad. Thankfully I don't seem to have any respiratory irritation from it.
I have an air purifier running in there, but it can only do so much. At first, I thought it was something to do with the central a/c system in the house since it's old. Still, the dust (or lack of) seemed "normal" in the rest of the house which didn't make sense.
I think I finally found the culprit yesterday :20:...
When Raven my Pionus shook off his feathers and ruffled his whole body like they do, behind him was a window with light coming in, and right then I clearly saw a large cloud of fine dust explode off of him!!
...and here I always thought (as probably most of us thought) that Cockatoos, Cockatiels, and Greys were the only ones who gave off a fine dust. Of course this is not the same 'kind' of dust as the powder down birds, but I was so surprised to see the dust from Raven, a South American bird, is also really fine like powder. My vet even told me that African birds (besides Greys) like the 2 Poicephalus I have are also known to give off a lot of dust!
With everyone molting, I can see larger particles and chips of feather sheath here and there, which I expect, but the SUPER FINE DUST as well, from these species really surprises me.
I can't be positive this is what the extra dustiness is from, but I cannot see any other logical explanation. Although I DO CLEAN, the dust is back almost instantly. I'm so tired of dusting all the time!
But since June of this year, the 4 birds (well, 3 parrots and 1 tiny Budgie) are now all together in a bedroom 18x11'. OMG the DUST problem is out of control :52:!! *imagine hazy cloud enveloping the room* LOL ...okay not THAT bad. Thankfully I don't seem to have any respiratory irritation from it.
I have an air purifier running in there, but it can only do so much. At first, I thought it was something to do with the central a/c system in the house since it's old. Still, the dust (or lack of) seemed "normal" in the rest of the house which didn't make sense.
I think I finally found the culprit yesterday :20:...
When Raven my Pionus shook off his feathers and ruffled his whole body like they do, behind him was a window with light coming in, and right then I clearly saw a large cloud of fine dust explode off of him!!
...and here I always thought (as probably most of us thought) that Cockatoos, Cockatiels, and Greys were the only ones who gave off a fine dust. Of course this is not the same 'kind' of dust as the powder down birds, but I was so surprised to see the dust from Raven, a South American bird, is also really fine like powder. My vet even told me that African birds (besides Greys) like the 2 Poicephalus I have are also known to give off a lot of dust!
With everyone molting, I can see larger particles and chips of feather sheath here and there, which I expect, but the SUPER FINE DUST as well, from these species really surprises me.
I can't be positive this is what the extra dustiness is from, but I cannot see any other logical explanation. Although I DO CLEAN, the dust is back almost instantly. I'm so tired of dusting all the time!
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