sudden personality change

[Wolf]

All my birds always have moulted straight after breeding season and all my research pointed to that being correct. Details on the artificial sunset are on the set up thread approx 3 posts down on the housing board.

Most birds do, but shouldn't the molting cycle be over by Sept. or Oct.?

[marie83]

She stopped calling around mid Oct, I'm putting it down to the fact it has been unseasonally warm this year the temps only just dropped really. I don't use the heating at all unless very very cold. She is just coming out of the moult I think as not seen anything come off her for a few days.

[Pajarita]

All my birds always have moulted straight after breeding season and all my research pointed to that being correct. Details on the artificial sunset are on the set up thread approx 3 posts down on the housing board.

Do you mean this one: http://www.theparrotforum.com/viewtopic ... 29&start=0?

I couldn't find anything on the artificial sunset posted by you, I found a posting from Elaihr that describes what he does but the only reason he does it this way is that he lives in Sweden and has no choice because the alternative is having days that are from 24 to 17 hours long and no real night but just twilight in between. The thing with artificial twilight is that we don't have the technology to actually replicate the change in light spectrum that triggers the endocrine system so any artificial twilight anybody might provide is by no means effective ... especially with cockatiels that are super opportunistic breeders -and I think that's the problem with yours, namely that the artificial twilight stopped working the way it's supposed to.

[Pajarita]

How old is she? How long have you had her? What kind of light schedule is she on? Also, has it been raining lately over there? One more thing, is she now more vocal than before?

Sounds like you think that she has entered a breeding cycle and is looking for a nesting area and a mate. I thought of that as well though I didn't say so, but where does the rain come into the equation?

Sorry I did not answer before, Wolf. The rain is because tiels, in their natural habitat, start going into condition when the rainy season is on (so the babies are born at the beginning of the dry) and, on most of them, through some kind of genetic marker, atavistic memory or whatever it is go into condition when there is a lot of rain or when they are given frequent baths.

[marie83]

Yes that's the correct thread but I've copied and pasted it over for you now I'm actually on a computer rather than my phone.

"I'm in the UK and wintertime is difficult to give the birds enough time if I keep them on 100% solar schedule. I've chosen to compromise a bit and I have them on a fully natural light cycle throughout the summer. As the seasons change I gradually change them on to artificial light and recreate the sunset and sunrise with timed dimmer switches. -this isn't ideal so I don't go mad with it, I make sure there is still a stark contrast between summer and winter daylight hours and I change it very slightly day by day which is a complete pain in the neck.

I haven't perfected it yet, it may not even work long term but I figured it's worth trying in order to give them the benefits of human company whilst hopefully keeping the benefits of a solar cycle because at the end of the day unless your living close to your species natural environment and the birds are outside anyway there's no way you can completely replicate nature.

Like I said though I'm still trying it out, last year was the first year I did it and I messed it up a little with my timings. I've adjusted it a bit this year so hopefully it will work better"

[marie83]

and yes, I realise its never going to be the same as fully natural but I do need to compromise between attention and nature- for the time being at any rate.

[Wolf]

Yep! Despite all of our learning and technology, we can't fully replicate natural conditions and even out best attempts all end up falling back of trial and error to get as close as we can.

[Pajarita]

and yes, I realise its never going to be the same as fully natural but I do need to compromise between attention and nature- for the time being at any rate.

Well, it seems to me that it's not working at all - and it's no wonder because it's not the lower intensity of the light or the angle it's coming from (I used to actually turn off the overhead and on a lamp on a table, then move the lamp under the table in order to reproduce the sun going down), it's the gradual change in what it's called the spectral distribution which basically means the proportion of each color in relation to the whole.

[marie83]

She is showing no signs based on the past 8 years of behaviour from this particular bird of being hormonal, nor from my experience of previous tiels both indoor and outdoor aviary birds in the middle of the country with no artificial light at night- just moonlight.
Plus from what I've read in previous years she's only slightly delayed coming out of breeding condition and into her moult so if you could explain *exactly* why all my previous research is wrong then please do cuz I'm more than happy to be spoonfed in baby terms so there's no way I can misunderstand.
The weather has been extremely warm for the time of year which would in part explain the delay as there are multiple factors as to when birds systems decide it's time to breed- not just light although that is probably one of the biggest factors. It's only been cold for the past few days (winter like, autumn has been more like summer and the trees have only just started shedding their leaves properly) and she has definitely finished her moult. We've even had lambs born here and that shouldn't be happening til spring.
Ollie is delayed on schedule compared with breeders who don't use artificial lighting in the UK too in previous years research although I haven't spoken to anyone about this year as yet so can't compare that as I've no info

[marie83]

Also when you did the lamp movement to recreate the sunset can I ask if you dimmed the light yourself? Ours is very gradual although we don't physically move the light.