Benefits of Full Spectrum Lighting

[nerdybird]

Pajarita, you mentioned a cockatiel going blind when the lights were too close. Do you know anything more about that? I don't have ceiling lights in my apartment, I'll have to use some sort of floor lamp or attach something to my bookcase.

I'm looking for new lamps as well so I can get something specific, I was originally planning on the ones that focus light toward the ceiling. Those work well fo general lighting purposes, as far as lighting a room goes, but might not work for the full-spectrum lights. I can always get two lamps, one for main light and one for the birds.

[Pajarita]

It happen to this lady I know through birdsites. Her name is Maria, she lives in San Francisco (she is a primary school teacher) and she not only has birds of her own but also fosters for Mickaboo (this was her own cockatiel, though). She was using one of those lamps that are made to clamp on to cages. The thing is that for UV emissions to be effective in vit D3 production, the lamp needs to be fairly close to the animal's body and that is fine with reptiles because they have a third, transparent eyelid that protects the cornea but birds eyes are not like that and get hurt when the light shines too close to them.

If you have no ceiling fixtures, I suggest you do what I did with the birds I keep in my dining room (there is a ceiling fixture there but the chandelier hangs right above the dining room table in the middle of the room and would not have given good light to the birds whose cages are next to a window). I bought two clamp lights in Home Depot (http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-75-Watt- ... /205139241), hanged them from hooks that I screwed on the ceiling (http://www.homedepot.com/p/OOK-50-lb-Wh ... /100115444), used an extension to plug them into the wall, and I pointed them down using full spectrum bulbs in them (http://www.lumiram.com/ecolume-compact- ... 5000k.html).

[nerdybird]

Thanks, that's great! Do you leave these types of llights on the birds all day, or only for a few hours?

[Pajarita]

I uncover their cages when the sky is beginning to get light (6 am this time of the year) and turn on the lights when I see the sun already up (around 7 to 7:15 am this time of the year) and turn them off when the sun is going down (around 4:30 to 4:45 pm this time of the year) and cover the cages when it's dark and the birds are already asleep (at around 6:30 pm) but, in all honesty, whether the bird is asleep or not depends on the bird itself because my GCC and peachfront pair are already roosting but still awake although they don't make a peep (they just sleepily look at me when I lock their cage -they don't get covered because they are in the canary room), the redbelly and the Senegal are fast asleep but open one eye and the sun conure is awake and waiting in his hut and, when I start covering his cage, he comes out, climbs on the bars of the side and makes kissy noises while I tell him 'Night-night - I love you - kissy noises following (I do this to all of them but some respond and some just listen and go back to sleep).

[nerdybird]

I found this article that is fairly detailed about full-spectrum lighting for birds, different Cri rating, K temp, different types of UV light, etc.

http://www.littlefeatheredbuddies.com/i ... hting.html

[Wolf]

Very good article, it is well written and informative. It discusses some of the issues that we have discovered along the way in our research into the use of these lights. I would never use any light that does not meet the criteria as given, ie CRI, K Temp and UVA and UVB output. I don't put my lights within the 2 foot required range for effective utilization of the UVB spectrum, because with reading through various instances of the damage to birds I don't fully trust the manufactures of the lights and feel although I do recognize some benefits I think that this technology may still have room for much improvement.

[Saber]

Liz, I went looking for you and here is a link for you.

http://www.everythingbirdie.com/fefuli.html

The bulbs here ( FeatherBrite ) are Cri of 91 and K temp of 5500

This link is betteras the bulb is CRI of 98 and K temp 5500, just what you need.
http://www.healthlighting.com/product/e ... cent-bulb/

Just so you know it is a chromalux bulb and you can order direct. This is the one I woud get. Also it is a compact fluorescent bulb, it has a screw in type base.

Ugh...10 flippin dollars shipping for a single light bulb from healthlighting. Maybe I'll go with the featherbrite since I need new fixture anyway. I know with my saltwater reef tank back when I used to use these types of compact florescents I had to change them out every 6 months to maintain the proper K. Would you agree that would be the way to go here as well?

[Wolf]

I think so. I am fairly sure that I read something to the effect that they should be changed about every 6 months.

[bean]

Does $15 seem to be a pretty average price, and is the $10 shipping comment on that link on this page? And does everyone agree that the clamp set up, using the shop light fixture, would be fine if you cant accommodate florescent tubes? Thanks.

[Saber]

That's cheap for the bulb for sure. The $10 in shipping is applied when you add to the cart and start to check out. As far as the set up I think it's personal preference/outlets/space. Mine hangs from the ceiling in a dome type fixture, basically an older version of the featherbrights. I've had the same fixture as when I got my CAG so it's 10years old now lol