Lighting question for new double flight

[inchofstar]

My HQ double flight came and I'm predictably pleased, as are my birds. It's super fun to see them have so much room.

Would someone be willing to talk me through lighting? I read a thread on a very thorough link about bulbs and was planning on getting these:

http://www.amazon.com/Philips-209056-F3 ... uctDetails

but I'm uncertain about what sort of fixture to get and how to position it. Those of you with 4' lights, do you have single tube fixtures or doubles? Are people setting shop light fixtures directly on the cage tops? Dimming timers are a no-no with fluorescents, correct?

Thanks for your help!

[atarasi]

I have a two bulb fixture I bought at Home Depot sitting directly on top of one of the cages. I have another fixture hanging right above the smaller cages. I prefer the single bulb fixtures because they are not as heavy and cumbersome as the two bulb lights and a lot cheaper. The type I bought was for kitchen under cabinet lighting. They are all plugged into a timer and turn off and on a few minutes apart. I also have a night light to prevent them from hurting themselves and flying into the side of the cages if they get spooked.

[inchofstar]

Thanks, atarasi!

I wound up getting a 4' two bulb fixture from Home Depot for the regular lights and am now searching for a 2' fixture for a black light.

That's correct, right? 1' per 4' of "full spectrum" light? Why am I seeing "black lights" that look white?

Also, regarding timers, is there such a thing as a strip light timer where different outlets can be set to different times? Or am I getting into multiple timer territory here?

[atarasi]

Why the need for black lighting? Are you trying to breed more hens?

I'm not aware of a strip lighting where all the outlets have their own timers. That would be cool though.

[inchofstar]

Not specifically, no. Just would like them to get to make some of their own vitamin D.

[atarasi]

I think a well balanced diet would give them the amount of vitamin D they need. I recall a thread on here that talked about how little vitamin D they would receive sitting under a full spectrum bulb and how close they would need to be to it. Some bulbs show off the plumage better than others depending on if it's a warm or cool rated light.

[Sally]

I agree with atarasi, the best way to make certain your birds have D3 is to provide it in the diet if they are not exposed to direct daily sunlight. The reason for the black light is that it is suggested that it will balance the sex ratio when breeding. I have also read that a black light is supposed to make the birds see color better, and since so many finches select mates based on the colorful plumage of the males, this black light is supposed to help with that.

I do know that when I was getting almost all male Strawberry babies, a longtime breeder told me to add a black light to my bird room, and I soon had plenty of female babies.

[debbie276]

Here's an article that talks about the blacklight benefit.
https://mickaboo.org/confluence/downloa ... ummary.pdf

This is just a small part of the article, well worth reading it all.

Ultraviolet Support
In addition to seeing more color detail, birds are also capable of seeing ultraviolet light. Birds likely perceive UV as an additional set of colors, which combine with the other colors in their visual spectrum. These extra color combinations are what allow birds to see around 200 times the number of colors that humans perceive.
Birds can also use their UV vision to see the nutrients in their food. Flowers, berries, and fruits reflect UV light, as do many key nutrients and toxins. This is not unlike humans' ability to detect sugar content simply by looking at the amount of green or yellow in a banana's skin. For birds, their UV-sensitive eyes allow them to see oils, sugars, vitamins, minerals and amino acids that are invisible to us. Without UV light, birds cannot identify whether food looks nutritious and enticing, or rancid, moldy, and toxic. Thus, food may simply not "look right" to birds and may lead to problems with appetite.
(There's also little evidence that UV-B is useful for generating vitamin D, but that's a topic for another day.) A small fluorescent tube labeled "black light" should provide enough UV to support your birds' vision. Make sure that it only outputs the lower-energy ultraviolet-A, and try to find a bulb that also puts out some visible light.

The Finch Information Center has a section "Nutrients & Their Sources" which tells you what foods have what nutrients, here's that link
http://www.finchinfo.com/diet/nutrients_and_sources.php

Personally I would rely on the food to supply what the birds need but can't hurt to give them good light either.
good luck

[Derk]

debbie276

Thanks for the extra info. I am going to download full article and read. I also needed more info on the use of black lights.

[inchofstar]

That's the article I'd been studying, yes.

Vitamin D's such an interesting topic in human nutrition, and I guess because I've read so much about that, it influences how I think about it for other animals as well, whether that's appropriate or not. For example, I've been reading for 10 years now that the RDA is way too low, and that if we dose for rickets prevention (that's where the 400 IU measure came from) were are pretty much totally missing most of the benefit spectrum, e.g. osteoporosis and cancer risk reduction. I'm in a very northern latitude and the sun doesn't even produce enough intensity here most of the year to yield sufficient D. I have my blood serum tested every other year or so, and I barely hit range taking 4000 IUs a day for the remainder of the year, those summer months excepted. And that's no where near the upper limit for toxicity, so 400 is just way way way too low.

But back to finches, which I am admittedly new to - I'd read that black lights resulted in a more balanced sex ratio in offspring, but again, it seemed to me that that's a suspiciously myopic view of how vitamin D is beneficial. Surely that can't be the sole role of D can it? I mean, we know its role as a cofactor for calcium, magnesium, K2... that leads into cardiac and digestive valve function and depression/anxiety (or hopefully lack thereof) in humans, among a ton of other links.

Is my thinking off base? Is there a reason NOT to use a black light?

Thanks for your thoughts, I do really appreciate the input.

[debbie276]

Another good article, http://www.naturallighting.com/cart/sto ... sc_page=56

The short wavelength ultraviolet, also called far ultraviolet, is farther away from visible light. It can be dangerous and is the form of ultraviolet that causes sunburn with overexposure. The germicidal lamps used in hospitals to kill microorganisms emit ultraviolet light in the short wavelengths. And yet, this short-wave ultraviolet is not all bad, for it is this area of the ultraviolet wavelengths striking the skin that allows the formation of vitamin D. Recent research has shown that many ultraviolet sources are not able to cause the formation of vitamin D on the skin, because the ultraviolet radiation is not intense enough. The presence of ultraviolet light alone is not sufficient: the intensity is also crucial. The sun's ultraviolet radiation, of course, has the necessary intensity for D synthesis. A sun lamp also emits ultraviolet radiation in the intensity required. However, other artificial lights do not emit radiation of sufficient intensity for D formation.

Another proven way in which ultraviolet light affects our finches and other birds is in the sex of the offspring of your breeding efforts. The long wavelength ultraviolet seems to be the primary factor in this influence. Experiments with fish, chinchillas, and other animals showed that the addition of full-spectrum lights in place of standard incandescent or fluorescent tubes resulted in an enormous increase in the number of female offspring produced in breeding efforts under artificial light. The frequent complaint that Society Finches and Gouldian Finches are producing a vast majority of males is undoubtedly the result of indoor breeding under artificial lights that almost totally lack light in the ultraviolet wavelengths.

For a thorough coverage of the subject of light in relation to living things, I would recommend that you read the detailed works of John N. Ott. He became interested in light through his work in time-lapse photography, and has published several books on this important subject. His book, Health and Light contains excellent coverage of this subject.

[inchofstar]

Thanks, Debbie276!