Umbrella cockatoo, eleven, and he sneezes several times a day. Dry little sneezes, nares look clean, no mess on the feathers above his beak, and he is as loud and demanding as ever.
Everything I find when I search this is about cockatiels, which are not the same bird. The heating has been on for a fortnight and there is white dust on every surface in the flat. Is the dust the answer, and at what point does sneezing stop being normal?
Worth auditing the room for irritants while you are at it, because their airways are very sensitive and the triggers are mostly things people do not think of as fumes. Aerosols, air freshener, perfume, scented candles, plug-ins, smoke of any kind, dusty bedding, seed dust.
And keep him out of the kitchen. Overheated non-stick cookware is not an irritant, it is lethal to birds, and that one is worth being inflexible about.
Water up the nose after a bath or an enthusiastic drink gets you a sneeze or two as well.
The line between yours and mine: occasional dry sneezes with clean dry nares on an active vocal bird is normal. Frequent sneezing, wet sneezes, discharge, crusty or stained feathers above the nostrils, swollen eyes, tail bobbing, open beak, clicking or wheezing, going fluffed and sleepy, eating less, or his voice changing.
Do not wait to collect several of those. Birds hide illness well enough that one is reason to ring.
@powder_down_bird · 2d ago · 3 replies
The dust on your furniture is the answer. Cockatoos are powder down birds: specialised feathers break down into a fine powder that waterproofs and conditions the plumage, and some of it goes up his nose. A sneeze clears it.
The heating is the second half. Dry indoor air in winter dries the nasal passages and you get more of them. Both of your observations are the explanation rather than two separate worries.
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@dust_on_the_telly · 2d ago
Is there anything that actually reduces the powder, or is it just what owning one of these costs?
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@shower_with_him · 2d ago
Bathe or mist him regularly and it drops noticeably. Most of them love a shower. That plus a HEPA purifier in the room and a humidifier through the dry months is the whole toolkit, and the humidifier needs keeping clean or it becomes its own problem.
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