indoor aviary lighting

[akane]

I need some help on lighting for my indoor aviary. The room with the aviary has only 1 small south facing window surrounded by trees. It's a small house and I have no other options for location. How much artificial lighting and what spectrums do I need to add to my 4x8' aviary? I just dragged up all my old aquarium light fixtures which were used on planted tanks. I was told my tanks were lit up brighter than the vegas strip so I'm not short on lighting options. I even have compact cf fixtures that hold (4) 65w bulbs. Then several fixtures with (2) 48" fluorescent tubes. All fixtures currently have full spectrum and specific spectrum like blue or red bulbs in them for various uses on planted and marine aquariums. I'll probably have to replace most of the bulbs though as they start to lose certain spectrums once they pass a year old.

[franny]

The general consensus has changed over time. At least for birds, most of us feel that the UV light that comes from these full spectrum bulbs is not sufficient to make much, if any, contribution to the birds' ability to produce Vitamin D. They would have to be as close as 2" from the light, for extended periods... not very comfortable for the birds.

And as you say, the effectiveness of the bulb fades within a year. Most of us do not think that it would be very cost effective to be replacing these bulbs on a yearly basis, when there is little evidence that it is beneficial.

Having said that, there is no reason not to make use of the bulbs you have, or get new full spectrum if you want to... it won't hurt to use them. Just will not help much, if at all, in replacing actual sunlight. It will, however, make the aviary nice and bright, so the birds will feel they are in a more natural setting. They need light to find their food. And their colours will show up nicely, and you'll be able to enjoy their beauty.

Most of us with indoor birds believe that with a good diet, and some form of Vitamin D supplement, our birds can be just as healthy as those in outdoor aviaries. Most forms of liquid calcium supplements (such as Calciboost, etc) also now include Vitamin D.

Hope that helps. Bound to be some other opinions on here, too. But I'm sure that many on here breed happy and healthy indoor birds, and have done for years, without full spectrum lights.

[akane]

If that's the case then I'll just go off the amount of light the plants I want need.

[franny]

I think that makes sense. If you're planning on live plants, a good plan is to put them in pots, so you can easily change them out for fresh now and then or to clean them, as they will get picked at and pooped on by the birds.