Full Spectrum Lighting - how many hours a day?

[FieryPhoenix]

How many hours do you do per day and do you change according to the seasons?

 

[HeatherG]

I read that you give about an hour a day of full spectrum lighting. (This was in a vet journal several years ago.) The rationale given was that when a bird is outside, it can move out of harsh sunlight. A lot of bright light can hurt the birds eyes.

I don’t recall the authors advocating change with season. My thought is, if your bird is acting hormonal or displaying new breeding condition/ behavior since beginning light supplementation, you should cut back.

 

[HeatherG]

Here’s a clip from an online article written by an author who isn’t selling full spectrum lighting:

UVB waves in the bird room
Here are some publications concerning UVB and birds.

1. 1. A study on the effect of UVB Lighting on African Grey parrots showed that a proper amount of UVB was beneficial; however, when the study was repeated with Amazon parrots there was no positive result. A possible explanation is that Amazon Parrots live their lives under the canopy where UVB does not penetrate as much. https://pdfs.semanticscholar.org/9fe6/40ea0111eb22183a877a25d16bbbf0d809a5.pdf
2. Here is a good article that reports the findings of UVB sensitivity in parrot’s eyes: https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rspb.2010.1100
3. This is a refreshingly accurate article about exposing pet birds to artificial UVB. It does a great job of explaining about different intensity and exposure time for different species. https://www.putnamveterinaryclinic.com/sites/site-6748/images/UV lighting.pdf

This author writes that 12 hours of intense light is too much and one should use it for “a short time”.

Avian avenue suggests about an hour a day for parakeets and cockatiels. Talk Budgies suggests 1-2 hrs a day for budgies, longer for bigger birds depending on species/ environment they’re from.

People only need 15 min a day for adequate vitamin D production. 15 min- 30 min is recommended use time for SADD lamps (to help set a photoperiod).

Recommendations vary. But if you put a supplemental bright light near your birds cage, you don’t want it shining on them ALL day. It seems to me that 2-4 hrs a day is a good general idea.

 

[Cottonoid]

Thank you for asking this, FieryPhoenix, and thanks HeatherG for the information! I've been wondering this too, since we have some gloomy cold days still in my area.

 

[SailBoat]

Wait! How Many PHD Grad Students does it take to screw-in a Full Spectrum light bulb. And, even more important: How many does it take to simply turn it on?
Answer: Several Hundred and they are likely to graduate and go on to screw-up something else.

There is so much Junk Science out there that most Web Search will return most of it on near everything!! The sad part is how many people believe it!

Within Parrot Forum there are any number of Threads each year requesting some kind of answer regarding this general subject. And, the Threads just keep coming.

How much time?
To accomplish what?
More importantly, Where on a Parrot's body do they sense 'full spectrum lighting'?

Natural Sunlight Schedule: Follow the amount of Sunlight in your region! each day.

Warning: Go off on some fabricated schedule and you will screw-up both yours and your Parrots Body Clock!
FYI: Note that the Brightness of the Sun is less as it rises and as it sets and Brighter at Noon. So one would want to be able to vary how bright!

 

[FieryPhoenix]

Yeah I asked this because I can’t seem to get one straight answer.

I don’t want to over due it because in the wild it’s not like they are constantly under the sun.

I have a timer. I am wondering if I should do like a couple hours on the and couple hours off? I dint know.

 

[HeatherG]

All I can say is, there’s information and recommendations for a certain light intensity and spectrum at a certain distance from the bird. It’s true that “full spectrum light” is a poor descriptor. That’s why I gave references both to journal articles and websites.

I had expected to read that birds should get several hours a day of full spectrum light and was surprised to read that if you’re putting a full spectrum lamp close to the bird, it’s said that you should do it for a short time. As in a couple hours or less. My thoughts are that a high intensity lamp is more likely to injure eyes than natural sunlight, and the bird can’t get away from it. (I believe that’s what I read years ago,) If you had a bulb in a light fixture on your ceiling, likely it would be different.

Most likely the eyes sense and determine the amount (time x intensity at a certain wavelength) of light needed as retinal cells detect light and help determine photoperiod.

 

[FieryPhoenix]

This makes sense. Although I was more concerned about too much light triggering hormonal behaviors

 

[SailBoat]

The normal lighting in the average home is just fine. One simply upgrades to Full Spectrum, Day Light series, LED bulbs. Purchase bulbs that do not exceed the maximum Wattage capabilities of the light fixture. Remember that multi bulb fixtures become overly bright, overly quickly. The closes the fixture or lamp should be to anyone is like two meters (about 6'). The goal is to just provide comfortable light levels in a room.

Overly bright /overly close provides no more enhancement than general lighting! Follow the normal day in your region!

Up close and personal is NOT recommended!

 

[Cottonoid]

Follow the normal day in your region!

I do this for myself too, and it makes a big difference to how I feel in the winter - so no bright or white light after sunset which means a lot of darkness part of the year but I sleep so much better letting my body listen to the seasonal changes. Same for my birdie I bet (aside from possible springtime hormone issues).

 

[HeatherG]

This makes sense. Although I was more concerned about too muc

I do this for myself too, and it makes a big difference to how I feel in the winter - so no bright or white light after sunset which means a lot of darkness part of the year but I sleep so much better letting my body listen to the seasonal changes. Same for my birdie I bet (aside from possible springtime hormone issues).

I am very nearsighted and my sleep cycles get really messed up. I read this happens to people with poor vision. I am using a SADD lamp to expose myself to bright light before noon. It seems to be helping me to sleep at night and be awake in the daytime. Otherwise my sleep schedule moves around. I know this can help as I’ve been sleeping more like a normal human for the first time in my life.

