With shorter days do you use lights??

[Mr.Darcy]

So here in British Columbia the days are getting noticibly shorter. My baby Hahns (if he EVER weans) will be coming home in about 2 weeks.

My question is: Do you use aritficial lights on a timer to mimic 12 hours of daylight? Or does it matter as he is only 3 months old ?

And furthermore what exactly are the benefits? Is is to keep them from going into breeding behaviours?

Thanks
Marlies & MrDarcy (If he ever gets here!)

[Kim S]

The article about molting (still dont know where I picked it up, but here it is again: http://www.2ndchance.info/molt.htm ) has some nice info on the biological clock your bird uses.
In my opinion its in their best interest to have a normal seasonal night/day change. Unless ofcourse you live in some rediculous corner of the world where you only have 4 hours daylight a day....

I would ask the breeder what he uses, and if he keeps specific hours. If so, use these the first couple of weeks and build it down to whatever hours you are up and about yourself.
Kika and Guus live in our livingroom and when the sun goes down our lamps go on till we go to bed. But the birds sence the change from daylight to lamplight and take that as a que to go to sleep.

[Rrrma]

Absolutely read about the clock, I think it is crucial for them to have seasons inside like they would outside. Mine get natural daylight hours and now that the days are noticeably shorter, they have begun their molt, all 5 of them... at the same time... it is a mess lol!

[Michael]

I have 4 lamps in my parrot area on timers. 3 of the lamps nearest the cage have full spectrum light bulbs. The timers keep the lamps on 9AM till 9PM. This is especially important cause sometimes I come home late or not till the following day so it keeps their daily routine more consistent. I don't see a need for following daylight hour based seasons with parrots as they are a tropical bird where daylight hours are fairly constant.

[Rrrma]

An hour might not seem like a lot when looking at it on paper, but it really is a difference when going from day to day life. Our day has already shortened by an hour and you can tell it.

Senegal daylight hours are 12:21 for the long days and 11:18 for the short ones.
South/S.East Africa goes from 14:17 for the long days and 11:32 for the shorter, that is almost 3 hours and the same as most US states.

My birds are from Pacific Mexico(13:18 and 10:57), Central Africa(<30m difference), and Indonesia(>30m difference). Arguably only 1 of mine would benefit from a difference, and yet all 5 of mine are molting at the same time now that the days are beginning to shorten.

I don't think you'd need to try and mimic the daily change, but I think it could be beneficial to them to adjust it during the seasons a little. If for nothing more than to try and trigger a proper molt, instead of the year round molt most domestic pets are having.

ETA: oops I almost forgot my girls! They are from Australia and experience as much as a 4 hour(14:25-9:53) difference during the year.

[TheNzJessie]

i keep it like it is in the wild...seasons happen in the wild too were coming out of winter and into daylight savings now. spring started on September 1st also the weather hasn't helped us realize it, rain/wind and a 7.4 earthquake in Christchurch, anyone hear bout that? but no i haven't made artificial lights to mimic summer all year round

[Mr.Darcy]

Well thats the thing, most parrots are from the tropics where they have consistant daylight/nightime patterns. Usually from 7 am to 8 pm. In winter here it gets dark by 4:30pm. So my thought was lights on timer, with full spectrum bulbs of course, from 4pm to 8 or 9 pm. The room my cage is in gets a lot of natural light, however that said our winters are very wet....not that cold, usually no snow, so not very bright. I think I am answering my own question. I think I will put lights on from 7 am to 9 pm and then cover his cage till morning......

I am looking at buying a second cage for sleeping in another room away from the family....plus this would put his sleeping cage under my quest bedroom instead of under mine!! lol

One more thing, can you use full spectrum bulbs in a regular lamp. I dont want to use the utilitarian style bird/reptile lamps.......

[Rrrma]

I think for your bird Id do it because it gets dark so early there. Your bird is from an area with a ~1h difference in the year. Id take that into consideration when setting the timer. Your bird needs full sprectrum lighting anyway, if it doesn't get regular access to direct sunlight.

[ptuga72]

you can buy CFL's (the squiggly light bulbs) that mimic full-spectrum really well. They fit in any standard light fixture, but to maintain the full-spectrumness (yea I made it up, whatever ) they should be changed every 3-6 months because they develop hot spots where the coated gets burned off. You and I wouldn't notice it, but your birds will.

ETA: also it is good to remember that a "full spectrum" light does not have any UV light. If you're worried about UVA supplementation may I suggest a fluorescent black light like this: http://www.amazon.com/Halco-109480-350BL-Fluorescent-Black/dp/B002LFXW0W? The fixtures can be bought real cheap at any hardware store and plug into a wall socket.

[Mr.Darcy]

ETA: also it is good to remember that a "full spectrum" light does not have any UV light. If you're worried about UVA supplementation may I suggest a fluorescent black light like this: http://www.amazon.com/Halco-109480-350B ... B002LFXW0W? The fixtures can be bought real cheap at any hardware store and plug into a wall socket.

Well actually I was not concerned with UVA until you mentioned it.....Do parrots need this??