[Prime]

For the past 6 years ive had 2 budgies living in my bedroom and i love it. I spend almost all day in my room (thats where i work from and do homework) so it helps me bond with them and enjoy them more.
Recently i decided to get a bunch of canaries and finches and of course put them in my room. My entire wall is now just my birds and their big cages.
My plan once i finally buy all the birds i want is that ill have a total of 11-14 birds (dont worry, they have plenty of space and many will have their own cages or share large flight ones. They wont all my crammed into one cage, that would be terrible).
But suddenly i realized that, what if it isnt great for my health to be living in the same room as so many birds? One or two budgies, sure, but 13ish birds??

What are your thoughts on this?? I have a air purifier/filter in my room, should i get another one?

Also, i plan to hopefully move out in about a year. Ill finally have my own house and will be able to either make a bird room or space them out around the house. But until then, theyre staying in my room because there is no other place in my house to keep them (i dont live alone). Will i be fine up until then?

 

[Cody]

In regards to your health, there is something called hypersensitivity pneumonitis that effects some people, that live in a close space with birds, it does not effect everyone. This link will explain more Bird Breeder's Lung (hypersensitivity pneumonitis)

 

[Prime]

Thank you for the article, Cody! It is very informative.

In general i am a very healthy person and don't have allergies, so it makes me feel better that not everyone is sensitive to these things. So i have less to worry about.

I do have an air filter, and the article recommends HEPA, which mine is. But mine is a $40 one, and the ones recommended in the article are closer to $100-300 which I cant really get at the moment. Maybe in a few months. But until then, do you think a smaller filter is fine? Would it benefit me to get another small one?

 

[FaeryBee]

I do have severe allergies and yet had 12 birds and 2 dogs in my bedroom with me for several years with no problems whatsoever.

The air purifier I have is a large Honeywell HEPA purifier.

If you are able to afford another small air purifier at this time, I would recommend getting one until you are able to get a larger one in the future.

 

[Prime]

Phewww that makes me feel so much better hearing you say that!
And hearing that I'm also not the only one that keeps a ton of birds in my room, im sure many people think im crazy to do it

Thank you guys so much for your advice and for the article!

 

[purple]

I'm a budgie beginner but a bit of an advanced study in allergies/lung problems so I'm going to go ahead and weigh in if that's okay!

I DO get a dry cough when I'm not controlling the budgies' dander well. I have a triple-decker Prevue Hendrix flight cage (I added a third level from another cage). I pinned a towel around the bottom half of the lowest level everywhere except where the back of the air filter is pushed up to the cage.

Now, I'm not worried about creating an unhealthy draft because my filter has extremely mild air movement, and I'm also not worried about damp from poor air circulation because of the way the cage is set up. Those are two things to be mindful of. But I definitely notice an immediate difference in how much dry coughing I do as soon as I block off the very bottom of the cage with fabric - I think dander tends to drift downwards and then is stirred up and pushed out of the cage every time my boys flap their wings.

My avian vet also advised me to be mindful of whether the budgies are getting dry skin from winter air. Finding a bathing solution they like (mine will only accept wet wheatgrass as a bathing solution!) can help, according to him.

And of course the best prevention is to keep the cages extremely clean so that there's not a lot of poop and feather dust! Best for the birds too...