Do They Really Need Full Specturm Light Or Will A Proper Diet Due Fine

[SDavid]

This discussion is becoming as common as the "clip vs. no clip" issue. I think some unbiased scientific into should be made sticky on this site.

One thing that I see that leads to some confusion in discussions on lighting needs is that different topics get mixed together.

For instance, the person posting usually wants to know whether they should go out an spend money on a so called "full spectrum" bulb. Not necessarily whether birds need sunlight, how they synthesize Vitamin D3, or how many hours of light a bird needs in a day. All that is good into but it tends to cause confusion if it's not clarified the right way.

So.....here's my attempt to seperate different issues:

1) Birds need sunlight (for reasons covered above).

2) Birds need a photoperiod-a certain amount of light and dark in a 24 hour period. Their biological systems are tuned to this. So, for example, keeping a bird in the dark all day is akin to cruelty.

3) Bulbs marketed as "full spectrum" don't mimic the sun and are not much better than a regular lightbulb. So, to say a bird needs "light" is not the same as saying go get a "full spectrum" bulb.