Full spectrum lighting

[T.W.]

Hubby and I went on a hunt for full spectrum lighting for our bird rooms. We wanted full spectrum, but we wanted it in the macaroni type, energy saving type. Finally, at Lowes we hit the jackpot!!! They had 100 watt and 60 watt, so we got nearly 60 dollars worth, wow their rooms are so lit up now, anything to make them happy!!!!!!!
So if you want the enrgy saving kind of full spectrum bulbs, they are at lowes, they are made by GE.

[birdlady49]

Thanks! That's good to know. I've been personally picketing Lowe's because I think they discriminate against women. But for my birds, I'll cross my own picket line.

[Beaks]

what are they called?

the last time i looked for them at lowes there was a hundred different ge bulbs and i didnt find the fsl.

[birdsnreps]

lowes is great :D we can find just about everything we need there :) congrats on the full spectrum lighting, we switched to those lights and they are SO much brighter and more natural looking, not all yellow like the regular bulbs :)

[jimpierce7]

yeah!!! What are they called? I can't find them on line. Guess I could go to Gilroy to take a look.............

[T.W.]

Pardom me, these are actually sylvania, but we did see GE ones online, that's why I got confused. Anyway it's called super mini craft light, compact fluorescent they had 60 watt and 100 watt. We went to the light bulb section, then just looked for where it said daylight or sunshine on the tops of the different sections. Obviously you want sunshine, not daylight, but they are together. Home depot didn't have the full spectrum macaroni bulbs, but they had the regular ones, and the long flourescent ones. Hubby was determined to get the macaroni kind, since the lights are on all day for the birds.

[Nazir's]

They are called compact fluorescent Light Bulbs. SYLVANIA makes the bulk of them but I couldn't find any 60 or 100 watt ones on the Lowes website. I did find a bunch of different types at Lowes by doing a light bulb serch here: Lowes Light Bulbs However, I am not sure that those types of bulbs would be the best supply of the UV's needed. The following thread will explain why: location for aviary??

[jimpierce7]

From what I have learned read so far most of those lights aren't what is being looked for in a "full spectrum" light. The term full spectrum in itself is a marketing term so simpletons like me have something to look for. :) What is most sought after in full spectrum for our birds is a heat of 5000k and CRI (color rendering index) of as close to 100 as posible. 98 and 99 CRI can be found.

[Nazir's]

Yeah, that was exactly what I was hinting at. The previously posted link went into all of that within more details.

[T.W.]

These bulbs are 5000k, I'm not sure of of the CRI, but i'm sure it's up there. I will try to get that info and post it when I do. They are the same as a regular fluorescent, they have built in ballasts, they are just compact.