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Head baldness Alexandrine Parakeet

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Re: Head baldness Alexandrine Parakeet

Postby Shargeg » Tue Jun 09, 2020 11:54 am

Thank you for explaining that, it is a complicated concept to understand.. but in a nutshell when it comes to light, you mean that they should only be exposed to natural lighting at all times? When the sun goes down, there shouldn't be any other source of artificial light reaching them, am I understanding correctly?

If this is the case, it would be difficult to manage because we live in a small apartment and unfortunately there's no space near the window for their cage to be (as much as I wish there was space for it) so they are exposed to artificial light.. and we are only able to keep them near the window during their out of cage time..
Shargeg
Parakeet
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
Posts: 6
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Types of Birds Owned: Alexandrine Parakeets
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Re: Head baldness Alexandrine Parakeet

Postby Pajarita » Wed Jun 10, 2020 9:48 am

Hmm, I think that the concept itself is not complicated at all - it is the actual enforcement of the concept that is. I don't know what is near the window in the room where he is kept but can't it be moved so the cage is in front of the window? Or maybe to the side of it? As long as the cage has one 'blind side' (meaning a solid wall at the back of the cage as in when you put a cage against a wall), it doesn't really matter if it's standing in the middle of the room because the 'blind side' can be just a large piece of an opaque material draped over the back of it (this makes them feel safe because they know that no predator will come from this side). It's not as if the cage needs to be against the window, it's that the bird needs to be exposed to the natural light of dawn or dusk without any artificial lights on at the time that twilight is going on - but it's OK to use artificial light in the middle of the day. Basically, what needs to be done is either uncover the cage or open the blinds/curtains or whatever to allow natural light to reach the bird at dawn (this time of the year, I am doing this at 5 am because that is when light begins to light up the sky), turn on the overhead lights when the sun is streaking into the room (this happens at around 7:30 -7:45 am on a bright day this time of the year), turn off the overhead lights when the sun is halfway down to the horizon (around 6 pm this time of the year), feed them dinner a bit after (I do it at around 6:30 - 6:45 pm) and cover the cage/draw the blinds/curtains or whatever at around 8:30 - 8:45 pm and that's good night until the following morning. If you are going to use something to cover the cage, make sure it's a blackout material and, if you are going to use the curtains/blinds/shades in the windows instead, make sure there is no light coming into the room from another room, a street/garden light or even from cars driving by because they can register incredibly small levels of light and that is enough to screw up their endocrine system (there are studies about this).

Personally, I find the solar schedule the hardest when it comes to all the different things we need to do to care properly for them. It's not so much that it's hard for me to remember because I've been doing it for so many years that following the sun has become second nature to me (to my husband's dismay, I wake up right before there is the merest tinge of light - at 4 am this time of the year) but I am a creature of habits (according to my kids, I have OCD :lol: ) and the solar schedule for the birds makes me have to change my routine (feeding the cats and the dogs) several times during the year, which I do not like plus it makes it impossible for me to receive company in the evening when the days are short and prevents me from going anywhere farther than a couple of hours in the winter (because I would not have enough time to come back early enough to turn off the lights and feed them dinner) which means I cannot visit my MIL who is 93 years old and lives 2.5 hours away. I won't even mention vacations because I hardly ever go anywhere and it's all because of the birds...

Keeping a parrot healthy and happy is VERY hard because they are undomesticated animals with very specialized needs that are not easy to meet in captivity... And it's not as if it's something super hard to do but that you only need to do it for a few months or even a few years - we are talking sacrificing longer than we were programmed by nature to sacrifice for our own kids! And that's why the greatest majority of them end up going from one hand to another their entire lives, poor things!
Pajarita
Norwegian Blue
 
Gender: This parrot forum member is female
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Location: NW Pa
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Types of Birds Owned: RoseBreasted too, CAG, DoubleYellowHead Amazon, BlueFront Amazon, YellowNape Amazon, Senegal, African Redbelly, Quaker, Sun Conure, Nanday, BlackCap Caique, WhiteBelly Caique, PeachFace lovebird, budgies,
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