Every breath you taaaake... ( +pix )

[WhiteRaven]

Luen is soo cute! That's good to hear that you haven't had any issues with his dander.

As for the macaws kept with toos, greys and tiels issue... I read something very interesting a year or so ago about Pulmonary Hypersensitivity Syndrome and this common belief, where it originated from and how it was exaggerated (chinese whispers style). Unfortunetely I can't remember the exact details, but the gist of it was that macaw sensitivity to 'too dust doesn't apply to every macaw. Compare it more to an allergy that some macaws have. Some macaws (probably quite a lot since it's considered a problem) are allergic to 'too dust, but many aren't. I know most won't believe me because I don't have all the details, etc and that's fine, so make of it what you will. :)

[LovelySydney]

She's beautiful! I love her little belly and her colors.

[PowerBBS]

Well... in our home, we have a "bird room" per say. It's got four extremely large cages in it for our birds. All of them living together in harmony.

We have both an african grey and an umbrella cockatoo and two conures living in the same room. This is their "bedroom" as the room is only about 15x20ft in size. We have a HUGE full room air purifier and I have to agree that it doesn't do the job as well as we like.

The cages are wiped down almost weekly as the Too cage has powder all over it (a 4x4x7 - DxWxH - cage isn't easily cleaned BTW). And it's not a problem of not bathing as she loves her "showers" she gets when I stand out side the shower and outstretch my arm under the water and she goes dashing in with her shower dance... back and forth. My bi-weekly endevour gets me drenched as much as she is.

The African grey, that's another matter. He doesn't like to be showered. We have to pretty much "force" bath him with a water bottle. He'll maybe once every couple of months do a bowl bath in his water dish (which we don't encourage as we want him drinking clean water). The dust on his cage (1/2 of split 4x6x6 - DxWxH cage) is again evident and we clean his every other week or so.

The two conures... Dustless, except for fine dust that travels to the cage from either of the two birds. In MHO... if you want a dustless bird... conure! Our baby chucky... once a day bath... literally... loves to take them... will bite you if he hears water and doesn't ge this bath. Autumn... a twice a week bowl diver. We have a large bowl we mount in her cage for this purpose.

With all that being said, we are considering doubling our air purifying needs with yet another purifier.

Now, yes, our birds do come out of their cages, when we're home from work. We both work during the day and have evenings with our fids. Sadly we wish we had more time, but the facts of life take that away with the need to have an income to support both us and our fids. So... it's after work... during the day... our birds are TV junkies as we keep a tv or radio on all day for them.

Having said all of that. I would recommend a good heppa filter. Not just for asma or respitory reasons, but that bird powder/dander is a good "forest" for mites and other infestations. It's typically a good idea to get a good treatment spray for such problems if you have a "powerder/dander" issue and use it once a month. It's what our vet recommended.

That's just my opinion. I'm no EXPERT on the subject. Just giving out food for thought.

[Muchi]

LovelySydney - Haha, thank you! He is quite a lovely shade... Not the raspberry colour I see a lot of o.o And the pics are taken shortly after a shower so it's not dust, that's his colour! So pretty ♥

PowerBBS - I do keep Luen's cage clean and personally don't mind the dust, I was just wondering about it causing breathing problems for humans. My bf and I haven't had an issue but we're worried in case our arrangements change and for some reason we're living with kids or other people - even things like asking people to bird-sit may be a problem. I'd hate for it to cause them any difficulties... Buuut the birdy comes first >.> So if it comes to that I'll just get an air purifier. We were just wondering how common a problem it is for people who otherwise don't have any breathing conditions... (non-smokers, asthma-free, etc.)
Also... Chucky is SO adorable! :C I wish I could get a green-cheek! I had a dream last night that my family bought me one... So cute.

[FoxersArtist]

Since we are Macaw & Cockatoo Rescue of NM, we obviously deal with this issue regularly. The main concern with keeping cockatoos and macaws together is that when kept in small confined spaces, macaws can develop serious allergies to the too dander. We have purifiers running regularly and try to keep macaws and cockatoos as seperate as possible but sometimes this just doesn't work out for whatever reason. We run high grade purifiers 24/7, try to bathe the toos at least several times a week, wet down papers before removing them, mop often, wipe down cages and walls often, open doors to let fresh air in, etc. I have only had one occurance of a macaw seeming to have cockatoo dust allergies - our macaw, Peggy Sue. She will develop a runny nose when she is around large numbers of cockatoos (6-8) so we know it's too dusty and time to move her to another area. Be diligant about keeping an eye on your birds for any signs of sneezing, watery eyes, itchy skin, itchy or red nose, swelling, discharge, etc. Bathing cockatoos regularly drastically seems to help with the dust in the air and purifiers really help too! Wetting down papers keeps the dust from flying about in the air. MOST people who really care keep their birds clean, frequently bathed, and otherwise well kept and it is not very likely that problems between macaws and cockatoos will arise unless the air is not allowed to circulate regularly. I imagine that many of the reported cases of such allergies probably occured in homes or facilities with many multiple birds where fighting the percentage of dust in the air became a challenge.

-Anna

[mommyofgus]

I just logged onto this thread and when I saw your Galah's pictures I thought to myself, "Now, that is the nicest looking Galah I have ever seen" and he seems very pleasant to be around also. I hope you have many happy years with him. I give my T2 a shower everyday. She is 23 weeks old and I have only had her 6 days. Is a daily shower ok? She seems to like it. I have not noticed any dander coming from her.