Dolores Noonan
At the end of March 1996, I became very ill with a chest infection. Three weeks and two courses of anti-biotics later, my husband and I had to go to a funeral. On going to the back of the built-in wardrobe to look for his dark suit, I found that it was
covered
in white dust! On taking a duster to the walls of the bedroom, it came away also
covered with white dust. Since October 1995, when I transferred the budgerigars
from my 12' × 8' shed into the garage, instead of spending 2-3 hours a day
with the birds, we had been sleeping with them as well, as our bedroom is above
the garage, which is now "the birdroom".
My husband then spent a week sealing the ceiling in the garage and the floor in the bedroom. Where the radiator pipes came through the floor, and all around the edges of the room, the dust had been penetrating. Not only that, but the linen cupboard was also in the bedroom and had a louvre door, so all the linen had to be washed as did all the clothes in the wardrobes.
In June, after six courses of anti-biotics, my chest infection cleared up and since then I have used a mask each time I enter the birdroom. I have been very fortunate enough not to have had a recurrence, and I do put this down to being very strict about the use of the mask when I am working with the budgies. Very often I see articles suggesting the use of a spare bedroom or other room in the house for breeding birds, and this is fine, providing all precautions are taken in order to prevent the spread of this white dust. Be aware of the danger. This could result in "bird fancier's lung." One beneficial result of all this is that my husband now knows how to feed and water the birds, as he had, reluctantly, to take over for a couple of weeks. If anyone has an questions about this problem, then I would be only too pleased to answer.
It is now the start of the new century and I have had no reoccurrence of the problem so be assured that wearing a mask in the birdroom is a very wise precaution to take.
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Copyright © 2000, Dolores Noonan. All rights reserved.