I think I FINALLY found the source of all the DUST!

RavensGryf

Supporting Member
Jan 19, 2014
14,247
222
College Station, Texas
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 :eek: the DUST problem is out of control :52:!! *imagine hazy cloud enveloping the room* LOL :p ...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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Do you give them showers? I take my cockatiel (the only dusty one) and my IRN (he just likes water a lot) to shower with my almost every day. I give my tiel a real shower and he likes it. I think showering helps to reduce the dust a lot. He often still has a cloud of dust around him when he preens himself.
 
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They do get bathed thoroughly all the time! I prefer to bathe separate from the birds, but I stand outside the shower and get them thoroughly soaked or spray (until they're soaked to the skin) on most days. It doesn't even help!
 
It's probably more dander than actual 'dust' like toos and grays have, but I know exactly what your talking about! If you have Kiwi sitting on your lap and are wearing dark clothes, it looks like a mini-snow storm has occurred all over you:52: Kiwi showers every day with Joe AND takes a bird bath every afternoon in his dish:rolleyes:, so it's not a lack of bathing... I think parrots are just nature's Pigpens (in more ways than one!);)

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Just think of parrot particles as pixie dust!

I've heard a large percentage of the "dust" seen in buildings, autos, etc is dead human skin.
 
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Just think of parrot particles as pixie dust!

I've heard a large percentage of the "dust" seen in buildings, autos, etc is dead human skin.

I've heard that or saw a documentary or something about that :eek:
Okay Scott, so I have to admit it's a mix of bird AND human flakes hahaha :18: Ugh! I don't even want to think about that. My recent rental car was not cleaned well. It was dusty :26:
 
Just think of parrot particles as pixie dust!

I've heard a large percentage of the "dust" seen in buildings, autos, etc is dead human skin.

I've heard that or saw a documentary or something about that :eek:
Okay Scott, so I have to admit it's a mix of bird AND human flakes hahaha :18: Ugh! I don't even want to think about that. My recent rental car was not cleaned well. It was dusty :26:

The funny thing is I regard human flakes as disgusting while the parrot dander is more pleasant and nicely scented!
 
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The funny thing is I regard human flakes as disgusting while the parrot dander is more pleasant and nicely scented!

Isn't that true! The thought of people's flakes that we pick up everywhere in public (strangers/people we don't know) is just gross!!
 
Someone should be creating a dandruff control for birds x) !

Could it be because the showering and the water drying out the skin in a more excessive rate (pretty much dandruff and humans)?
 

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