 

[FieryPhoenix]

So I went on Amazon and posted this sane question to the featherbrite bulb and it was interesting to see the answers.

One person keeps it 8 hours in winter and phases out in tbd summer.

One person does 12 in winger and 8 in the summer.

I am cutting beck to discourage sexual behavior in my birds. They can’t be laying eggs at their age. My vet said if they lay eggs I might want to put them on Lupron. Thankfully they have not laid eggs in 6 years.

 

[HeatherG]

I think the studies I quoted earlier used a strong bulb close to the cage. And they suggested using those bulbs for an hour or so. If you had the bulb further away the bird will get less light intensity and presumably could be under the bulb longer . Hopefully it would still get the beneficial wavelengths of light.

When I started this light supplementation thing for myself, my dr warned me that having too long an exposure to the intense light right away might rev me up and make me anxious. She recommended I add time slowly. I do seem to be able to go to sleep at night most of the time now. I am surprised that it seems to be helping; never really believed that.

 

[SailBoat]

And, those studies rarely include the warnings!!

TEST: Place a common 60 Watt, LED, Day light bulb near your face, and with your eyes open, turn it on and back off. If you have spots in your vision it is to close. Sadly, far too many Parrots are blinded by lights that are too close.

The vast majority of the uses are in fact for Reptiles, which are totally different than Parrots! Never use Reptile advise or products for Parrots!

The sad reality is that Parrots have zero skin sensors (plus very thin skin) regarding light! Providing very bright lights is dangerous!!

Birds /Parrots register light in their eyes. All they need is general room lighting that varies /duplicates the natural day in your region of the World.

Please stop over thinking this as you are likely to Blind your Parrot! Or, to cause skin cancer!

 

[HeatherG]

And, those studies rarely include the warnings!!

TEST: Place a common 60 Watt, LED, Day light bulb near your face, and with your eyes open, turn it on and back off. If you have spots in your vision it is to close. Sadly, far too many Parrots are blinded by lights that are too close.

The vast majority of the uses are in fact for Reptiles, which are totally different than Parrots! Never use Reptile advise or products for Parrots!

The sad reality is that Parrots have zero skin sensors (plus very thin skin) regarding light! Providing very bright lights is dangerous!!

Birds /Parrots register light in their eyes. All they need is general room lighting that varies /duplicates the natural day in your region of the World.

Please stop over thinking this as you are likely to Blind your Parrot! Or, to cause skin cancer!

Sir…I was just trying to answer the questions asked. As you may recall, my very first answer stated how short a time any chosen light supplementation should be used. Then there was a bombardment of messages from others advocating hours a day. Not from me.

“I read that you give about an hour a day of full spectrum lighting. (This was in a vet journal several years ago.) The rationale given was that when a bird is outside, it can move out of harsh sunlight. A lot of bright light can hurt the birds eyes.

I don’t recall the authors advocating change with season. My thought is, if your bird is acting hormonal or displaying new breeding condition/ behavior since beginning light supplementation, you should cut back.”

I don’t have supplemental lighting for my birds. Just settle down. You’re assuming things about me and my birds that are not true.

I myself have used light therapy to help regulate my sleep cycle. My dr supports this. I mentioned it because it is interesting. I don’t use full spectrum light on my birds. I simply gave some information and references.

 

[Terry57]

And, those studies rarely include the warnings!!

TEST: Place a common 60 Watt, LED, Day light bulb near your face, and with your eyes open, turn it on and back off. If you have spots in your vision it is to close. Sadly, far too many Parrots are blinded by lights that are too close.

The vast majority of the uses are in fact for Reptiles, which are totally different than Parrots! Never use Reptile advise or products for Parrots!

The sad reality is that Parrots have zero skin sensors (plus very thin skin) regarding light! Providing very bright lights is dangerous!!

Birds /Parrots register light in their eyes. All they need is general room lighting that varies /duplicates the natural day in your region of the World.

Please stop over thinking this as you are likely to Blind your Parrot! Or, to cause skin cancer!

I use bird lighting in all my bird rooms. None are close to the cages, so I leave mine on for 4-5 hours.
In the winter here we only have 8-9 hours of daylight for several months, and for much of that time it is dreary outside.
I can promise you that none of my birds were blinded nor got skin cancer.
I do agree that it should be Parrot specific bulbs rather than ones made for plants or reptiles because they are different.

I don't change my birds schedule according to the seasons here. None of them are native to Canada, and I'm not going to have my birds in the dark for 16 hours in the winter, and I'm not going to let them only get 5-6 hours of sleep in the summer.

 

[SailBoat]

There is a World of difference between perceived and advocated!

The foundation work for Day Light series light bulbs was done in the mid-Nineteen Twenties, as a PAID study that clearly advocated specific type and length of time for there to be measurable results. The study was successful beyond belief as the light bulb manufacturer began selling all of their out-of-spec bulbs to the open market.
You may recall the wall of Light Tubes with some hapless human sitting in front of it for hours on end with some measurable success. Oh, deep in the footnotes, one would find that they also provide the hapless individual with Vitamin D.
Anyway, far too much over the wall already. You sit in whatever lighting you feel you need. But for the Parrots near of below the 45th Parallel, they only need General Room lighting during the day. And reduce the level as evening begins or morning begins, turn the lighting-up.
Since we are sharing specific points: What do the Parrots of the Open Plains and near drylands do during the bright hours of the day when shade is extremely limited?

 

[HeatherG]

Why are you belaboring this? I have not argued that parrots need uv supplementation. What is your problem?

 

[Terry57]

Okay, enough bickering. Let's get back to the OP's question and remain civil.