Bird woman wrote:I didn't know that , what other info do you have on color do's and don'ts ???
Sorry but that's about it. It has to do with experiments done on chickens and the color of the light they are exposed to (which has to do with the Ktemp that 'produces' that light) - we don't have anything done with parrots but chickens, as messed up as they are as a domesticated species, are as photoperiodic as any other bird so...
This what they found on the studies (I am using bits and pieces, not the whole thing):
"Some previous research indicated that blue light had stress-relieving and growth-promoting properties in chickens, but there were concerns over whether visual information was missed by the chickens under light of a single wavelength. In addition, other studies found that red light had a promotional effect on egg production, leaving a confusing picture over the most effective light to use.
Birds have different light perception systems to humans, as they are able to see into the UV range as well as our visible spectrum, and they also have light-sensing receptors in locations other than the eyes. The light information received by the birds' brains is important for regulating metabolism and the immune system via changes in hormone levels."
But, when they did pretty much the same test on ducks, they found the opposite!
"The ducks reared under blue lights fared worse in terms of body weight than those under red and white lights, at every age measured.
Although the birds had similar carcass yields, those reared under the blue lights had a lower percentage of breast meat and a higher percentage of skin and fat in the carcass compared with ducks reared under red and white light.
The increased activity and observed increased corticosone hormone levels in the ducks under the blue lights suggested increased stress levels in these birds, the authors said. This shows that blue light may have the opposite effect in ducks to in broilers, as broilers responded to blue light with increased growth and reduced stress.
The scientists suggested that these increased stress levels may have caused the reduction in carcass quality seen in the ducks reared under blue lights.
The authors conjectured that the increased stress blue light may be down to the fact that ducks tend to use blue plumage as signals of reproductive strength during the mating season. Chickens and turkeys, on the other hand, use red pigments to show their social hierarchy. This evolutionary difference may also account for the different responses seen to light colour in broiler and layer (male and female) chickens"
So, as we don't really know which light is better for parrots, I only recommend lights that are smack in the middle in terms of Ktemp (and color), namely between 5000 and 5500.