parrot dander question

heres a question i almost hate to ask....do parrots have times of the year when they have more dander? ....next question...is there something you can do about it?........the reason i'm asking is lisa left for a couple day trip...she has been coughing and had allergies symptoms for the last month...we blamed it on the spring...trees starting to bud....i just talked with her and she said how she didn't have any allergies today...she said it must be dust in our house...we have a new house thats high and dry...no mold..lots of sun...great ventilation...only some possible pine dust from me sawing in the basement and pine dust isn't that bad of wood dust to deal with...so i just told her on the phone that i had read somewhere about parrot dander...we have two conures that fly around a lot...and their cage in in our kitchen/living room area...we love our birds...we're getting an timneh gray in 4 weeks...i'm thinking we might have a bird dander problem...again....if we do is there anything we can do about it?....thanks

It might be wise to check your humidity levels, dry air can cause extra dander. Since you will be adding a grey to your flock, you may want to consider an air purifier. Lots of baths will considerably reduce the allergens from powdery birds. Good luck to you and your flock.

Hepa Filters in your heat/air unit will help. They cost more but they help a lot

You've received outstanding advice already, rope, I just want to add that it may not hurt for Lisa to have an allergy test. There are folks who are actually highly allergic to feather dust/dander.

Baths are best for minimising dander as it washes drown the drain. Humidifiers/air purifiers help clean the air. Remember that all cockatoo species produce dander - there is no way around that. If someone in the household is allergic to the dander (and some people are) then in all honesty pass on the bird to someone who isn't allergic and shall take good care of it. Probably not what you want to hear but...

My sun doesn't have alot of dust/dander. That said, if someone were allergic to dander specifically, it would bother them. My U2, however, has ALOT of dust! I knew that when I got her though. I recently got an air purifier and as others have said, frequent baths helps alot! I believe that the timneh will be pretty dusty from what I've read, but I don't have experience with them. How long have you had your suns, and did she have allergy problems before you got them? I have allergies but they didn't get any worse after I got the birds. I do take Zyrtec if I feel "sneezy" but my allergies are more from outside elements. Is she visiting an area with very different weather from where you are? Hopefully it's other elements causing the allergy and not the birds. Good luck and keep us posted...

thanks everyone....i think we both need to get bird allergy tests...i've now read a bunch more on this...we have had goomer our female sun counure for 7 years...our male for only a year....both of us have had other allergies for ever...mine were bad as a kid although i loved all animals and always had plenty of them...not many birds in the house for very long...my crows always flew free outside as soon as they were old enough and then left with other crows in the fall...i did a lot of work with pigeons and hawks but always at other folks places...bottom line i don't remember my allergies getting worse around birds....i did notice lisa coughing for the last month a lot in the morning like a heavy cigarette smoker...and thought it was the spring coming on...she already takes zyrtec everyday ....we live in maine and she went to ny ..nj....all of our states on the east get hit with the midwest pollution...it rains on us...in maine we have way more fur and birch trees so it could be that...as we are set up to get a baby timneh and we are so excited about it....it would be awfully hard to have to give it up...i understand the cookatoos and the africans are "powder birds" of the parrot family...having a special type of feather....maybe its not the birds at all..or maybe its a combination of heating with pellets and wood (dry heat) and the conures not bathing enough thats the problem..we will look into getting the bird allergy tests asap...and i'll keep digging more info.....thanks again...

Just a thought...how long has she been taking Zyrtec? I was taking Claritan for a long time and I noticed it stopped working for my allergies so I switched to Zyrtec. Maybe her system is getting immune to the Zyrtec???

i think its likely lisa does not have bird allergies...at least not bad bird allergies...we did a little experimenting...i think in fact when we built our shower base we mixed lots of mortar and i'm thinking the dust got deep in the carpet..we just finished the bathroom....i vacuumed the carpet for quite a while...it seems to be helping...we put carpet in the master br...stupid idea i know..3 thousand dollars worth and soon i'll be ripping it out! i'm also looking into a good hepa filter air purifier...our timneh is doing great at the breeders..we get pictures and up dates every week...thanks...billy

I just bought the [ame="http://www.amazon.com/Austin-Air-Healthmate-Junior-Purifier/dp/B00H4L717I/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1427817417&sr=8-1&keywords=austin+air"]Austin Air Healthmate Jr[/ame], and I really like it. It's around $400 and covers 700 square feet with a filter that is supposed to last 5 years and, if it doesn't, the company will give you a filter at a reduced cost (the filters are $165). I got it since I plan on having a galah soon and I am not a fan of the sneezes!